Juneau, Alaska
April 13 - 15, 2018

Featured speakers at the conference will include Dr. Thomas Swenson, who is originally from Kodiak and is currently assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Utah and is a 2017-18 Katrin H. Lamno Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The second plenary speaker is Liz Medicine Crow, JD, President and CEO of First Alaskans Institute in Anchorage. She is originally from Kake and earned her Juris Doctorate from Arizona State University.

UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield expressed appreciation to Professors Ernestine Hayes and Alberta Jones for their leadership in co-chairing the conference, and to hardworking faculty and staff at UAS who’ve been preparing for the conference. Caulfield stated: “UAS is proud to host this event which involves faculty and staff from UAS, UAA, and UAF, as well as Elders and a wide array of community members. Scholarship by indigenous faculty and researchers in the University has expanded greatly in recent years, and this is an opportunity to share insights and results from that scholarship. I’m especially pleased that so many students are involved.”

Topics to be discussed at the conference include: cultural resilience, indigenous science, math and technologies, indigenous education, Northwest Coast Native arts, Alaska Native leadership, jurisdiction, and sovereignty, indigenous languages and oral literatures, and decolonizing the academy. The full program can be found on their website. 

Alaska Native Studies Conference Organizing Committee (UAS):

Student & Community Volunteers: