Sociology and Anthropology

Dr. Cynthia Fowler

Associate Professor/Chair of Sociology and Anthropology

Dr. Cynthia Fowler holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in anthropology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii. She teaches introduction to cultural anthropology and communications, diversity, global health, ecological anthropology, medical anthropology, ethnography, ethnographic film and cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania. During Interim she has taught courses on water and society, fire ecology of the Southern Appalachians and holistic health, among others. Her main area of study concerns biosocial dynamics on Sumba Island in Eastern Indonesia. Another area of study occurs at the intersections of fire ecology and science and technology studies. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Indonesia, Hawaii, Vietnam, Brazil and the U.S. South. Fowler is committed to academic and engaged scholarship, which for her involves teaching undergraduate anthropology courses, performing service for the college, engaging with the community through participation in local and professional organizations, reviewing and editing academic publications and conducting research and writing. Away from Wofford she can usually be found in the garden, forests, rivers, and lakes with a hoe in her hand, on her mountain bike or her paddleboard.

Dr. Alysa Handelsman

Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Community Sustainability Specialist

B.A., Northwestern University
M.A. and Ph.D., University of Michigan

Dr. Alysa Handelsman has been engaged in ethnographic research projects in Ecuador for the past two decades focusing specifically on children and youth cultures and publishing on girlhood, motherhood, poverty and decolonial research design. Since 2018, she has taught a yearlong community sustainability seminar and has been involved in designing and implementing programming in Spartanburg with Wofford College students and community partners. The focus of this programming has been on building sustainable communities through extracurricular opportunities for children, youth and older adults. Through this course, Handelsman’s students and their community partners run over 20 programs in the Northside, Southside, Highland, Una-Saxon and Drayton communities. Handelsman graduated from the City of Spartanburg’s Citizen Academy in 2021 and from the Spartanburg County Foundation’s Grassroots Leadership Development Institute in 2022. She is part of several community committees and boards that include Live Healthy Spartanburg’s Community Engagement Committee, the city’s Unity Week planning committee, Spartanburg Housing’s Marche Gault Scholarship steering committee, Spartanburg County Foundation’s Grants Review Committee, the South Carolina Centro Latino advisory board and the Grassroots Leadership Development Institute alumni advisory board. Handelsman serves as a board member of Strategic Spartanburg and Oak and Ave Impact. She works closely with partners at Spartanburg Housing, Cleveland Academy of Leadership, Mary H. Wright Elementary School, Carver Middle School, Northside Development Group, Kids’ Club and the Spartanburg city Parks and Recreation Department. For two years, she actively worked with students and partners in the Una, Saxon and Arcadia neighborhoods to study the intersection of condemned properties and neighborhood wellness. Last summer, she was part of a research team that looked at development in the Drayton community from the perspective of its residents. She is currently working with Spartanburg Housing and a team of Wofford students to better understand resident perspectives on employment across public housing communities in Spartanburg. Handelsman is also part of a mixed-methods research team engaged in a multiyear project across District 7 schools that explores how youth imagine the future of their neighborhoods. This year, she and her team worked with third graders at Meeting Street Academy as part of the Youth Perspectives project. Handelsman was named the 2019 Paul Harris Fellow by the North Spartanburg Rotary Club. She received the Sullivan Foundation’s 2023 Faculty Regional Service Award. Handelsman was featured at the 2023 Mary L. Thomas Leadership Luncheon for her civic engagement in Spartanburg, and she was nominated for the 2024 Liz Patterson Civil Service Award, which is part of the Young Democrats of Spartanburg County’s Spark Awards. She was also recognized at the Spartanburg County Foundation’s Women’s History Month exhibit as a “Women’s History Maker.” Handelsman loves Spartanburg and Wofford and looks forward to continued collaborative, community-driven programming and research with students and community partners.