

Jill Pfeiffer has been teaching at Rio Hondo since 2005. She completed master’s degrees in cultural anthropology and psychology from California State University, Los Angeles and has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her areas of specialization include religion and medical anthropology. She has published articles on shamanism and has been involved with research with a few local medical institutes including AIDS Project Los Angeles in the past. In her spare time, she travels all over the world visiting archaeological sites, temples, and different cultures to spice up her lectures with pictures and stories. The pictures included are of recent trips to Machu Picchu in Peru; Angkor Wat in Cambodia; Besakih Temple in Bali, Indonesia; and The Royal Palace Temple in Bangkok, Thailand.

Adam Wetsman began teaching at Rio Hondo College in 2000 after receiving his anthropology degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also has a degree in sociology and a law degree. His graduate research investigated mate preferences from an evolutionary perspective. He has traveled extensively over the years to Africa (pictured in Kenya with his family in the early 1980s), Asia (pictured in front of the Taj Mahal in India in the 1990s), Europe (pictured in front of Charles Darwin’s house in the 2000s while teaching in Rio Hondo’s Study Abroad program), and the Americas (with his family in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador in the 2010s).