Native & Indigenous Higher Education Symposium

The Native & Indigenous Higher Education Symposium serves to create a reflection of Native culture that fosters a sense of belonging at UW Tacoma for Native and Indigenous students, raise awareness of the contributions and challenges of Native and Indigenous people, and instill a college-going culture within these younger generations from these communities. 

Gathering Strength: Reigniting Indigenous Community and Success

November 22, 2024
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Milgard Hall, Room 110 — UW Tacoma campus

Advance registration required

Agenda

• 9:00-9:20 Opening 
• 9:20-10:10 Keynote Speaker: Indigenous Warriors – FSOCC Native Affinity Group (Panel)
• 11:05-11:50 UWT Campus Tour - Admissions
• 12:00 Keynote Speaker/Lunch: Carrie Chesnik: Trama Healing
• 1:00 Breakout Sessions #2
• 2:00 Closing

Keynote Speaker

Trauma Healing
Carrie Chesnik (Ojibwe)

Trauma healing: Reclaiming old life ways of experience to use with current tools for more effective social justice movements and everyday life. Science meets traditional indigenous knowledge. These tools offer key teachings that are life changing through creating peace, strength, confidence and compassion. Tools knowledge credited to the Center for Mind Body Medicine. These teachings are at the heart of Mashkikiike, which contributes community support for elders and youth including reclaiming original life ways and cultural practices.

Keynote Panel

Indigenous Warriors - CTC Native American Professionals Affinity Group
Maya Esquivido (UW Tacoma), Melissa Eyle (Peninsula College), Alexis Burris (South Seattle College), Cynthia DePoe (Pierce College - Puyallup), Danny Marshall (SBCTC)

The Indigenous Affinity Warriors Group was founded through attendance at the Faculty Staff of Color Conference 2022. We're a collected team of Native American Indigenous professionals from all levels of employment within Washington State Board of Technical and Community Colleges. We share information from our facilities that benefit Native American Indigenous students at every station of our group. We support one another not only in academia but in all forms of being Native Indigenous.

Breakout Presenters

Informative Session:
AISES (American Indian Science & Engineering Society) Puget Sound Professional Chapter

AISES Professional Chapters make a difference by: Acting as role models for students and other professionals by identifying community contributions of Indigenous scientists and engineers. Providing support and mentorship for students in transition from student status to professional status. Organizing professional development seminars and workshops to develop and enhance management, communication, and other skillsets. Sharing networking resources.

(re)Creation Stories; (re)Connecting with Self
Sonia Berry, UWT Ed.D. student

Since first contact, Indigenous communities have experienced traumatic injury and loss of collective memory due to the displacement, erasure and genocide that resulted in disconnection from Indigenous identity. Indigenous research shows that one traditional pathway towards healing from intergenerational trauma starts with breaking the silence and sharing our stories. We cannot heal from what we do not name. Based upon the research of Vicki Besaw and “The Transformative Power of Story” participants will engage in a reflective process of guided story mapping and storytelling to reconnect to their Indigenous identity and pivotal moments in their identity development. The process will be holistic incorporating visual, written and spoken methods. Participants will be encouraged to express their personal narratives with guided practice to (re)create their identity, (re)connect with self and move toward collective healing.

Explorative Case Study: Environmental Sustainability and Indigenous Science
Hozoji R Matheson, UWT undergraduate student

Hozoji Matheson-Margullis is a citizen of the Puyallup Tribal Nation and a senior at UW Tacoma. Her 14 years of working with both her tribe and non-tribal entities in the marine science world brought her to an academic journey at UW Tacoma. She is working toward an individually designed major in Environmental Sustainability and Indigenous Science. She will be presenting her ideas/goals on working with the local Tribal community and UW Tacoma to create a "Two-Eyed Seeing" Science degree at the University. "Two-Eyed Seeing" combines the strengths of Indigenous Ways of Knowing with the strengths of Western Ways of Knowing to do collaborative, equitable, and holistic work in the scientific research community. The goal of her talk is to introduce these concepts to new minds, to empower Native students who have interest in the scientific research world, and to join many others in giving voice to the scientific validity of the wisdom that is inherent in Traditional Indigenous Ecological Knowledge.

Strategies for Surviving School
UW Tacoma Ed.D. Muckleshoot cohort panelist: Yvonne Peterson, Betty Pacheco, Cheebo Hou-E-Now-E Frazier, Maya Esquivido-Strom

Join us for an insightful panel discussion where we delve into the motivations behind pursuing higher education and the challenges faced in graduate school. Our diverse panel of students and educators will share their personal journeys, exploring key reasons for their academic pursuits, such as passion for their field, career opportunities, and personal growth.