John Simpson

John Simpson, a Seattle native, completed his BA in Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington and his Master’s in Education at Seattle University. John has a wide range of international experiences; he has served as a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh, as an English Language Fellow with the US Department of State in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and most recently as a Clinton Fellow with the American Indian Foundation in Calcutta, West Bengal.

Research interests: Educational institutions within the Arctic, especially those that cater their curriculums to indigenous learning communities. How is cultural sensitivity taken into consideration when developing learning materials for indigenous learning communities? What difficulties and challenges do indigenous students face when culturally insensitive instructional materials are forced upon them?

International Policy Research Arctic Fellow Activities

• “A Brief Examination of an Indigenous Northern Education Program: Successes and Challenges Facing Operation Beaver,” Arctic and International Relations Series, Issue #5, forthcoming 2017.