Department:
History

Biography:
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in the Virginia suburbs during segregation. Escaped to the West to attend University of Arizona in the sixties and never looked back. After receiving a B.A. in Anthropology at age 20, moved to Mexico City during the Olympics (saw Tommie Smith and John Carlos make their famous black-gloved protest salute); then on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for seven years where I taught junior high social studies and met my husband. Returned to his native state of Utah where I became a public historian and got immersed in local history; never got out. Pursuing that love required graduate school, even with a 125-mile commute (one way). Now that we live in California (since 1989), have found even richer research fields!

Academic Credentials:
B.A. Anthropology U. of Arizona 1968 summa cum laude
M.A. History University of Utah 1981
Ph.D. U.S. History University of Utah 1985

Area of expertise:
American West, California, U.S. Legal and local history (meaning, from the ground up)

What have you learned from your students?
Their backgrounds and insights intrigue me. For example, I have just returned from a two-week trip to the Angkor Temple District (twice the size of Paris!) with a Cambodian graduate student, Narin Ros. The trip of a lifetime (really - I waited 35 years for this.)

E-mail Address:
ntaniguchi@csustan.edu