Pӓivi Hoikkala grew up in Finland where she attended public schools and received her first Master’s degree in English, with minors in Italian, art history, archeology, and adult education. An interest in history and Native American issues took Hoikkala to Utah State University where she completed a second Master’s in history. At Arizona State University, her doctoral work focused on Native American and women’s history, and the history of the American West. After holding a position at Loyola Marymount University and teaching at Santa Monica College, Hoikkala came to Cal Poly Pomona in 1997. In addition to teaching in the history department, she has served in positions in the Faculty Center, International Center and Service Learning. Her publications include chapters in several books about the American Indian experience; Dimensions of International Migration, edited with Dorothy Wills; and Chronicling California: A Primary Source Reader, edited with Eileen Wallis. Her latest publication is an interactive digital US history survey, The Story of US. Hoikkala is currently researching Finnish miners and radical labor in Butte, Montana.
