Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers is an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies (History and Anthropology) and coordinator of the Global Indigenous Knowledge (GIK) program at SUNY Empire State College. She teaches in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the School of Arts & Humanities, the School for Graduate Studies, and the Center for International Education. Rogers has won awards for her innovative approach to teaching and learning, including the 2020-2021 & 2019-2020 SUNY Empire Provost Innovation Award, the 2018-2019 Explorations in Diversity & Academic Excellence Award (EDAE), and the 2017-2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Rogers is co-founder/PI of SPEC/Buffalo Project, an award-winning, comprehensive, action-based diversity program focused on upskilling populations to inform solution-making efforts in college and community environments (2010-present). Based on the success of this program, Rogers was invited to speak at the 12th Annual United Nations (UN) - Geneva Forum in the International Conference on Inclusive Education and Project Based Learning for Peace and Development (Dec. 2020). She received a certificate in Ethnic Studies, a B.A. in Social Sciences (Anthropology Major and History Minor), an M.A. in History, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies (Anthropology, History, and Linguistics Concentrations) from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Rogers is an Open SUNY Fellow in academic innovation (2014-present) where she won the inaugural 2015 Open SUNY COTE Online Effective Practice Award and was a finalist for the 2021 and 2018 awards. She also offers collegial support as a SUNY Tools of Engagement Project (TOEP) Fellow in OER academic innovation where she won the 2015-2016 SUNY TOEP Best Peer Mentoring and Support Award. She was the inaugural Rockefeller Institute of Government-Ernest Boyer Presidential Fellow and the Spring 2020 Center for Law and Policy Studies Internship director (2019-2020) as well as the inaugural coordinator of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies for the college (2017-2019) and the convener for Interdisciplinary Studies (2014-2017). Rogers is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) with over a decade of field and museum experience. She has worked in both academic and tribal archaeology as well as in historic preservation and museum studies. Rogers has conducted research and taught in the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cyprus, Lebanon, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, and Puerto Rico. Spec project info: https://specollective.org/ https://twitter.com/specollective https://opencollective.com/spec