Alena holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the UH faculty, she was a lecturer in the Writing Program at Princeton University, where her extensive pedagogical training and experience led to a nomination for the Presidential Award for Distinguished Teaching. Alena is a Roman archaeologist who studies the intersection of gender and colonialism in the Roman provinces. She uses quantitative and data-focused methodologies to catch sight of marginalized groups and intersectional identities in the archaeological record. She is also the Field Director of the Arizona Sicily Project’s excavations at Segesta, where she studies the expression of shifting cultural identities in domestic spaces. As a teacher, she’s passionate about incorporating digital methods, data analysis, and project-based learning into the humanities classroom. She loves trying out long and complicated recipes, taking short hikes, and listening to podcasts.