Education
PhD Anthropology, UCLA
BA Anthropology; minor in Museums Studies, Beloit College
Biography
Dr. Colleen Delaney is Professor of Anthropology at CSU Channel Islands. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in archaeological Anthropology from UCLA, and a B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Museum Studies from Beloit College. As an anthropologist she is committed to teaching all students the value of critical thinking, cultural awareness, and cultural understanding in the global world of today. Prior to her arrival as CSU Channel Islands, Dr. Delaney held full time positions at Moorpark College and CSU Fullerton.
Dr. Delaney’s specific archaeological interests focus on human adaptations to the natural and cultural realms. As a broadly trained anthropologist, her research interests are diverse and interdisciplinary. Primary research foci include human adaptations to local natural and cultural world environments, sociocultural interaction and identity, social inequality, emergent complexity, and taphonomic processes/actualistic studies. Dr. Delaney has conducted fieldwork throughout the United States as well as Australia and Germany.
She engages in research in several areas:
a) documenting both the Chumash (and their ancestors) habitation of Ventura County area prior to European colonization, as well as the activities of the multicultural immigrant populations during the last two hundred years.
b) employing ground stone bowls and mortars to trace prehistoric exchange networks. This project is in collaboration with faculty and students at CSU Northridge.
c) comparison of cultural heritage and perspectives on historic preservation around the world, focusing on Germany, the Bailiwick of Jersey, the United States, and Australia.
Dr. Delaney previously published under the surname Delaney-Rivera.
Recent publications include:
Book-- Rancho Guadalasca: Last Ranch of California’s Central Coast. The History Press (Arcadia Publishing), Charleston, SC.
Article-- “ A Preliminary Petrologic and Provenance Analysis of Ground Stone Artifacts from the Northern Channel Islands and Coastal Southern Alta California”. California Archaeology. 2021. Authors: C.M. Delaney, S. Couplin, K. Marsaglia, J. Lawrence, and K. Savage.
When not teaching, Dr. Delaney enjoys reading fantasy and mystery books, hiking, traveling, and spending time her children.
Representative Courses Taught
- ANTH 357 How Did They Do That? STEM in the Ancient and Medieval World
- ANTH 105 Introduction to Archaeology
- ANTH 445 The Sea Coast through Time
- ANTH 486 Experimental Archaeology