Faculty & Administrators

Institute Co-Directors & K12 Leaders

Co-Director Dr. Charlotte Carrington-Farmer holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is an Associate Professor at Roger Williams University. She leads the First Year Roger Seminar which immerses students in the life, landscape, and worldview of Roger Williams and his contemporaries in England, colonial New England, and Indigenous homelands. Dr. Carrington-Farmer trained and worked as a high school history teacher in the U.K. prior to completing her PhD.

Co-Director Dr. J. Cedric Woods is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut. He currently serves as Director for the Institute for Native New England Studies at UMASS Boston and teaches in the Native American and Indigenous Studies program. In 2019, Dr. Woods led “Boston Through a Wider a Wider Lens,” an ethnic studies teacher training initiative focused on exploring Boston’s Diverse history.

Bradford Lopes II will serve as the Institute’s K-12 Leader. Mr. Lopes is a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal community and teaches high school social studies at Wiscasset High School (Maine). Mr. Lopes will work with the Project Team to implement the institute curriculum in ways that reflect best practices for teaching Indigenous histories in 21st- century classrooms to Native and non-Native students. He will also be responsible for leading small group break-out discussions and consulting with teachers on their final projects.

Institute Faculty

A team of scholars and cultural leaders from across the humanities will guide teachers through the decolonization process as they explore essential questions about how history is recorded, remembered, and taught. This direct approach will make space for a more diverse chorus of historical voices and perspectives, thus enabling students (and teachers) from all backgrounds to see themselves reflected in that history. Rooted in best practices in historical analysis, place-based learning, and community-driven storytelling, the Institute will equip participants with a decolonizing framework they can apply to other sources they encounter in their ELA/Social Studies curricula

Darius Coombs is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and managed the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation from 1992-2015, at which time he was appointed Director of Wampanoag and Eastern Woodlands Interpretation and Training. In his various roles, Darius has served as an exhibits consultant for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center as well as and the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian as well as an historical adviser and on-camera expert for PBS, History Channel and Smithsonian Channel productions. Mr. Coombs is a sought-after guest speaker for audiences of all ages, from elementary schools to higher education and regularly serves as a panelist at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association annual conferences.

Dr. Christine DeLucia host a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. Dr. DeLucia is Assistant Professor of History at Williams College. She teaches courses in early American studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, cartography, material culture, and place-based approaches to the past.

Dr. Linford Fisher holds a PhD from Harvard University and teaches in the History Department at Brown University. Dr. Fisher's research and teaching relate primarily to the cultural and religious history of colonial America and the Atlantic world, including Native Americans, religion, material culture, and Indian and African slavery and servitude. He is currently writing a book on the history of Native American and African enslavement in the English Atlantic world.

Dr. Julie A. Fisher is a historian and faculty member at Bard High School Early College in Washington, DC. She holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Delaware with a focus on Early American and Native American history. She is the co-author of Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts: Diplomacy, War, and the Balance of Power in Seventeenth-Century New England and Indian Country. Her paleography experience includes working with the Yale Indian Papers Project and, most recently, partnering with other early-modern paleographers to create a manuscript-based mystery escape room.

Dr. Rae Gould serves as Executive Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown Univeristy. As a member of the Nipmuc Tribe of Massachusetts, she has lifelong connections to the tribes and peoples of southern New England. Her research, publications and teaching include: contemporary Native American culture, with a focus on the Northeast; the history and impact of federal laws (NAGPRA, Section 106 and federal acknowledgement); the history, methods and theories of archaeological practice in the U.S.; and place-based and critical heritage studies through the examination of Indigenous homelands as cultural landscapes.

Dr. Nitana Hicks Greendeer, of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, is currently a Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Brown University. Dr. Greendeer earned her PhD at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and has worked for the past 15 years with the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project and immersion school, Mukayuhsak Weekuwas, a teacher and researcher she has been focused on providing Wampanoag children and students with culture based education and culturally appropriate curriculum models.

Dr. David Landon holds a PhD from Boston University and is the Associate Director of the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, where he teaches courses and advises students in the Historical Archaeology Graduate (M.A.) Program. Dr. Landon co-directs Project 400.

Dr. Stephen Mrozowski holds a PhD from Brown University. He is the founding director of the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research at UMASS Boston where he is also Professor of Anthropology. Dr. Mrozowski’s research encompasses the growth of complex societies, colonization, and its role in shaping the modern world.

Vicki Oman holds a MA in Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. From 2008-2020, Ms. Oman developed and directed teacher workshops for Plimoth Patuxet Museums including a graduate level, civics-driven workshop for Bridgewater State University.

Richard Pickering has served as Plimoth Patuxet's Deputy Executive Director since 2008. Mr. Pickering is currently a PhD candidate in English at the University of Connecticut. Mr. Pickering has spoken at the United Nations and Smithsonian National Museum of American History and appeared on PBS, History Channel, NECN, NBC News, ABC’s The Chew, Martha Stewart Living Radio, and Meals that Made History with Gil Hovav. Most recently, he was consulted on Ric Burns’ new film The Pilgrims for American Experience.

Lorén Spears (Narragansett) is Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum. She is also an activist, author, Indigenous artist and award-winning educator. Ms. Spears holds an MSEd in Elementary Education from the University of New England.

Cassius Spears, Sr. (Narragansett) has served as Cultural Advisor for numerous educational projects including “We Shall Remain” for PBS and PPM’s Wampanoag Indigenous Program's Advisory Board. As Agricultural Technician, he is a liaison for the Narragansett Tribe and the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Tim Turner (Cherokee) is PPM’s Associate Director for Indigenous Education and brings more than thirty years’ experience teaching Indigenous history in classrooms, online, and at the Museum.

David Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag) is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. He has served as Tribal Council Member since 2017 and currently serves as Town Selectman for Mashpee.

Kim VanWormer is the Guest Experience Manager and Head Miller at Plimoth Patuxet's Plimoth Grist Mill. She holds a BA in History and Museum Studies from SUNY Oswego. As a museum educator and working miller, Kim is particularly interested in the cultural and economic importance of grains and the impact of mills on culture and the environment.