The Institute for Ethnic Studies will host the annual Spring Celebration honoring success and service March 10-12.

The celebration will include events on racial justice.

At 5 p.m. March 10, there will be a panel discussion via Zoom on the question, “What Is Indigenous Sovereignty, and Why Does It Matter Now?” Panelists are Margaret Huettl, Native American studies and history; Jessica Shoemaker, College of Law; Colette Yellow Robe, student support services; and Tom Gannon, Native American studies and English.

Tiffany Midge will give a talk, “Attack of the Fifty-Foot (Lakota) Woman,” at 5 p.m. March 11 via Zoom. Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest.

Midge is the recipient of a 2020 Eliza So Fellowship; a 2019 Pushcart Prize; the Kenyon Review Earthworks Indigenous Poetry Prize; a Western Heritage Award; the Diane Decorah Memorial Poetry Award; and a 2019 Simons Public Humanities fellowship. Her 2019 memoir, “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s,” was a notable book pick for Lit Hub, Poets and Writers Magazine, Library Journal, Kirkus, She Reads, and more. She’s been featured on CBC Radio’s Unreserved, Live Wire, Bitch Media’s Popaganda, Jana Schmieding’s Woman of Size, Native America Calling, and Wyoming Public Radio. A former humor columnist, Midge holds a master of fine arts from the University of Idaho and has taught composition and creative writing at Northwest Indian College. She aspires to be the Distinguished Writer in Residence for Seattle’s Space Needle.

The last day will offer a panel discussion on “Social Justice and Intellectual Allyship: When the Culture You Research or Teach Is Not Your Own,” starting at noon March 12 via Zoom.

Panelists are Patrick Jones, African American studies and history; Alice Kang, African studies and political science; Trey Andrews, U.S. Latinx studies and psychology; Luis Rosa, U.S. Latinx and Latin American studies and modern languages 

Ethnic Studies Spring Celebration