Thomas Porcello
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Director of Media Studies Program, and Associate Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs
Blodgett 318 / 845.437.7637 / thporcello@vassar.edu
Website: http://faculty.vassar.edu/thporcel
B.A., University of Arizona; M.A., Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin
 

     Thomas Porcello joined the Vassar faculty in 1998. He received his Ph.D. from the Anthropology Department at The University of Texas-Austin where he specialized in linguistic anthropology and the anthropology of music.
 
Mr. Porcello's regular course offerings include introductory linguistics, language and gender, rotating topics courses in sociolinguistics, and the anthropology of music. Advanced seminars include Sound, Verbal Art and Performance, and Language and Music.
 
Mr. Porcello has done extensive research in sound recording studios, examining linguistic and musical interaction processes, as well as speech about music. His current research centers on the structuring of iconicity and metaphor in verbal descriptions of music. Articles and reviews have appeared in Ethnomusicology, American Anthropologist, City & Society, and Popular Music.
 
In addition to his work in the department of Anthropology, Mr. Porcello actively participates in Vassar’s Media Studies Development Project and Urban Studies program, and has taught in the American Culture program.