Rebecca A. Stephenson Kurashina
Rebecca A. Stephenson Kurashina graduated from Hamline University with a BA in Anthropology in 1969. Born and raised in Bemidji, Minnesota, she is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Guam, where she has been on the faculty since January 1977. Her MA and PhD in Anthropology were awarded from the University of Oregon in 1971 and 1976, respectively. Her many publications and conference papers address topics such as sociocultural change, youth, values, ethnicity, tourism, and globalization. Her most recent book, The Challenges of Globalization: Cultures in Transition in the Pacific-Asia Region (University Press of America, 2004) was co-edited with Lan-Hung Nora Chiang and John Lidstone. She was named Professor of the Year in Teaching on her campus in 2002. She was the Co-Principal Investigator for two projects funded by EARTHWATCH- one on Guam in 1980-1981, and one in the Cook Islands, Polynesia, from 1985-1989. She was the Co-Director of the Balinese Macaque Project in Indonesia from 1999-2002. She has also conducted extensive field research on Guam and in Micronesia. She was named a life fellow of the Pacific Science Association in 2003, the first and only female at present to achieve the prestigious fellow status since 1962.
