Avis Ballard

Avis graduated from Indigenous Nations Studies in 2005. As a student in the Sovereignty Development concentration, and a member of the Osage and Quapaw, Avis is focusing her research on the Osage headright system and its impact on future tribal membership. Other interests include intertribal pow-wow and dancing and singing.

Brenda Brandon

Brenda specialized in Environmental issues.

Marjeanna Burge

Marjeanna is Comanche, “born & raised in Oklahoma but Fort Worth is where my heart is and where I consider ‘home’ at this time.” She graduated from Haskell, May 2007 with a BA in American Indian Studies. Her research focuses on tribal leaders, peace building and retreat models. She was elected as a Graduate Student Representative on the Graduate Studies Committee of the College of Liberal Arts & Science with the College Assembly in Spring 2008 for a 2 year term.

Marjeanna was inducted into the Golden Key International Honors Society in the fall of 2008, and she was selected as 1 of 2 to receive the $500 Beatrice Medicine travel scholarship to the Society of Applied Anthropology Conference in Santa Fe, NM, March 2009.

Marjeanna was also selected to compete as 1 of 4 graduate students in the category of the Humanities and Fine Arts at the KU Graduate Research Competition, February 23rd 2009, held in the Kansas Union where she gave a research presentation. This Graduate and Professional Association event was hosted by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies with three categories of research. Selected winners are invited to showcase their research at the Capitol in Topeka and receive cash prizes. KU Graduate Research Competition and Summit

Mandy Cisneros

(Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas) graduated in the Tribal Governance and Policy concentration. Her first degree was from The University of New Mexico in May 2005 with a Bachelor's in Political Science and Native American Studies. After completing the INSP program, she hopes to eventually continue to law school and would like to start her career on Capital Hill advocating of Native American and Tribal rights.

Myron Dewey

Myron's main focus of research demonstrated solutions towards Business IT, wireless technology, computer information systems, and digital database systems for Digital Inventory. Myron is using different types of digital media for technical solutions for Language preservation, Tribal Museum's inventory, Tribal Administration inventory, and Tribal Cultural Center inventory.

Johnnie Ann Fields

Johnnie graduated from Indigenous Nations Studies in 2005.

JoAnne Grandstaff

JoAnne graduated from Indigenous Nations Studies in 2005. As a student in the Language & Teaching track, JoAnne focused her research on the Kickapoo language among the three bands - Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas/Mexico. She is teaching English at Heights High School in Wichita, KS. and using her Indigenous Nations Studies degree to teach Diversity classes to teachers in the district. She lives in Kechi, KS.

Tamisha Grimes

Tamisha is a member of San Felipe Pueblo of New Mexico. She earned her Bachelor of Criminal Justice with a Supplementary Major in Law and Society and a minor in Spanish from New Mexico State University. Her area of concentration was in the Tribal Policy and Governance.

Stanley Holder, Jr.

I am Olgala Lakota and Wichita Kitikitish originally from Anadarko, Oklahoma. I graduated with my B.S. in Biology from the University of Kansas in the spring of 2005. I studied Environmental Studies and Resource Management in Indigenous Nations Studies at KU. My future career goals include working with governments to ensure healthier environments for future generations to come. I plan to be involved with water studies on reservations to ensure that empirical data is collected to help Indigenous peoples make decisions on resource management. I also plan on studying the concentrations of metals and pesticides in the resources on Indigenous lands.

Gil Hood

Gil graduated from Indigenous Nations Studies in 2005.

Gil describes himself as an absentee Shawnee from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was involved in the Museum Studies track with his research focused on Native Americans in the military.

Jessica James

Jessica graduated in the Cultural Preservation Management Concentration.

Janna Knittel

Allen Knows Gun

Allen graduated from Indigenous Nations Studies in 2005. Allen researched the differences in western vs. indigenous philosophy in the area of taking and giving. He is a talented artist who portrays a new perception of the old way of life belonging to indigenous people.
Some Current Art Work by Allen (pdf)

Helen M. Krische

Helen pursued the Cultural Preservation Management Concentration. The focus of her research and thesis was: "Native American Cradleboards: More Than Just a Baby Carrier." Other interests include Native American women and economic development, and contemporary Native American art. The M.A. in INSP is Helen's second Master's Degree. The first was earned at K.U. in Anthropology. She is currently working at Watkins Community Museum of History.

