Anton Treuer is running a master class for the Urban Leadership Academy. Register HERE.

Session Title: From Land Acknowledgements, Performative Inclusion, and Random Acts of Equity to a DEI System That Works

Session Description: The majority of America's K-12 students are students of color. Some studies indicate that only 60% finish high school and only half of Indigenous learners finish high school. Because of the correlation between educational attainment and financial prosperity, IF we had perfect equity today, our educational system alone would engineer racially predictable financial disparities. And we don't even start at equity. But in spite of this sobering reality, there are schools and places showing remarkable success. Dr. Anton Treuer will show us how an Ojibwe language immersion school in Wisconsin, an Indigenous language revitalization initiative in Hawaii, and grassroots efforts in Minnesota have delivered the goods for Indigenous learners and everyone else. There is through-line in that they all foster the positive identity development of all learners of all backgrounds. We have a lot to learn from them; and they can help pollinate the garden all of us are trying to grow and harvest from.

Anton Treuer bio: Anton Treuer (pronounced troy-er) is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of many books. He has a B.A. from Princeton University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Treuer is a member of the governing boards for the Minnesota State Historical Society and Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute and has received many prestigious awards and fellowships, including ones from the American Philosophical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the First Nations Development Institute, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. In 2018, he was named Guardian of Culture and Lifeways and recipient of the Pathfinder Award by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. His equity, education, and cultural work has put him on a path of service around the nation and the world.