Kelly Leah Stewart (Gabrieliño-Tongva/Luiseño) is a Doctoral Candidate in the Joint Degree Program in Educational Leadership at the University of California, San Diego, and California State University, San Marcos. She earned a Master of Arts in American Indian Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Building off her master’s thesis, Kelly is currently working on her dissertation – “Unconditional Love: Honoring Our Ancestors’ Experiences and Legacy at St. Boniface Indian Industrial School” – which examines the legacy and educational experiences of California Indians who attended St. Boniface and the intergenerational impacts that the institution had on survivors and their descendants. Her research explores California Indian knowledge transmission practices and colonial schooling during the Spanish mission, Mexican rancho, and American boarding school eras. She currently works as a Graduate Research Associate for the Indigenous Futures Institute at UC San Diego on the Unmapping UC: Motkoolahooee project. Upon completing her doctoral degree, Kelly will join the American Indian Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach, as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Spring of 2023.

James C. Ramos is an Assemblymember in the California State Assembly, representing the 40th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Highland, Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, and San Bernardino. He is a lifelong resident of the San Manuel Indian Reservation in San Bernardino County. As a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe, Assemblymember Ramos is the first California Indian to be elected to the California State Assembly. He was elected to the California State Assembly on November 6, 2018. Prior to this, he served as the Third District Supervisor for the County of San Bernardino since 2012, including serving as County Board of Supervisors Chairman from 2015-2017. He is the immediate past Chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, with a deep commitment to the preservation of California Indian culture. Additionally, Assemblymember Ramos is co-founder of the San Manuel Band’s Cultural Awareness Program and serves as director of the California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference held annually at California State University, San Bernardino. He earned an Associate Degree in Business at Victor Valley College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting at California State University, San Bernardino, and a Master of Business Administration Degree at the University of Redlands.

Dr. Wendy G. Teeter is Cultural Resources Archaeologist for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. She is the Curator of Archaeology for the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA NAGPRA Coordinator, and teaches periodically in UCLA American Indian Studies. She is a member of the UC President’s Native American Advisory Council. Dr. Teeter collaborates nationally and internationally with Indigenous communities on issues of repatriation and cultural heritage protection. She is Co-PI for Mapping Indigenous Los Angeles, a community-based website devoted to storytelling through cultural geography and map making and for Carrying our Ancestors Home, which tells the history of repatriation at UCLA and stories of repatriation from Indigenous communities. Since 2007, Dr. Teeter has been co-director of the Pimu Catalina Island Archaeology Project, which seeks to understand the Indigenous history of the island and Tongva homelands through multi-disciplinary and collaborative methodologies. The project provides a field school that has educated over 150 students on the importance of community-based archaeology. She has served on several boards and committees including as Chair of the Society for California Archaeology Curation Committee and Editorial Board Member, Heritage & Society Journal.

Eva Trujillo is the NAGPRA Repatriation Coordinator at the University of California, San Diego. She wrote in a recent profile, “My name is Eva Trujillo. I am siny ‘Iipay-Kumeyaay (northern woman), and I consider myself to be a student of life and a life student. I wear many different hats including wife, mother, sister, niece, auntie, cousin, and more. I grew up both on, and off my reservation of Mesa Grande, and continue to reside, work, and thrive within my traditional ancestral territory. For over 20 years I have worked for the UC San Diego Medical Center. First, as a Clinical Care Partner and later, a Hospital Unit Service Coordinator. It was only when I decided to act in the service of my Ancestors and in turn, my career path shifted to repatriation efforts, eventually leading me to my role on campus as the new UC San Diego Repatriation Coordinator. I connect with both my heritage and culture by serving my Ancestors, Elders, and Indigenous community. I actively participate in ceremony both individually, and along with my community just as my Ancestor before me, and after me. I’m learning my language so that my Ancestors will one day understand me and it is a conscious effort to decolonize colonial spaces. The realization of active efforts to exterminate Indigenous peoples and their culture became my motivation to resist these colonial ideologies. My mere existence is resistance.”

Rebecca Tsosie is a Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona.  Professor Tsosie teaches in the areas of Federal Indian law, Property, Constitutional Law, Cultural Resources Law, and Critical Race Theory.  Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 2016, Professor Tsosie was a Regents Professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she also served as Vice Provost for Inclusion and Community Engagement.  Professor Tsosie was the first faculty Executive Director of ASU’s Indian Legal Program and served in that position for 15 years. Professor Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent, is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in the fields of Federal Indian law and Indigenous peoples’ human rights.  Professor Tsosie is a member of the Arizona Bar Association and the California Bar Association.  She serves as an appellate judge for the Supreme Court of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, as well as the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals.  Professor Tsosie received her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she was also a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California.