Professor Sara L. Gonzalez has agreed to serve as the Quaternary Research Center (QRC) Director, effective July 1. In this role she will continue building the interdisciplinary intellectual portfolio of the QRC and broadening the involvement and impact of the QRC across the university.

Gonzalez is an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington and Curator of Archaeology the Burke Museum of Natural History. An anthropological archaeologist by training, she works at the intersection of Indigenous studies, tribal historic preservation and public history. Her research contributes to the growing field of Indigenous and community-based archaeologies, which feature the direct engagement of Indigenous peoples and are committed to the ethical integration of Indigenous knowledge and methods into archaeological practice and heritage management. She currently co-directs Field Methods in Indigenous Archaeology with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon’s Historic Preservation Office, which enhances the capacity of the tribe as well as archaeologists to care for, protect and represent tribal heritage for future generations. In addition to this work, Gonzalez is a co-founder of the Indigenous Archaeology Collective, a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars within archaeology and related fields that provides mentorship to Indigenous archaeology scholars and advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Sara succeeds Ben Fitzhugh, who will be returning to his full-time appointment as a professor in the Department of Anthropology and continuing member of the QRC community. He took on the role of the QRC Director in January 2014. One highlight of Ben’s tenure included the QRC’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 2019, which celebrated past achievements of the QRC while looking to the future.