Her good work, bright smile and herd of Nubian goats are reasons enough to like Heidi Ritter, field services coordinator for the College of Education in Pullman. Another reason? She served in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm. EduCoug sends a big Veterans Day salute to Heidi and all faculty, staff, students and loved ones who have served in the armed forces.
Faculty accomplishments
Associate Professor SusanRae Banks-Joseph is just back from the Leadership Forum on Indian Education at her alma mater, Penn State, where she was identified as a prominent figure in Indian country. Prompted for a report on the occasion, Susan described it as “awesome!”:
“There were future Native leaders pursuing their master’s degrees and principal certification as well as doctoral students, program alums from across the nations, Penn State administrators, professors, and students, and community members. It is opportunities to give back such as these that help sustain the Native scholarly spirit. I sure felt renewed!”
Professor Michael Pavel, whose Native American name is CHiXapkaid, was among authors who contributed to S’abadeb: The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Arts and Artists, which recently won a Washington State Book Award in the general nonfiction category. Edited by Barbara Brotherton of Seattle (Seattle Art Museum/University of Washington Press), the book is a compendium of Coast Salish culture through its artistry and oral traditions.
In a talk that would resonate in Indian country, Associate Professor David Greenwood gave the closing keynote for October’s 2009 North American Association of Environmental Education Research Symposium. Titled “Nature, Empire, and Paradox in Environmental Education,” the speech mentioned such antitheses as local-global, urban-rural, environment-culture, masculine-feminine, native-settler, land-property, social justice-ecojustice and schooling-learning. Said David:
“In the tradition of 19th century natural history, imagine an object lesson. I hold in my hands two related objects: the flight feather of a barn owl, and a wallet full of plastic and paper money. Inquiry: How do these implicate me and shape our work? Nature and empire, the flight feather of an owl and the wallet of a white man, generate a paradox, a paradox that we need to hold, and balance.”
David’s presentation will be published in the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education.