Main Theme: “WE ARE NOT OK”.
This lecture/interactive discussion will center around the world of teaching /learning for Native Indigenous students in the region during a time of global pandemic, economic upheaval, protests, and deep emotion. During “Native Indigenous Day” to also focus on the “context” of learning for Native Indigeous students during these historic times. A lecture/discussion with faculty/staff about the ways to engage, listen, and retain Native Indigenous students during these historic times. We will discuss the impact of the global pandemic, issues of technology/access to higher education, family/communities, regional/national issues affecting Native Indigenous students. The impact on pedagogy, learning, and emotional/wellness in the classroom and on campus. The deep impact on Native Indigenous students regarding emotional/social/spiritual wellbeing too in tribal communities.
Diana Elena Moran Thundercloud is the former Native American Student Organization Advisor at UW-LaCrosse for five years. She is also the past Latino/a Student Organization Advisor at UW-LaCrosse. She is considered an Educational Researcher and Critical Race Theorist from her doctoral work at UW-Madison. She has been active on Native Indigenous issues in “Las Americas” regarding issues of environmental racism/justice, violence against women, and immigration/migration. and Native Indigenous “worldviews” as knowledge in community-based learning. She is MEXICA from the Southwest. Western Wisconsin is also home to her family. She is from the Corn Clan. Tarahumara. Chihuahua, Mexico. She is married into her Ho-Chunk family (Thunder Clan). Her adopted tiospaye is Dakota (Black Horse Camp) from Prairie Island, Minnesota where she holds sacred that community. She is considered Traditional. She has various connections to tribal Native Indigenous communities through volunteer work, community work, and as a Traditional woman and grandmother. She is UW-LaCrosse Alumni, UW-Madison Alumni, Saint Mary’s of Minnesota (Winona) Alumni, Edgewood College Alumni, and Viterbo University Alumni. She has taught for over 30 years at various levels K-12 and college levels. She was an Educational Administrator in both Educational Administration K-12 and Higher Education. She has taught graduate courses at UW-Madison, University of Texas at El Paso in Education/Teacher Education/Multicultural Education. She has taught undergraduate courses at UW-LaCrosse, UW-Whitewater, University of Iowa-Iowa City, El Paso Community College, and the University of Chihuahua- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (UACJ). She has taught courses in Chicano/a Literature, Multicultural Children & Youth Literature, Reading Research, Women of Color Literature, Bilingual Education, Social Studies Education, Curriculum History, and Gender & Human Rights. She has taught in various departments: Ethnic & Racial Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Teacher Education, English, and Educational Administration.
She has been a guest lecturer in many places over the years. She is a licensed Superintendent (Wisconsin) and is finishing a doctoral program in Educational Leadership on Native Leadership at Edgewood College (Madison, Wisconsin) and in the area of Social Innovation and Sustainability Graduate Leadership. She holds a Grief & Loss Specialist Certificate from UW-Madison. She is a mother of five grown children and a grandmother. Diana has won numerous awards for her teaching and community work over the years. She has done teaching/community work in various Native Indigenous communities in the United States, Peru, Chile, and Mexico. She is also a Wisconsin Master Naturalist Teacher Trainer. She is honored to live rurally on a lake within the ancestral homelands of the Ho-Chunk!