Honoring Native Tradition and Community Through Academic Excellence

Faculty and Staff

Click on names to see for Faculty members of click here for Staff

Greg Cajete, Ph.D., (Santa Clara Pueblo)
NAS Chair, Associate Professor Education

Beverly Singer, Ph.D., (Santa Clara Pueblo/Diné)
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies

Maria Williams, Ph.D., (Tlingit)
Associate Professor of Music and Native American Studies

Tiffany Lee, Ph.D., (Diné/Lakota)
Assistant Professor of Native American Studies

Lloyd Lee, Ph.D., (Diné)
Assistant Professor of Native American Studies

Mary K. Bowannie, M.A., (Zuni/Cochiti)
Lecturer II

Greg CajeteGreg Cajete, Ph.D., (Santa Clara Pueblo), NAS Chair, Associate Professor Education
Gregory Cajete, Native American educator whose work is dedicated to honoring the foundations of indigenous knowledge in education. Dr. Cajete is a Tewa Indian from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. He has served as a New Mexico Humanities scholar in ethno botany of Northern New Mexico and as a member of the New Mexico Arts Commission. In addition, he has lectured at colleges and universities in the U.S. , Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, England, Italy, Japan and Russia.

He worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 21 years. While at the Institute, he served as Dean of the Center for Research and Cultural Exchange, Chair of Native American Studies and Professor of  ethno science. He organized and directed the First and Second Annual National Native American Very Special Arts Festival held in respectively in Santa Fe, NM in 1991and Albuquerque, NM in 1992.  In 1995, he was offered a position in American Indian education in the University of New Mexico, College of Education

Currently, he is Director of Native American Studies and an Associate Professor in the Division of Language, Literacy and Socio cultural Studies in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Cajete earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from New Mexico Highlands University with majors in both Biology and Sociology and a minor in Secondary Education. He received his Masters of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico in Adult and Secondary Education. He received his Ph.D. from International College – Los Angeles New Philosophy Program in Social Science Education with an emphasis in Native American Studies. 

Dr. Cajete has received several fellowships and academic distinctions, including the American Indian Graduate Fellowship from the US-DOE Office of Indian Education (1977-78); the D’arcy McNickle Fellowship in American Indian History from the Newberry Library, Chicago, IL (1984-85); and the Katrin Lamon Fellowship in American Indian Art and Education (1985-1986) from the School of American Research in Santa Fe, NM. 

Dr. Cajete also designs culturally-responsive curricula geared to the special needs and learning styles of Native American students. These curricula are based upon Native American understanding of the “nature of nature’ and utilizes this foundation to develop an understanding of the science and artistic thought process as expressed in Indigenous  perspectives of the natural world.

Dr. Cajete has authored fivebooks: “Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education,” (Kivaki Press, 1994); “Ignite the Sparkle: An Indigenous Science Education Curriculum Model”, (Kivaki Press, 1999); “Spirit of the Game: Indigenous Wellsprings (2004) ,”  “A People’s Ecology: Explorations in Sustainable Living,” and “Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence” (Clearlight Publishers, 1999 and 2000).

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Beverly SingerBeverly Singer, Ph.D., (Santa Clara Pueblo/Diné), Associate Professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies
Beverly R. Singer is Tewa and Diné from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.  She is an award-winning documentary video producer whose concern is indigenous community wellness.  Active in producing and writing about indigenous films, she is an Executive Board Member of the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and author of Wiping the War Paint Off the Lens: Native American Film and Video (2001) published by the University of Minnesota Press.  She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies and director for the Institute of American Indian Research at the University of New Mexico.  She received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, M.A. in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, and documentary film training from the Anthropology Film Center in Santa Fe, NM.

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Maria WilliamsMaria Williams, Ph.D., (Tlingit), Associate Professor of Music and Native American Studies
Maria Williams has taught at UNM since 1999. She received her Ph.D in 1996 from UCLA in Music, specializing in Ethnomusicology. Her dissertation focused on contemporary traditional Alaska Native music and dance. Williams’ research incorporates an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and learning about music cultures. Williams is Tlingit and is of the Decitaan clan and enrolled in the Carcross/Tagish First Nations and Tlingit/Haida, a federally recognized tribe. Williams’ main area of research is on Alaska Native indigenous cultural practices. Her current research is community centered and based on an indigenous model. She recently produced a documentary called Nilgaq: 5th Annual Kinigikmiut Dance Festival June 25-27, 2004, working in partnership with the Native village of Wales and Alaska’s National Park Service. Williams’ also completed a major project working with the King Island Inupiat community of Alaska in which their entire music/dance repertoire was documented via audio/video recordings to establish a tribally-controlled archive. Williams holds a joint appointment with Native American Studies at UNM.

