Intersecting Interests: Tribal Knowledge and Research Communities

Committee Members

Gyda Swaney, Associate Professor, UM Psychology
Wade Davies, Chairperson, UM Native American Studies
Linda Juneau, Tribal Liaison, UM President’s Office
Blakely Brown, Associate Professor, UM Health and Human Performance Department
Denise Juneau, MT OPI Office of Indian Education Director
Gordon Belcourt, Executive Director, MT-WY Tribal Leaders Council
Maylinn Smith, UM Indian Law Clinic Director
Ray Cross, Professor, UM Law School
Wayne Stein, MSU Native American Studies Director
Julie Cajune, Salish-Kootenai Tribal History Project Director
Norma Bixby, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Education Director
Ellen Swaney, Director of American Indian/Minority Achievement, MT Commissioner of Higher Education Office

Bob McAnally, Vice-President, Ft. Peck Tribal College
Kate Shanley, Associate Professor, UM Native American Studies
Robin Saha, Assistant Professor, UM Environmental Studies
Darrell Kipp, Director, Piegan Institute
Sean Chandler, President, Ft. Belnap Community College
Rick Van den Pol, Director, UM Division of Educational Research and Service
Roberta D. Evans, Dean, UM School of Educational Leadership
Carol Murray, Blackfeet Tribal History Project Director

Sponsors

The following organizations and individuals are supporting this event. We are grateful for their contributions.

The University of Montana-Missoula is a proud sponsor this event. UM is a leading research institution that celebrates diversity, promotes academic achievement, and excellence in scholarly research. UM houses a number of strong academic and social support programs for Native American and Alaska Native students and is pleased to serve as a major financial supporter to this conference.

The Division of Educational Research and Service at UM’s School of Education is pleased to provide logistical, personnel, and financial support to this Tribal Knowledge and Research conference. DERS is home to the National Native Children’s Trauma Center funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. DERS believes in the importance of tribal ownership of data related to that Center’s work, as well as the many other school safety, childhood mental health, and early intervention programs we provide in Indian Country.

Other states are looking to Montana as a leader in the efforts to make the promise of Indian Education for All a reality, and to ensure that Indian students are offered an opportunity for a quality education. The Montana Office of Public Instruction is therefore offering scholarships to cover the registration fees to this conference for the first 20 Montana school administrators or educators who register.

…we should be asking not “Who owns native culture?”, but “How can we promote respectful treatment of native cultures and indigenous forms of self-expression with mass societies?” …All of us-native and non-native alike- have a stake in decisions about the control of culture, for those decisions will determine the future health of our imperiled intellectual and artistic commons.