Nikki Gorrell has been selected as the CWI Faculty of Distinction for March. After attaining both her B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from Boise State University, Nikki began her teaching career at the College of Western Idaho in 2010. She became the sole full-time faculty member in the Anthropology Program in 2012. Nikki has worked hard to ensure Anthropology majors have had opportunities to collaborate with state and local partners such as ongoing urban archaeology research with the University of Idaho and participation at the Northwest Evolution, Ecology, and Human Behavior Symposium at Boise State University. In 2016-2017 the findings of the three-year Petroglyph Recording Project documenting the rock art at Celebration Park (near Melba) will be finalized with the publication of an extensive five-part volume. In April 2017 Nikki is looking forward to hosting the national conference for the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges (SACC), an organization she is currently serving a three-year term as President. When she is not teaching, Nikki follows her research pursuits in the Basque Country (Spain and France) as well as indigenous communities in Mexico. Nikki’ s past times include bicycling, organic gardening, and camping with her partner, artist David Rudzinski.
Nikki was nominated by a colleague who appreciates her unselfishness in doing whatever needs to be done to support the mission of CWI, for giving students the opportunity to preserve culture and history in our local area, and maintaining the highest academic standards while doing all she can to help students meet their educational and professional goals.
