American Indian Indigenous Teacher Education Conference
Returning to Our Languages and Ways of Knowing
June 21–22, 2024
Northern Arizona University’s College of Education will host the 14th American Indian/Indigenous Teacher Education Conference (AIITEC) on June 21–22, 2024. This conference for preschool, K–12, Tribal, college, and university educators, as well as concerned community members, includes panels, workshops, and papers to share ideas for improving the lives and education of American Indian children, especially regarding the revitalization of their Indigenous languages and cultures.
Join your colleagues for two and a half days of career-empowering knowledge, practices, networking, and practical teaching solutions. The conference is designed with your specific needs in mind and will provide strategies you can use immediately across all grade levels and subjects. NAU’s College of Education has worked with Tribal Nations to improve the education of American Indian students for decades. It has hosted a variety of American Indian teacher and administrator preparation programs.
Conference goals
- Bring together American Indian and other Indigenous language educators and activists to share ideas and experiences on how to teach and revitalize American Indian and other Indigenous languages in homes, communities, and schools.
- Share resources for early childhood educators in Tribal schools and communities.
- Disseminate recent research and thinking on best practices to promote, preserve, and protect American Indian and other Indigenous languages in the spirit of the 1990 Native American Languages Act and the United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Conference Schedule
2024 NAU Stabilizing American Indian Languages/AIITEC
All times are Pacific Daylight Time.
Welcome Reception
Location: NACC Gathering Room
Time: 4–6 p.m.
Welcome and Opening General Session
Location: Cline Library Assembly Hall
Time: 8–8:40 a.m.
Keynote Presentation
Location: Cline Library Assembly Hall
Time: 8:40–9:30 a.m.
Break
Time: 9:30–9:45 a.m.
Breakout Sessions
Location: Eastburn Education Center
Time: 9:45–10:45 a.m.
Breakout Sessions
Location: Eastburn Education Center
Time: 11 a.m.–noon
Lunch on your own
Time: 12–1 p.m.
Keynote Presentation
Location: Cline Library Assembly Hall
Time: 1:15–2:15 p.m.
Breakout Sessions
Location: Eastburn Education Center
Time: 2:30–3:30 p.m.
Breakout Sessions
Location: Eastburn Education Center
Time: 3:45–5 p.m.
Conference co-chairs
Keynote speakers
Deborah Bordeaux
Deborah Bordeaux Is the Executive Director, for The Commission for Oceti Sakowin Accreditation, the only Tribally approved accrediting agency. She works to develop and promote Native Education with a focus on Native language and culture to be included and the primary curriculum for Native children. Deborah is a graduate of Oglala Lakota College, she received her Master’s Degree in Education Leadership from South Dakota State University/ Sinte Gleska University. Deborah has 35 plus years of experience working in Tribally Controlled Grant Schools as a teacher aide, Special Education Teacher and Elementary Principal. Deborah worked with a local parent group to enact a federal law creating Tribal Education Departments. She has developed, and delivered testimony to congressional leaders and staff on Indian Education, she developed and Implemented a Tribal Accrediting process. Deborah has been married for 51 years, has 4 children and 4 grandchildren. Deb and Chris have their Master’s Degrees, all 4 children have their Bachelor degrees, 2 have their PHDs, 1 grandchild has a Bachelor Degree, becoming the fourth generation in Deborah’s lineage to have a college degree. Deborah’s Great Grandfather Pute always encouraged education.
Dr. Jason Cummins
(Apsáalooke Tribal Member)
Jason D. Cummins is an enrolled member of the Apsáalooke Nation and is currently an Assistant Professor at Montana State University, former Deputy Director of the White House Initiative American Indian and Alaska Native Education. He has innovatively worked to lead schools toward authentically serving students and communities by implementing culturally sustaining, trauma-informed, and restorative approaches. With the view of education as a means of perpetuating the story, identity, and language of Native American communities and empowering them toward a better future. He is a recognized leader in shifting how schools think about Indigenous culture and language and has served in numerous leadership capacities from board membership, consultancy, advocacy, and public speaking all with the integrated purpose of advancing educational equity among Native American communities. He and his wife, Velvett, have been married for 30 years and enjoy all things outdoors in their spare time.
Dr. Lance Twitchell
(Tlingit and Haida Nations)
Dr. Lance Twitchell carries the Tlingit names X̱’unei, Du Aaní Kawdinook, and Yoo Kaawajígi Yéil, and the Haida name Ḵ’eijáakw. He lives in Juneau with his wife Mariah and their three beautiful bilingual children, and is from the Tlingit, Haida, and Yup’ik Native nations. He speaks and studies the Tlingit language, advocates for Indigenous language revitalization, and is an Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, as well as a multimedia Northwest Coast Artist and musician. In addition to his impressive scholarly contributions, including Lingit knowledge and language within the Academy, X̱’unei is also an active language healer and warrior, and a staunch advocate for the decolonization of law and policy. His advocacy was instrumental in ensuring the State of Alaska officially recognized Alaska Native languages, and declared a state of linguistic emergency to call attention to the suppression of our languages and reconciliation efforts that must be put in place. He earned his PhD in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization through Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaii Hilo. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and earned his Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota.
Past AIITEC conferences
Additional information
Conference hotel information
Address: DoubleTree by Hilton Flagstaff
1175 W. Rte. 66, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Certificate of Participation
Certificates of Participation will be accessible after the conference.
Conference recorded sessions
Recorded sessions will be posted here following the conference.
Call for presentations
Due April 15, 2024
The AIITEC conference extends an invitation for presentation proposals, emphasizing the importance of diverse Indigenous voices and perspectives.