Faculty Spotlight: Anthony Balzano, Ph.D.

Staff Writer

Photo by J. Jeffreys

Anthony Balzano, a cultural anthropologist, has taught full-time in higher education since 1983, save for two years of dissertation fieldwork (1985-1986) on land tenure arrangements and the ability to make a living in rural Haiti. There, Anthony honed his craft in ethnographic research in the cultures that grace rural Haiti’s dynamic landscape. For Anthony, Haiti proved to be an ideal location for his research as its social fabric is a mosaic combining African, indigenous, and European influences. 

This combination sharpened Anthony’s resolve in Anthropology. As a result, Anthony maintains an active ethnographic research program in the Fond-des-Blancs valley on Haiti's southern peninsula and among émigrés from this valley now living in Stamford (CT), Boston, and Montreal. Dr. Balzano completed his doctoral dissertation at Rutgers University in 1989.  Before attending graduate school, he completed a tour of duty as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, teaching chemistry and biology in the Kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa.  He is a Professor of Anthropology & Sociology at Sussex County Community College and facilitates its Archaeology Laboratory in association with the Skylands Archaeology Research Program.  He has been a full-time faculty member at Sussex CCC since the fall of 1989.  

Photo by J. Jeffreys

He has presented numerous scholarly papers on rural Haiti and anthropology curriculum development, especially on issues related to anti-racism.  Dr. Balzano has held several leadership roles with the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges, a section of the American Anthropological Association, and the American Federation of Teachers-New Jersey.  Dr. Balzano has 30 years of experience with collective bargaining, representing faculty in higher education.  He co-chairs the AFT-NJ Social Justice Committee and is president of AFT Local 4780.