This workshop will introduce participants to traditional Alaska Native ways of teaching, learning and research and discuss culturally responsible and responsive ways of engaging in research in and with Alaska Native communities.
Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their current teaching and research practices and the possibilities for broadening them to include these ancient approaches.
Please join us for the two day event:
Wednesday, 5/10/23, 1-4pm, and
Thursday, 5/11/23, 10am-4pm (lunch provided)
Location: BP Design Theater, UAF Joseph E. Usibelli Engineering Bldg, rm 401
Over 10,000 years, Alaska’s Native peoples have perfected ways of teaching, learning, knowing and “sciencing” practices that ensured the survival of their communities under harsh conditions. These ancient approaches offer fresh insights to make education more engaging to a wider range of students and more relevant to the pressing challenges of global survival. Alaska’s Native peoples, like all Indigenous peoples, have different perspectives on the ways scientific and other forms of research needs to be conducted to ensure the integrity of our relationships as well as the data collected. These perspectives, when honored and combined with Western scientific practices, offer us the best hope of moving forward together into a livable future.
Please join Unangan Elder Ilarion Merculieff and Libby Roderick for a workshop aimed at non-Indigenous faculty, staff and administrators to help bridge the gap between Western practices and traditional Native ways.
Even though this workshop is designed for a non-Indigenous audience, all are welcome. Indigenous colleagues, staff, administrators, and students are invited to join us for lunch on May11 at 12:00pm. Please RSVP for lunch only by clicking the box on the registration page.
Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff has five decades of experience serving his people, the Aleuts/Unangan of the Pribilof Islands and other Indigenous peoples—locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. Merculieff is a passionate advocate for Indigenous rights/wisdom, and harmonious relationship with the Earth. He has given keynote addresses to the National Academy of Sciences, Pan-Pacific University President’s Association, the national convention of American Indian Students in Science and Engineering, White House Conference on the Oceans, and the World Congress of Ethnobiology and lectured on traditional ways of knowing and Indigenous Elder wisdom at Columbia University, the University of Montana, the University of Colorado, Seattle University, UAA, UAF, and Oregon State. He’s been featured in media such as Al Jazeera, BBC, Native America Call-In and NPR, planned and facilitated conferences locally, nationally, and internationally and given hundreds of talks in numerous forums. He has served in a multitude of leadership roles, including City Manager of St. Paul Island; Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development; President/CEO of Tanadgusix Corporation; Chairman of the Board of The Aleut Corporation; Deputy Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission; Co-founder of the Alaska Indigenous Council on Marine Mammals, International Bering Sea Forum, Alaska Forum on the Environment, and Alaska Oceans Network, among many others.
Libby Roderick is Director of the Difficult Dialogues Initiative and Associate Director of the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and Vice Chair of the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center. She works with faculty nationally and internationally to effectively introduce controversial topics and to apply traditional Indigenous ways of teaching and learning in the classroom. Libby is editor of Alaska Native Cultures and Issues; associate editor of Start Talking: A Handbook for Engaging Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education; co-author of Stop Talking; and editor of Toxic Friday: Resources for Addressing Faculty Bullying in Higher Education. She is also an internationally recognized singer/songwriter whose music has been featured on CNN, CBS and other national media; she conducts concerts and workshops throughout the U.S. www.libbyroderick.com
Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Alison Hayden at (907-474-7812 or abhayden@alaska.edu). Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to limited English proficient individuals upon request.
UAF is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual. www.alaska.edu/nondiscrimination.
For the pre-workshop and post- workshop surveys, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) Concent Form was approved and can be found at this link.
If you have additional questions, contact:
Alison Hayden, abhayden@alaska.edu
Sarah Trainor, sftrainor@alaska.edu