Sophia Perdikaris is an archaeologist specializing in the analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean. She has been excavating in Norway for the last twelve years, in Iceland for seven years, and in Barbuda for five years and takes students with her in the field, to both Iceland and Barbuda. Her particular research interests are in historical ecology and global climate change. Her most recent project, "Islands of Change" focuses on the three tiered approach defined by NABO (North Atlantic Biocultural Organization - www.nabohome.org) where scientific data are used to investigate how humans change the environment, how the environment affects human decision making, and in cross cultural interactions. Her early work concentrated on the transition from the Viking Age to medieval times in North Norway and how the early commercialization of the cod fisheries (AD 1200) affected the people and the economy of the area. She is currently involved in cooperative projects with institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. , Iceland, Greenland, Faroes, Canada and Barbuda.

Lee Quinby is a Distinguished Lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York City. She specializes in the study of apocalyptic and millennial belief in American society.

Personal Statement

I love teaching topics that intrigue us, captivate our imagination, and challenge our assumptions about what we know and how we know it. My courses on "Imagining the End of the World" and "Sexuality and American Culture" strive to engage students to think about these issues from an historical perspective, analyze it through psychological and sociological studies, and reflect on how popular culture shapes our views about them.

My yearlong Honors Thesis Colloquium provides students with an opportunity for in-depth research and analysis of a topic that stirs their curiosity and motivates a desire to share what they have learned about it with others. As a class, we meet to brainstorm about topics, focus and refine ideas, and offer advice on research, revision, and reorganization.

I have always found that my teaching and scholarship go hand in hand. Class discussions inevitably sharpen my own understanding of these complex and ever-changing subjects of study. Teaching also expands my own interests. Over the past year, thanks to the Macaulay Student Research Program, I was able to embark on a whole new area of attention and creativity by making a documentary film.

Selected Publications

Author: Millennial Seduction (1999), Anti-Apocalypse (1994), and Freedom, Foucault, and the Subject of America (1991).

Editor/Co-editor: Reel Revelations: Apocalypse and Film (2010), Gender and Apocalyptic Desire (2006), Genealogy and Literature (1995), Feminism and Foucault (1988), and Women's Studies Quarterly special issue on "Women Confronting the New Technologies" (2001).

Film: “Facing the Waves,” Directed by Lee Quinby, Edited by Daniel Cowen, Hunter at Macaulay, ’10. Screened at Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, CO, 2010.