Michele Stephens received her B.A. in History from Rutgers University in 1999 and her M.A. in History in 2004 from California State University, Los Angeles.  Her M.A. focused on the indigenous peoples of Mexico and North America.  While working on her M.A., she gave two conference papers, including one at the Pacific Coast Council for Latin American Studies.  Ms. Stephens is now ABD and completing a dissertation on the Huichol Indians of Mexico and their complex social, cultural and religious interactions with the Mexican authorities between 1810 and 1910.  She has received a Morgan dissertation research grant from the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma. Ms. Stephens has taught an upper division class titled “Indigenous Peoples of Mexico” and will be teaching both halves of the Latin American survey upon returning from Mexico.