This event will feature tribal leaders, scholars, and expert practitioners working to advance the sovereignty of Native Nations through tribal land reclamation and stewardship projects. Throughout the course of the day, attendees will hear about LandBack stories that demonstrate the legal, economic, political, and technical skills needed to engage in successful land reclamation projects. But to deepen our collective understanding of what this means beyond the oversimplified narrative of “buying back land,” speakers and panelists will also address the notion of our collective relationships with lands and waters as members of Native Nations who have learned from these lands and waters while serving as the primary stewards long before European arrival. 

Register by April 5th: https://kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2sj4XZ9LwORR4Hk

  8:30am  Breakfast

  9:00am Opening Remarks
               Jim Pepper Henry (Kaw Nation)
              
               Welcome
               Alex Red Corn (Osage), Associate Vice Chancellor, 
               Office of Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives
               Director, Indigenous Studies Program
          
  9:15am Beyond Land Acknowledgements: An Overview of 
               #LandBack in the United States
               Melissa Peterson (Diné), Director, Hawk Link,
               Co-Executive Director, MSP Scholars Program                  
               University of Kansas

               Sarah Deer (Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma), University 
               Distinguished Professor of Indigenous Studies, and Women, 
               Gender, and Sexuality Studies
               University of Kansas

               Ward Lyles, Associate Professor of Urban Planning, School of 
               Public Affairs and Administration
               University of Kansas

               McKalee Steen (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) 
               PhD Candidate
               University of California - Berkeley

               Shanasia Sylman, PhD Student, Cornell University

10:00am Keynote - LandBack Leadership: An Overview
               Cris Stainbrook (Oglala Lakota) 
               Indian Land Capital Company

11:00am LandBack Panel: Tribal Representatives
               Jim Pepper Henry, Former Vice Chair, Kaw Nation
               Raphael Wahwassuck, Councilman, Prairie Band 
               Potawatomi Nation
               RJ Walker, Osage Nation
               Brad KillsCrow, Delaware Tribe of Indians

11:50am The Story of Sugarloaf Mound and Picture 
               Cave Auction Efforts
               Andrea Hunter (Osage), Director and Tribal Historic 
               Preservation Officer
               Osage Nation

               Sarah O’Donnell, NAGPRA Coordinator, Osage Nation 
               Historic Preservation

12:15pm Lunch

  1:00pm Keynote – Indigenous STEAM: Learning from 
               Lands and Waters
               Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent)
               James E Johnson Professor of Learning Sciences
               Northwestern University

2:00pm Land Stewardship Panel
             Joe Brewer (Tsalagi/Oglala Lakota), Professor
             Indigenous Studies
             Program, Environmental Studies Program
             University of Kansas

             Melinda Adams (N'dee San Carlos Apache), Assistant Professor,
             Geography & Atmospheric Sciences, Indigenous Studies           
             University of Kansas

             Brett Ramey (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska), Climate 
             Resilience Planner
             Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska

  3:00pm Keynote – LandBack Leadership: Legal and Fiscal Considerations
               Cris Stainbrook (Oglala Lakota)
               Indian Land Capital Company

  4:00pm Next Steps: Tribal Representatives
               Jim Pepper Henry, Former Vice Chair, Kaw Nation
               Raph Wahwassuck, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
               RJ Walker, Osage Nation
               Brad KillsCrow, Delaware Tribe of Indians
 

4:45pm Closing Remarks

Thank you to our sponsors:

• KU School of Social Welfare
• The Commons
• Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research
• School of Education and Human Sciences