Dr. Sanchez earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology at the University of California Santa Barbara. Her dissertation fieldwork at an Ancient Maya settlement was funded by a Fulbright-Hays scholarship. She holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from California State University Fullerton.  Dr. Sanchez has worked with academic organizations and community based organizations since the 1980s on topics of Central American refugee rights, community health, Indigenous rights, Ethnic Studies, and Chicanx/Latinx identity.

Publications include (partial listing):

2012. “The Apotheosis of Frida & Ché: Secular Saints and Fetishized Commodities.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. 24 (2).

2010. “Monumental Architecture and Preclassic Occupation at La Union in Western Honduras.” Mexicon: Journal of Mesoamerican Studies, Vol. XXXII: 109-114.

2010. “My Second Life as a Cyber Border Crosser.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, Volume 2 (5). The Metaverse Assembled. http://www.jvwresearch.org

2008. “Pitfalls in Archaeological Fieldwork: On Gender, Ethics, and Danger.” Practicing Anthropology, Winter 2008 30 (1): 54-58.

I am a dedicated teacher that seeks to provide a classroom setting that encourages active learning and academic excellence. I also seek to create spaces that permit students with different perspectives, experiences, and cultures to engage with the material presented in class in meaningful ways. Overall, I see myself as a transformative pedagogue – that is, I am concerned with not merely facilitating learning, but am seeking to empower students to be autonomous thinkers and agents of social change.

Ancient Latin American Cultures

Anthropology

Contemporary Latin American Cultures

Ethnic Studies

Latinx and Chicanx experience

Religion

Virtual Worlds

ANTH 2351: Cultural Anthropology