THOMAS MICHAEL SWENSEN portrait
  • Assistant Professor, Ethnic Studies
  • Affiliate Faculty , Environmental Humanities Graduate Program
801-581-5206

Honors & Awards

  • Certificate . Institute on Youth Research, School of Social Work, National Autonomous University of Mexico, 08/19/2018
  • A nine-month residential fellowship for a Native scholar working in the humanities or the social sciences. Katrin H. Lamon Fellowship School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 09/01/2017
  • A Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship assisting scholars who are dedicated to American Indian Studies and are committed to University teaching and research. Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign., 08/01/2011
  • For work on the We Shall Remain: Utah Indian Curriculum Project. Autry Prize in Public History, Western History Association , 08/15/2010
  • For We Shall Remain: The Utah Indian Curriculum Project. Leadership in History Award of Merit, American Association of State and Local History, 01/06/2010
  • Research Fellow in Public Programming. Utah Natural History Museum, University of Utah., 01/2010
  • Consulting with museums . Museum Training Fellowship, National Association of Tribal Preservation Officers, 01/01/2010
  • For We Shall Remain. Honorable Mention Outstanding Public History Award National Council on Public History, 01/01/2010
  • For We Shall Remain. Utah Best of State Education: Curriculum Development Award, 01/01/2010
  • For We Shall Remain: The Utah Indian Curriculum Project. Leadership in History Award of Merit, American Association of State and Local History, 01/01/2010
  • Graduate Fellowship. The University of California Prestigious Chancellor’s Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley. , 01/01/2005
  • Scholarship from Woody Island tribe. Woody Island Tribal Council Scholarship, Woody Island Tribe. , 01/01/2001

In the Media

  • "Here’s how the U is Honoring its Native American Students for Native American Heritage Month." Stevie Shaughnessey. The Daily Utah Chronicle. 11/19/2022.
  • "National Parks and the U’s Campus: Respecting Native Land." The Daily Utah Chronicle. Interviewed by Devin K. Oldroyd. 11/03/2021. https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2021/11/03/national...
  • Interviewed for Sustainability podcast. 08/09/2021. https://sustainability.utah.edu/news-events/sustai...
  • "The Strange Business of Alaska Native Corporations and ICE immigrant Detention." By René Kladzyk. El Paso Matters. 01/26/2021. https://elpasomatters.org/2021/01/26/the-strange-b...
  • The Shooting of John T. Williams, 10 Years Later. The Seattle Met article by James Ross Gardner. 08/26/2020. https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2020...
  • Sep 4, 2018 • Si hay una expresión cultural que ha incidido en la forma de pensar nuestras sociedades críticamente (desde los sectores populares urbanos), de exponer el ecocidio que estamos generando (y su lema “No hay futuro”) y de plantear una propia identidad cultural (con su música y su estilo de vida), ése es el movimiento punk. Obviamente siempre ha cargado una serie de estigmas y descalificaciones desde las perspectivas políticas, sociales, culturales dominantes. Es por ello que un grupo de investigadores de diversos contextos de América Latina y Estados Unidos se reunirán para presentar y dialogar sobre sus estudios alrededor del punk y las juventudes en América, pero no sólo privilegiando los discursos anglocéntricos y eurocéntricos (sobre todo referentes a Estados Unidos e Inglaterra), sino visibilizando las experiencias y manifestaciones de la cultura juvenil punk desde contextos latinoamericanos. 09/08/2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcEqITomXCI&t=4704...
  • Punk y Culturas Juveniles en las Américas. Mesa Tres Mirador Universitario UNAM Si hay una expresión cultural que ha incidido en la forma de pensar nuestras sociedades críticamente (desde los sectores populares urbanos), de exponer el ecocidio que estamos generando (y su lema “No hay futuro”) y de plantear una propia identidad cultural (con su música y su estilo de vida), ése es el movimiento punk. Obviamente siempre ha cargado una serie de estigmas y descalificaciones desde las perspectivas políticas, sociales, culturales dominantes. Es por ello que un grupo de investigadores de diversos contextos de América Latina y Estados Unidos se reunirán para presentar y dialogar sobre sus estudios alrededor del punk y las juventudes en América, pero no sólo privilegiando los discursos anglocéntricos y eurocéntricos (sobre todo referentes a Estados Unidos e Inglaterra), sino visibilizando las experiencias y manifestaciones de la cultura juvenil punk desde contextos latinoamericanos. 09/04/2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcEqITomXCI
  • The Great Land. Presentation at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In this project the term “The Great Land” ties indigenous experience to the environment by focusing on compulsory Native belonging to Russia and later the United States amid ecological tragedies and land rights efforts that were paramount in shaping Alaska as a state in the union. From a Russian colony to a U.S. territory, Alaska saw the continued tension between harvesting natural resources and a Native labor force that fought for citizenship as well as for the recognition of their sovereignty. 10/04/2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMhMxEC0GXc

Internal Service

  • Transform Dean Search Committee. Member of Committee , 10/22/2022 - 03/14/2023. College service.
  • Environmental Humanities Scholarship Committee. Member of Scholarship Committee, 03/15/2022 - 05/15/2022. Other service.
  • Transform Research Committee. Member of Committee , 01/01/2022 - 08/17/2022. College service.
  • Environmental Humanities program. Scholarship Committee. Reviewer, 03/02/2021 - 04/10/2021. Other service.
  • Environmental Humanities Summer Grant Review Committee, Best Graduate Student Essay Committee. Reviewer, 02/07/2021 - 02/15/2021. Other service.
  • 2020 Committee for Environmental Humanities Graduate Program Admissions . Committee member, 01/19/2021 - 03/26/2021. Other service.
  • School of Cultural and Social Transformation Research Committee. Committee member, 01/01/2021 - 12/31/2021. College service.
  • Environmental Humanities Thesis Committee . Committee member, 01/01/2021 - 05/15/2021. Other service.
  • 2018-2020 Academic Senate. University of Utah. Senate member, 08/15/2018 - present. University service.

Community Partnership

  • Koniag Shareholder Committee. 01/28/2023 - 01/28/2025
  • Koniag Shareholder Committee. 01/27/2022 - 01/27/2023
  • Koniag Education Foundation Board of Directors, 01/01/2022 - 12/31/2022. Hours Served: 220. 01/01/2022 - 12/31/2022
  • Koniag Education Foundation Board of Directors. 01/01/2021 - 12/31/2021
  • Koniag Education Foundation strategic planning session. Kodiak Brown Bear Center. Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak Island. Includes Gala event held in Kodiak, as well. 05/23/2018 - 05/28/2018
  • Koniag Education Foundation strategic planning session. Anchorage, Alaska. 05/23/2016 - 05/28/2016