Dr. Teresa Tellechea is a Cultural Anthropologist originally from Madrid, Spain, where she completed her BA in Philosophy and PhD at Autonomous University of Madrid. She completed her doctoral coursework and research at CU Boulder for her dissertation on the intercultural aspects of disability in the United States. She has spent more than twenty years applying ethnographic tools to issues in different fields, including public and mental health, agriculture, criminal justice, education, and foreign affairs. She enjoys bringing her professional experience to her classes in the Anthropology Department. Dr. Tellechea’s applied work has focused on the socio-cultural dimensions of health disparities, human rights, and social injustice faced by minority groups. She has a keen interest in social documentary, having worked on visual ethnographic projects for State Department-sponsored Young Iraqi Leadership Program, West Bank Refugee Camp project through United Nations, and a freelance work on the front lines of the Balkan War. Before returning to Colorado last year, Dr. Tellechea advised U.S. Embassy officials in identifying and understanding political, religious and civil society trends and developments in Sri Lanka and Maldives. She looks forward to working on similar ethnographic projects in the Middle East where she will be living the next two years.