Tiffiny Tung, Ph.D.
Tiffiny Tung is the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Gertrude Conaway Professor of Social and Natural Sciences and Professor of Anthropology. Her portfolio includes undergraduate education, including the promotion and support of research by undergraduates and the faculty who advise them. As Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, she collaborates with all Schools and Colleges to ensure robust support and advocacy for all Vanderbilt undergraduates. Her portfolio includes oversight of the academic programming and Faculty Heads in the Residential College system, as well as the campus units that offer experiential learning opportunities at Vanderbilt and in diverse global settings.
She was the Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Associate Provost for Doctoral Education, and the Chair of the Faculty Council in the College of A&S. She has received the Graduate Mentoring Award from the College of A&S, the Mentoring Award from the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, the Chancellor’s Cup for excellence in student learning outside the classroom, and the Madison Saratt and Jeffrey Nordhaus teaching awards.
Tung is an anthropological bioarchaeologist who explores how society structured health outcomes for populations in the past. In particular, she examines how past instances of state power, imperialism, and colonialism impacted (and continue to impact) people and their communities. She evaluates these topics by analyzing mummies and skeletons from archaeological contexts, primarily in the Peruvian Andes, to investigate how imperial policies and practices structured health status, diet, exposure to violence, and lived experience of ruling and subject peoples.
She is also the Director of the Bioarchaeology and Stable Isotope Research Lab, where numerous undergraduate and PhD students have conducted research. She is the author of the book Violence, Ritual, and the Wari Empire (University Press of Florida, 2012) and has authored or co-authored approximately 60 peer reviewed articles in journals and edited volumes.