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Tiffany LeeTiffany Lee, Ph.D., (Diné/Lakota), Assistant Professor of Native American Studies
Tiffany S. Lee (Diné /Lakota) is from Crystal, New Mexico, located on the Navajo Nation.  She is Dibé Łizhiní (Blacksheep) and born for Naałaní (Lakota).  She received her doctorate in Sociology of Education from Stanford University’s School of Education.  Her research focuses on Indigenous education and language socialization experiences.  In 2003, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the American Educational Research Association to study what she calls Indigenous Learning Communities and their influences on Native students’ life goals and commitment to their Native communities.  She incorporated into this research issues of language socialization and the effects of competing language ideologies on Native students’ commitment to (re)learning their heritage languages.  She is currently an Assistant Professor in Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico. 

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Lloyd LeeLloyd Lee, Ph.D., (Diné), Assistant Professor of Native American Studies
Lloyd L. Lee (Diné) is a visiting assistant professor in the Native American Studies department at the University of New Mexico. Lloyd L. Lee is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and of the Kinyaa’aanii (Towering House) clan, born for the Tl’aaschii (Red Bottom) clan.  His maternal grandfather clan is Ashiihi (Salt) and his paternal grandfather clan is Tabaaha (Water’s Edge). 
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, he went to Dartmouth College and graduated in 1994 with B.A. in history.  He then went onto Stanford University where he received his M.A. in Education in 1995.  From 1995 to 1999, he taught U.S. History and Native American Studies at Wingate High School (a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school) near Gallup, New Mexico.  After teaching for four years, he returned to school at the University of New Mexico.  He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies in 2004. His dissertation titled 21st Century Diné Cultural Identity: Defining and Practicing Sa’ah Naaghai Bik’eh Hozhoon examined cultural identity among Navajo college graduates and college students.  He focused on how Navajo men and women define what it means to be Navajo today and what kind of impact did their college education have in their identity development. 

After attaining his doctorate, he was hired by Arizona State University to teach at the West campus in the Language, Cultures and History department.  He taught Native American cultures, histories, and philosophies for three years.  For the past two years, he is a visiting assistant professor in the Native American Studies department at the University of New Mexico.  His research interests include Indigenous and Navajo identity, Indigenous and Navajo masculinities, Navajo transformative research, Indigenous leadership development, and Indigenous community building.  He is the book review editor for the academic journal American Indian Quarterly.  His recent publications include: “Reclaiming Indigenous Intellectual, Political, and Geographic Space: A Path for Navajo Nationhood” in American Indian Quarterly 32, No. 1 (Winter 2008), “The Future of Navajo Nationalism” in Wicazo Sa Review 22, No. 1 (Spring 2007), and “Navajo Cultural Identity: What can the Navajo Nation bring to the Native American Identity discussion table?” in Wicazo Sa Review 21, No. 2 (Fall 2006). 

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mary bowannieMary K. Bowannie, M.A., (Zuni/Cochiti), Lecturer II
Mary K. Bowannie (Zuni/Cochiti)was born and raised in New Mexico and has traveled extensively to Native communities from New York to Alaska.  She is lecturer in the Native American Studies department in the areas of Native American journalism, and politics.

Bowannie incorporates her journalism experience in the classroom where she has students look critically at the media’s impact on Native America. She has covered stories on Native America for various public radio outlets, tribal newspapers and magazines since 1994. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) and has participated in the NAJA Student Media projects, both as a mentor and as a student for the past 15 years.  She has collaborated with NPR’s Next Generation Radio, the Radio and Television News Directors Association, The Navajo Times and numerous other organizations on media projects and panels.  In 2006, she was one of the recipients of the competitive RTNDF Educator in the Newsroom Fellowship. She received an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

 

Staff

Delia Halona, (Diné), Administrative Assistant III

Margaret Lumpmouth, (Cheyenne Arapaho), UCAC Academic Advisor & NATV Pre-major Advisor, Special Assignment

Leola Tsinnajinnie (Diné), M.A., PhD candidate, NAS Graduate Teaching Assistant

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