Prof. Gifford holds a PhD in Anthropology from Boston University, a BA in Anthropology from CSU Northridge, and is a graduate of Middlebury College’s Arabic Language School, as well as Damascus University’s Arabic language program in Syria. She was a Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the National Science Foundation at both the UCLA Department of Anthropology and the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan. For her dissertation research, Prof. Gifford held a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship in Damascus, Syria and a Dean’s Fellowship at Boston University. Prior to arriving at USF, Professor Gifford taught courses at UCLA, Scripps College, and Boston University.