Amizade Faculty Instructors

Name: Monica Frolander-Ulf

Instructor Biography: With ~30 years of experience in undergraduate teaching in the field of anthropology, I bring to my courses a sincere dedication to promote international and intercultural understanding, solidarity, and respect. I was born and raised in Finland and came to the U.S. as a graduate student to study at Florida State University. While there, I accidentally enrolled in an anthropology course and loved it so much that it became my life’s work. After finishing my Ph.D. studies at the University of Pittsburgh, I was hired to teach anthropology at the Johnstown regional campus where I have been ever since.

The world that we live in today was to a large extent shaped by 500 years of European, and later U.S., expansion and colonization of most of the world’s peoples. I believe that one of the best ways to learn about how these international relationships are played out today is for us to experience them in settings outside our usual comfort zone. In this spirit, I have taken many student groups to Jamaica over the years and in cooperation with Amizade Global Service Leaning Center and WVU, I am directing a service-learning program in the Navajo Nation and one in Jamaica. Amizade’s tradition of maintaining lasting and genuinely collaborative relationships with local communities, providing material support where requested, and including local students as full participants in our courses is a model of a respectful, non-exploitative form of international solidarity work that I fully support.

I love yoga, hiking, and going back home to Finland periodically to see family and friends.