Heather Waldroup

Heather Waldroup is Professor in the Department of Art and serves as Associate Director of the Honors College at Appalachian State University. She is also the Honors Academic Mentor for the College of Fine and Applied Arts, Humanities, and School of Music. Her office is located at 276 Appalachian Hall in Boone, NC.

She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, an M.A. and B.A. from Florida State University, and completed a CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources at the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges.

Her research examines the intersection of Western and Oceanic visual cultures since the late 19th century, with emphases on:

• Colonial photography and its sociopolitical implications
• Contemporary Indigenous artistic practices in Pacific regions
• Museum collection methodologies and display ethics
• Cultural representation in transnational contexts

Fieldwork includes archival research at the British Library and collaborations with Indigenous communities in the Cook Islands and Marquesas Islands.

Her publications consistently explore themes of colonialism, gender, and visual narratives across art history and cultural studies, with recurring analysis of historical photography and Pacific cultural heritage. Research often engages with figures like Paul Gauguin and Beatrice Grimshaw to critique power dynamics in representation.

She has received the CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources. Curatorial projects include:

• Guest curation of 'Focus on Photographs' at Scripps College (2013)
• 'Sail!' exhibition featuring Jewel Castro's work at Appalachian State (2011)