Dr. Diego Zelaya is an Instructional Designer II at Kenai Peninsula College, where he supports the design and development of engaging, learner-centered educational experiences. Prior to his work in instructional design, he served as an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor across three continents, gaining extensive experience working with diverse learners, cultures, and educational contexts. His research interests examine …

Dr. Katie Idalia Archer Olson is an associate professor of early childhood education and the education coordinator at Kenai Peninsula College, University of Alaska Anchorage. As a multiracial Indigenous scholar, her work focuses on how relationships and storytelling can be used as culturally sustaining pedagogies to celebrate all dimensions of a child’s life. Honoring and respecting the identities of multiracial …

Patricia Louise Johnson is a proud Cree woman from Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada. She is a respected leader within her community and she is dedicated to strengthening First Nations education by supporting the development of culturally responsive curricula, resources, and learning environments that honor and sustain First Nations languages, cultures, and traditions. Guided by a deep commitment to lifelong learning and …

Dr. Cassie L. Raye is a proud First Nations educator with over 15 years of experience as both a classroom teacher, administrator, and literacy coach. Having personally struggled with reading as a child, she has made it her life’s mission to implement effective, research-based practices that support student learning in literacy and numeracy—always through a culturally responsive lens. She believes …

Yées Ḵée.aa Walter Cameron is an artist and boat builder living in Auke Bay. He is L’eeneidi yádi and a grandchild of the Saanyá Ḵwáan. He was brought in to the Wooshkeetaan by his teacher, master carver Wayne Price. Walter has worked on dugout canoes in Yukon and Alaska and is currently apprenticing on a 28’ dugout. He recently helped …

Scott Pitsch was born and raised in the Upper Midwest of the Lower 48 and moved to Alaska with his young family in 2000. For 22 years he was a professor at a small, private college on the Kenai Peninsula with a student population over 90% Alaska Native and Native American.  He has now worked for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe …

Nathan Bennett is Haida and the founder of Future Ancestors Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on Indigenous digital stewardship, language technology, youth training, and community-led cultural preservation. He has more than two decades of software engineering experience and is building practical tools that help communities protect, teach, and share language and cultural knowledge with consent and care. Through Future Ancestors …

Dr.  Carrie Vander Zwaag is a science education research practitioner in Aotearoa, New Zealand. A Bristol Bay sixth grade class trip to Katmai National Park sparked her love for relevant, meaningful place-based learning. Her research engages rural Aotearoa kaiako (teachers), ākongato (students) and whānau (families) to co-create culturally responsive differentiated science curriculum relevant to community interest and need. She would …

Dawn Elizabeth Hardison-Stevens, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Native American Education at the University of Washington Tacoma whose teaching is grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, relationality, storytelling, and land-based learning, honoring her grandmothers and grandfathers of Omushkeg Cree, Métis, Ojibway, Cowlitz, Steilacoom, Scottish, and Northern Sweden. Her instructional approach engages learners through the inherent senses of sight, touch, …

James Johnson III is a Koyukon Dene filmmaker from Fairbanks, Alaska, with roots in the Rampart and Kokrines communities on the Yukon River. He holds a BA in sociology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he also works as a media producer for the Geophysical Institute Education Outreach office. James is an experienced camera operator and film editor with …