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Conference Flyer 
29th Stabilizing Indigenous Languages/ 13th Annual Indigenous Teacher Education Conference
Returning to our Languages and Ways of Knowing
June 23-24, 2023
Northern Arizona University College of Education will host the combined 14th Indigenous Teacher Education Conference (AITEC) and the 29th Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS). This conference for preschool, K-12, tribal, college, and university educators, and concerned community members includes panels, workshops, and papers to share ideas for improving the lives and education of Indian children, especially in regard to 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—providing 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.
IMPORTANT DUE DATE
You must reserve your room by May 22, 2023 in order to receive the conference rate
Conference Information
Conference Goals Accordion Closed
Goals of the conference:
- To bring together American Indian and other Indigenous language educators and activists to share ideas and experiences on how to teach and revitalize effectively American Indian and other Indigenous languages in homes, communities, and schools.
- To share resources for early childhood educators in tribal schools and communities.
- To provide a forum for exchange of scholarly research on revitalizing and teaching American Indian and other Indigenous languages.
- To 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 in the United States of America and the United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Keynote Speakers Accordion Closed
Dr. Richard E. Littlebear
Northern Cheyenne Language Community
Dr. Richard E. LittlebearRichard (Dick) E. Littlebear was born on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana USA and grew up in Busby, Montana. He holds degrees from Bethel College in Kansas and Montana State University and
received his doctorate degree in education from Boston University in 1994.
He is President and Interim Dean of Cultural Affairs at Chief Dull Knife College located in the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Dr. Littlebear actively promotes bilingualism, advocating for bilingual education on a local, state, national and international level. He encourages the continued oral, written and reading usage of the Cheyenne language specifically, and of all indigenous languages generally. He considers learning to read and write the Cheyenne language—his first language—as his greatest academic achievement.
Dr. Christine Sims
Associate Professor, Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Director, American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center
College of Education, University of New Mexico
Christine Sims is an associate professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico. She completed her doctoral work at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on issues of heritage language maintenance and revitalization among American Indian tribes. Dr. Sims specializes in Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance issues, providing technical assistance to Indigenous nations in language program planning and training American Indian language teachers.
The American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center at the University of New Mexico was established in 2008 through the efforts of Dr. Sims. The Center engages in public advocacy and training support to Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization initiatives in New Mexico and has sponsored several international language symposia with Indigenous participants from Latin America and South America. Dr. Sims has also been invited to Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico to learn about Indigenous language efforts in these countries. The Center’s most recent projects focused on training and materials development support for Native language teachers working with New Mexico Native children between the ages of 0 and 8. The project was funded by the W.K. Kellogg and McCune Foundations.
Dr. Sims has worked as the New Mexico director for the National Indian Bilingual Center, bilingual program director for her Pueblo, and consultant to many different Indigenous language programs on language preservation issues. She has served as a member of the New Mexico Bilingual Advisory Committee for the Public Education Department’s Bilingual Multicultural Education Bureau.
Dr. Sims has received various recognitions of her work in Native language preservation nationally as well as in New Mexico. She was selected by the National Association for Bilingual Education as the 2002 recipient of the Ramon L. Santiago President’s Award for research and advocacy on language rights issues for Native American communities; received the 2002 New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education Award for contributions to Native American Bilingual Education in New Mexico; recognized by the New Mexico State Senate for her contributions to Native Language and Culture in 2004; and received the 2013 Senator Joseph M. Montoya Award from the New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education for state and national contributions to Native Language issues.
Dr. Sims is a member of Acoma Pueblo and resides with her family on the Acoma Pueblo Indian reservation in northwestern New Mexico.
Call for Presentations Accordion Closed
Please click here: Call for Presentations to download.
Conference Schedule Accordion Closed
Schedule coming soon!
Conference Hotel Information Accordion Closed
AIITEC/SILS Conference Hotel Information:
DoubleTree by Hilton Flagstaff
1175 W. Route 66, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
IMPORTANT DUE DATES
You must reserve your room by May 22nd, 2023 in order to receive the conference rate
Online Booking Link: https://group.doubletree.com/0fioyb
Click on “edit stay” to reflect the dates you will be attending.
Group Name: AIITEC Conference
Where to Park? Accordion Closed
Parking directions coming soon!
Certificate of Participation Accordion Closed
Certificates of Participation will be accessible after the conference.
Conference Recorded Sessions Accordion Closed
Conference-recorded sessions will be posted here.