LJWorld.com Watkins Museum Article

Brandi Liberty

Brandi is a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. Her undergraduate degree was a B.A. in History with an emphasis in Native American and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Heidi Mehl

Heidi is a Global Indigenous Nations Studies graduate and was a student editor for the Indigenous Nations Journal.

Brad Montgomery-Anderson

Brad is working on his Ph.D in Linguistics. His interests are in Native American languages as well as language policy toward indigenous languages in the U.S. Brad is currently working on a dictionary of Chontal Mayan for the Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica. Brad's hometown is Boulder, Colorado.

Alexander Naha

Alexander graduated in the Cultural Preservation Management Concentration.

John Ortley

I am a member of the Sisseton/Wahpeton Oyate (Sioux) located in northeastern, South Dakota. Outside of family and work, my interest is in cross-cultural discussions of mental illness. Specifically, I would like to see the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) become more reliable in assessing mental illnesses found among indigenous populations. I hope to continue scrutinizing this underrepresented topic within a Ph.D. program in Clinical/Social Psychology or Medical Anthropology.

Olivia Pewamo

Olivia Pewamo (Kickapoo and Prairie Band Potawatomi, Kansas) studied cultural preservation in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program. She would like to help elders pass on the cultural teachings to youth. She is interested in the importance of language to prevent loss of culture. She is also a graduate from Haskell Indian Nations University where she received a Bachelors of Arts in American Indian Studies.

Dianne Yeahquo Reyner

Playwright Dianne Reyner is a member of the Kiowa Nation from Meers, Oklahoma, daughter of Irene Spotted Horse and the late Thomas Spotted Horse. She received her B. A. in American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) in 2001 after graduating from Lawrence High School in 1970. The focus of Dianne's research is contemporary expressions of traditional oral narratives with emphasis on contemporary Native American theatre. Dianne has taught English at Haskell and theater through the UCLA's HOOP program (Honoring Our Origins and Peoples through Native American theater).

Her play "Weaving in the Rain" was selected as a finalist in the American College Theater Festival of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. among other awards. Dianne was named one of six national finalists in the Kennedy Center's National Student Playwriting Award competition.
| News and Interests |
| Recent productions of "Weaving in the Rain" |

Tony Rogers

Anna Sarcia

I am currently the Coordinator/Executive Director of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Pathways to Prosperity Inc. It is a poverty reduction program funded partially from the Northwest Area Foundation. We were one of the 3 tribes in the country to receive funding to reduce poverty on our reservation. The work that we do is going to be used in the future to help other communities reduce poverty. You can find more information on what we are doing on our website: www.tmp2p.com.

Anna graduated in 2006 in the Museum Studies Track. Anna is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in Belcourt, ND. She earned her B.A. from Haskell Indian Nations University. Her education interest is American Indian Studies in higher education. She hopes to change policies and curriculum related to higher education and American Indian Studies at a local and national level.

Michael Anthony Stewart

Currently Michael is teaching the Introduction to Choctaw Language at the University of Oklahoma, as well as working on his doctorate in the Adult and Higher Education degree program. Previous to attending the OU, Michael taught three year at Haskell Indian Nations University in the American Indian Studies Program. Michael is an 2002 alumni of the Indigenous Nations Studies Program.

Cedric Sunray

I am from the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians (Alabama) and my wife, Randi, is from the Kiowa Nation of Oklahoma/Ponca Nation of Oklahoma. The GINSP program has enabled me to continually follow my love for our traditional languages. I currently work as the Language Organizing Specialist for the Sauk Language Department (Sac & Fox Nation) and as a teacher of American Indian Language related courses at Pawnee Nation College.

Family Photo

Elyse Towey

Elyse Towey is a member of the Iowa tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Menominee Nation. Her thesis was on Indigenizing the Curriculum: A Journey from Stereotypes to Success-An Evaluative Resource Tool for K-12 Educators.

Johna Van Noy

Johna graduated in the Cultural Preservation Management Concentration.