Ofelia Zepeda is Tohono O'odham and Regents Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship for her nationally and internationally known work in American Indian language education, and recovery. She wrote the first pedagogical grammar on the Tohono O’odham language, A Tohono O’odham Grammar. She is director of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) a 40-year institute serving the needs of Native American language educators, researchers, and activists. She is currently a member of the International Taskforce for the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous languages (2022-2032). Ofelia writes in both O’odham and English and has three books of poetry, Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert, Jewed I-hoi/Earth Movements, and Where Clouds are Formed. In 2019 was the poet collaborator on the project, Where Clouds are Formed: A photographic essay, on the U.S. border as it intersects Tohono O’odham lands. In 2021 her work appeared in, When The Light of The World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate.

Francis Auld was born in Helena, Montana and raised at Elmo, Montana all his life. Other than going into the Armed Services and attending various Educational Institutions, Elmo has been home.

Iva Croff is member of the Amskaapi Piikani (Blackfeet) Nation, and is a faculty administrator at Blackfeet Community College where she has been for the past eight years. Her field of study has been Native American Studies and Native American Law, with a specialty in Piikani history and Plains Indian sign language. Iva is currently involved with an American Indian Sign Language research group through the University of Arizona.

"I believe that American Indian sign language is at risk just as much as spoken Indigenous languages. It is a wonderful, interactive part of teaching the language."

Melanie Sandoval (Salish and Navajo) is currently the Salish language instructor for Salish Kootenai College's Salish Language Educator Development Program. At the age of twelve, Melanie's mother brought her to her first Salish language class and at that time decided to pursue learning and teaching Salish. She graduated from SKC and the University of Montana. She has taught Salish language in many capacities including public school, Nk̓ʷusm Salish Language School, Early Childhood Services, and adult classes. Salish language is her lifelong passion and she will continue to learn and teach as long as possible.

Tracy Hirata-Edds works with Miami Tribe's language revitalization efforts through the Myaamia Center by supporting language-focused activities, including language learning/teaching methodology and assessment design. She obtained her Ph.D. in Child Language from University of Kansas, master's degree from Oklahoma State University in Teaching English as a Second Language, and bachelor's degree in Mathematics Education from Colorado State University.  Tracy previously taught ESL courses and provided teacher training at the University of Kansas’ Applied English Center for 15 years and at Emporia State University’s Intensive English Program for 10 years. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer and Fulbright Scholar in Nepal. She partners with Native communities to enhance opportunities for culture/language maintenance and revitalization, curriculum and assessment design, teacher training, lesson and materials development, and children’s first and second language acquisition. Additionally, Tracy supports revitalization efforts through publications, workshops, research, and teacher trainings in various contexts, including with Oklahoma Breath of Life and CoLang.

Mizuki Miyashita is a professor of linguistics and director of the Linguistics Program at the University of Montana. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Arizona; her dissertation was on phonology in Tohono O’odham. The current focus of her research is documentary linguistics in Blackfoot, which began with a collaboration with the late Darrell Kipp at the Piegan Institute in Browning, Montana. She has recorded lullabies and other songs, narratives, conversations, and isolated words in Blackfoot. She is currently engaged in research and outreach funded by the National Science Foundation’s Dynamic Language Infrastructure Program (NSF-DLI). Her research focuses on documentation and application of rhythm and melody in Blackfoot. She is also engaged in Community-Based Research; she established the Collaborative Language Planning Project (CLPP) with Tribal Colleges in Montana.