Faculty

Scott Andrews, Ph.D., Professor (view profile)

• Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, 20000
• M.A., University of California, Riverside
• B.A., University of Oklahoma, 1987

Dr. Andrews is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He teaches American and American Indian literatures in the English Department, and in AIS he teaches Introduction to American Indian Studies and American Indians & Popular Culture. Dr. Andrews has published book reviews, essays, fiction, and poetry. He serves on the editorial board for Transmotion: a journal of postmodern indigenous studies. He has served on the editorial board for Studies in American Indian Literatures. He also serves on the board of the American Indian Scholarship Fund of Southern California. He can be reached at scott.andrews@csun.edu.

Alesha Claveria, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

• Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2022
• M.F.A., National University, 2013
• M.S., Montana State University, 2007
• B.S., Montana State University, 2004
• A.A., Flathead Valley Community College, 2002

Dr. Claveria can be reached at alesha.claveria@csun.edu.

Nicole Blalock, Ph.D., Lecturer

• B.A., Willamette University, 2006
• M.A., UC Davis, 2013
• Ph.D., UC Davis, 2013

Dr. Blalock is a mixed-heritage scholar and artist whose work applies Native American Studies to education and the development of policies and practices influencing learning and achievement. Her interdisciplinary work also interrogates issues of representation, identity, decolonization, and sovereignty. Dr. Blalock has authored and co-authored articles, essays, and book reviews in several journals, including American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Southern California Quarterly, Teachers College Record, and Journal of School Choice. She has also worked on a variety of curriculum projects, including sharing her original historical document research on the Piper vs. Big Pine School District of Inyo County (1924) to the Big Pine Tribe of the Owens Valley tribe and high school and providing research for Wren Usdi’s Uneasy Remains documentary about human remains and NAGPRA on the University of California, Davis campus. She has previously served as the Program Co-Chair for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association and as an assistant editor for Wicazo Sa Review. She can be reached at nicole.blalock@csun.edu.

Clementine Bordeaux, Lecturer

• B.A., Carthage College, 2006
• M.A., University of Washington, 2011

Prof. Bordeaux is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate and was raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She received a Master’s degree (2011) from the University of Washington, Seattle, through the Native Voices Indigenous documentary film program and an undergraduate degree (2006) in Theatre from Carthage College. From 2011-2017 she worked as the Academic Coordinator for the American Indian Studies Interdepartmental program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently she is a PhD student in the World Arts and Cultures department at UCLA. She serves on the board for Cornerstone Theatre Company and was recently appointed to the Native American Indian Commission for the City of Los Angeles.

Julia Coates, Ph.D., Lecturer

•  M.A., Ph.D., University of New Mexico, 2002

•  B.A., San Francisco State University, 1991

Dr. Coates is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation; she was born in Pryor, Oklahoma, and raised in Northern California. She has worked for Native American non-profits, tribal governments, and non-governmental organizations. Dr. Coates was a delegate to the Cherokee Nation Constitutional convention, was the Project Director for the award-winning Cherokee Nation History Course, and is presently serving her third term on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council. Dr. Coates is the author of a textbook on the Trail of Tears for high school and lower division college students. She has worked on research, grant writing, and conference production for the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA, and she has taught at UC Davis, Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, Pasadena City College, and UCLA Extension. She also conducts trainings in tribal governance for the Falmouth Institute.

Bert Maria Cueva, Ph.D., Lecturer

• Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2013
• M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1999 & 2008
  
• B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1993

G. Lola Worthington, Lecturer