Biography

Erin Riggs, Director-Curator Utah Valley University Herbarium, museum acronym UVSC. I also teach the fine art of tapestry through our Extended Education program. Im from Portland, Oregon and graduated with my M.S from Portland State University.

I fell in love with the science of botany as an undergraduate and moved into the museum curation world as my career progressed and enjoy teaching the about the value of herbaria and other natural history collections through the lens of decolonizing methodologies. I am also working on the floristics of Grand Gulch. I love working with undergraduates and I hope to convey the importance of scientific investigation and inquiry and communication and collaboration and guidance within indigenous communities in Utah. I have expertise in grasses, deep training in plant morphology and taxonomic determination, and special skills in herbarium museum conservation.

Outside university work I love backpacking, kayaking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing. Artistically I teach and weave tapestry, historic textile weaving for Timberline Lodge. And I explore North American, First Nations complex flat braiding; inkle, card weaving and spinning. I also enjoy playing in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Teaching