Glenabah Martinez (Taos/Diné), an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico and Director of the Institute for American Indian Education was born and raised in Taos Pueblo. Glenabah’s research focuses on Indigeneity, youth and education with an emphasis on Indigenous youth, critical pedagogy, and the politics of social studies curriculum.  She captures these research areas in her 2010 book, Native Pride: The politics of curriculum and instruction in an urban, public high school.  She is co-editor of The Yazzie Case: Building a Public Education System For Our Indigenous Future released by UNM Press in 2023. Prior to achieving her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, she taught high school social studies for 14 years. She works with the schools and districts throughout New Mexico on social justice participatory action projects directly related to the histories of Indigenous Peoples in NM. She is co-editor of Indigenous Wisdom: Centuries of Pueblo Impact in New Mexico. She has taught Native American Studies to Indigenous youth incarcerated at the Youth Diagnostic Development Center in Albuquerque

Christine Sims, Ph.D, is from Acoma Pueblo and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education & Human Sciences at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She is also Director of the American Indian Language Policy Research & Teacher Training Center that she established in 2008. She completed her doctoral work at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on issues of heritage language maintenance and revitalization among American Indian tribes. The Center engages in public advocacy for Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization initiatives and provides year-round training support for Native language instructors serving in community and school-based language initiatives. The Native American Language Teachers’ Institute (NALTI), a weeklong summer training program sponsored by the Center is held at the UNM campus for Native speakers from various tribes throughout the southwest as well as from other regions of the United States. The Center’s outreach to tribes also includes training support for language initiatives in early childhood education, an increasingly critical area of concern for many tribes.

Shawn Secatero, Ph.D. is a member of the Canoncito Band of Navajo and is an Associate Professor in the UNM Teacher Education, Educational Leadership program. His research concentrates on holistic learning, Indigenous leadership, dual enrollment, rural education, and higher education. Dr. Secatero has 30 years of teaching experience in state and tribally controlled schools and 20 years of leadership experience that includes the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Canoncito School to Work Program, NMSU Grants Native American Program and other Native American leadership initiatives. He has published and presented research on his highly acclaimed Corn Pollen Model that has inspired organizations, students, and schools in promoting research, service, and teaching. Dr. Secatero coordinates the UNM Native Educational Sovereignty in Teaching and Leadership (NESTL) program that encompasses several cohorts including the American Leadership in Doctoral Education (NALE), Promoting our Leadership, Learning, and Empowering our Nations (POLLEN), American Indian Professional Educators Collaborative (AIPEC), and serves as a member of the UNM COEHS Scholarship Committee. He also serves as a guest faculty at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University and advises the UNM Society of Native American Graduate Students. Also, he is the founder of the Striking Eagle Native American Invitational which is one of the largest Native high school events that bridges athletics with a leadership academy at UNM.

Lloyd L. Lee, Ph.D. Is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation, Chair and Professor of the Department of Native American Studies, Director of the Center for Regional Studies (CRS), and editor of the Wicazo Sa Review journal. He is the author of Diné Identity in a Twenty-First Century World (2020), Diné Masculinities: Conceptualizations and Reflections (2013), co-author of Native Americans and the University of New Mexico (2017), edited Nihikéyah: Navajo Homeland (2023), Navajo Sovereignty: Understandings and Visions of the Diné People (2017), Diné Perspectives (2014), and co-edited The Yazzie Case: Building a Public Education System for Our Indigenous Future (2023). His research focuses on Native American identity, masculinities, leadership, philosophies, and Indigenous community building.   

Terri Flowerday (Swiss/Lakota), is a Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Individual, Family & Community Education and Chester C. Travelstead Distinguished Fellow at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She came to New Mexico 20 years ago from Nebraska after teaching at the University of Nebraska and University of Notre Dame. She earned degrees in Secondary Education Social Studies (B.S.), Educational Psychology (M.A.) and Psychological and Cultural Studies (Ph.D.).  Dr. Flowerday’s research focuses on student motivation for academics especially among Indigenous and under-represented populations. She is interested in creating pathways for Indigenous students to successfully transition to post-secondary education, and much of her work focuses on mentoring graduate students as they prepare to assume roles in institutions of higher education. Dr. Flowerday teaches courses in Motivation, Cognitive and Behavioral Learning Strategies, and College Teaching Seminar.

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Dr. Werito is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Health Sciences at the University of New Mexico in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Socio-cultural Studies. Dr. Werito teaches courses in American Indian Education, Bilingual Education, and Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies. Dr. Werito’s past and current research examines the experiences of Indigenous youth in education, identifying exemplary practices in the education of Indigenous youth, and using community engaged approaches in health research. His recent research projects examined community engaged research partnerships, community defined understandings of wellbeing, successful aging with a health research focus, and vaccine equity.

TBA