Above: Joe Yrechetta, UW Native Organization of Indigenous Scholars, Co-President.
by Augustine McCaffery, Academic Affairs and Planning, The Graduate School and Advisor, Native Organization of Indigenous Scholars
Alan Parker (Chippewa Cree Nation), Director, Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at The Evergreen State College, was the keynote speaker. He established the first Master of Public Administration program in tribal government at Evergreen. He spoke about his national and international work with Indigenous people over the years that have included tribes in the Pacific Northwest, First Nations in Canada, and Indigenous peoples around the Pacific Rim.The 12th Annual Symposium of Native and Indigenous Scholarship, hosted by the U.W. Native Organization of Indigenous Scholars, included Indigenous graduate and professional students, U.W. alumni, faculty from other colleges and universities, tribal community leaders, and high school students from the United States and Canada who presented on their research, scholarship, and program initiatives. The presenters’ work reflected the symposium theme in various forms such as digital storytelling, documentary film, curriculum development, photography, library and information services by and for indigenous communities, poetry, Indigenous activism through social media, and an analysis of the cultural shaping of senses as a Kanien’kehá:ka/Mohawk scholar in a Coast Salish influenced cultural environment.
Approximately 80 people attended the symposium. Students of the Chief Kitsap Academy at the Suquamish Reservation performed their tribal songs and presented on their work on “Ocean Acidification in the Clearwater.”
The Native Organization of Indigenous Scholars symposium was sponsored by Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program in the Graduate School, Canadian Studies Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, American Indian Studies, Native Voices Program, The Information School, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, Comparative History of Ideas Program, Graduate and Professional Student Senate, the Acequia Institute, Husky Union Building, the Robert Mason Fund for Student Innovation, and the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity.