Indigenous Education Summer Summit
A KSDE and KU Partnership for Teacher Professional Development
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS - Burge Union (Forum D) June 20, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
8:30 AM: Welcome - Coffee and Pastries, Tea, Drinks
9:00 AM: Intros and Setting the Context
Opening words and song, Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche) - Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Central Oklahoma; Professor Emeritus, Portland State University
Setting the Context: Indigenous Peoples in Education, Yale Taylor (Choctaw) –Director of Title VI/Indian Education, Topeka Public Schools, and Kenny St. Pierre (Yankton), Crisis Response Specialist, Tribal Tech
Recent Developments at KSDE, Nathan McAlister, Humanities Program Manager, KSDE
9:30 AM – 10:15 AM: Session 1 - Opening Session
Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche) - Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Central Oklahoma; Professor Emeritus, Portland State University
10:15 AM -10:30 AM: Workshop - Short reflections/discussion
10:30 AM -11:15 AM: Session 2 - Ancient and Modern Histories often Overlooked and Misunderstood
Dr. Carlton Shield-Chief Gover (Pawnee), Assistant Professor in Anthropology; Curator, Archaeology Division, Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum; Affiliate Faculty, Indigenous Studies and Museum Studies, University of Kansas
11:15 AM -12:00 PM: Workshop - Reflections/discussion
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM: Lunch - Wadulisi’s Indigenous Foods
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Session 3 - Kansas Land Treaties Project Overview and Resources
Dr. Tai Edwards, Associate Professor of History, Johnson County Community College; Director, Kansas Studies Institute
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM: Workshop - Reflections/discussion
2:45-PM – 3:45 PM Session 4 - Perspectives in Language Revitalization Short Videos and Media for Classroom Learning
Dr. Alex Red Corn (Osage), Director and Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies; Associate Vice Chancellor of the Office of Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives, University of Kansas
Yale Taylor (Choctaw) – Director of Title VI/Indian Education, Topeka Public Schools
3:45 PM -4:30 PM: Workshop - Reflections/discussion
4:30 PM: Closing Remarks and Song
Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche) - Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Central Oklahoma; Professor Emeritus, Portland State University
Summit Leaders
Kenneth St. Pierre, a citizen of the Ihanktonwan (Yankton Sioux) Nation, has dedicated the past decade to serving Indigenous students and communities through education. With a deep commitment to fostering belonging and cultural identity, he has held diverse roles, including SPED paraprofessional, Native American Studies teacher, Cultural Coordinator, and Title VI/Johnson O'Malley Coordinator. Kenneth has taught at the middle and high school levels integrating cultural perspectives into his teaching to empower Indigenous youth. Kenneth is a Crisis Response Specialist with Tribal Tech and the former the acting Principal and Superintendent of a tribally controlled school He also served as the Native American Student Support Services Coordinator for Lawrence Public Schools. Kenneth leads with a vision of collaboration and inclusivity, striving to create spaces where students, families, and educators feel valued and supported.
Yale Taylor has dedicated 13 years to public education, with the last three years serving as the Title VI Program Director and Consulting Teacher for Native American Studies. Yale is a member of the Kansas Advisory Council for Indigenous Education Essential Understandings Task Force and serves on the Pollinators Advisory Board at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, supporting community projects blending education, culture, and environmental stewardship. Yale earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Washburn University and recently completed the Indigenous Educational Leadership program at Kansas State University in June 2024.
Indigenous Education Summer Summit
A KSDE and KU Partnership for Teacher Professional Development
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS - Burge Union (Forum D)
June 20, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Speakers
Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche-Kiowa) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Oklahoma, Professor-of-Practice in the School of Education at Kansas State University, Professor Emeritus in Indigenous Nations Studies at Portland StateUniversity and formerViceChair of the Comanche Nation. He has a profound belief in the power of Indigenous education and in the power of higher education and has dedicated his life’s work to bringing those two forces together to improve both.
Pewewardy retired in 2017 from Portland State University, where he served as Director and Professor of the Indigenous Nations Studies Program. Prior to joining Portland State University, he taught at the University of Kansas and was a five-time recipient of the Big XII Outstanding American Indian Faculty of the Year Award; served as the first academic dean of Comanche Nation College; and founded two transformational, award-winning public magnet schools in Saint Paul, Minnesota and founder of the Comanche Academy Charter School in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Carlton Shield Chief Gover is a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology, Assistant Curator, Archaeology Division, Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum, and Affiliate Faculty, Indigenous Studies at the University of Kansas Dr Shield Chief Gover earned his Ph D in Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder along with graduate Certificates in Museology and Native American & Indigenous Studies. His research utilizes Pawnee and Arikara oral traditions, regarding population movement and social change, as foundational evidence for interpreting the archaeological record from the 9th to 16th centuries A.D. He has published in American Antiquity, Plains Anthropologist and Advances in Archaeological Practice.
Indigenous Education Summer Summit
A KSDE and KU Partnership for Teacher Professional Development
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS - Burge Union (Forum D)
June 20, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Speakers
Dr. Tai S. Edwards is a history professor and director of the Kansas Studies Institute at Johnson County Community College. Her scholarship has focused on colonization, Indigenous nations, gender, and disease. Her collaborations include two forthcoming books documenting the trailblazing work of Lyda Conley (Wyandot Nation of Kansas) who was the first Indigenous woman to argue a case before the U S Supreme Court and chronicling the rematriation of the Sacred Red to the Kaw Nation.
Dr. Alex Red Corn (Osage) is an Associate Professor and Director of Indigenous Studies, as well as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Tribal Relations at the University of Kansas. With a background in Educational Leadership, he also serves as Executive Director of the Kansas Association for Native American Education (KANAE) and in 2022, he became the Chair of the new Kansas Advisory Council for Indigenous Education (KACIE). His scholarship and service are focused on building interdisciplinary capacities for Native Nations to take on a more prominent role in the education of their citizens, Indigenous research methodologies and innovative forms of qualitative research.
