Potlatch Fund is pleased to announce the 2015 Leadership Honoring Award for Education will go to Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche/Kiowa). Dr. Pewewardy is Professor/Director of the Indigenous Nations Studies Program at Portland State University. He designed and teaches the course Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian/Alaska Native Students.

Formerly an elementary school teacher and principal, he consults with urban school districts and reservation schools across the United States. Prior to joining Portland State University, he was the doctoral faculty at the University of Kansas and was the fi rst Academic Dean of Comanche Nation College.

Dr. Pewewardy engages postcolonial Indigenous research paradigms by exploring Native American mascots in schools and addressing access and retention of American Indian students in higher education. He has a profound belief in the power of Indigenous education and in the power of higher education and has dedicated his professional life to bringing those two forces together in order to improve both. He has been described by a colleague as an educator to the depths of his soul - every situation providing a learning opportunity.

Dr. Pewewardy will receive his award at the Potlatch Fund's Annual Fundraising Gala on November 7, 2015. For more information about the Fundraising Gala and to purchase tickets please see the website www.potlatchfund.org.

Dr. Cornel Pewewardy is PI of the American Indian Teacher Program. He designed and teaches the new courses Culturally Responsive Teaching for American Indian/Alaska Native Students and Insurgent Research and Indigenous Education. He has consulted with urban school districts and reservation schools across the USA. Prior to coming to PSU, he was on doctoral faculty at the University of Kansas, and was the fi rst Dean of Academic Instruction at the Comanche Nation College. Professor Pewewardy engages postcolonial Indigenous research paradigms by exploring Native American mascots in schools, access and retention of American Indian students in higher education, Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies, culturally responsive teaching praxis, critical multicultural education, Indigenous urban and reservation-based teacher education, tribal college partnerships and collaborations with mainstream universities, Indigenous early college high schools, tribal identity (de)construction, Indigenous decolonization and resurgence, and ethnomusicology (digitizing unrecorded tribal songs of the Southern Plains).

In his professional career, Dr. Pewewardy has received numerous transformational leadership awards in teaching, research and service.

Dr. Pewewardy was named the 2012 John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teacher Award given by the College of Liberal Arts and Science at Portland State University. In 2011 he was selected the Carl A. Grant Multicultural Research Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education; voted the 2011 President’s Diversity Award from Portland State University; and named the 2011 Teacher of the Year by the Oregon Indian Education Association.

In 2009 Cornel was selected the Teacher of the Year by the National Indian Education Association; 2009 Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Oregon Indian Education Association; and 2009 Outstanding Role Model at the 2nd Annual Oklahoma Native American Students in Higher Education Conference. In 2007 Pewewardy received the Mike Charleston Research Award for Distinguished Contributions to Indigenous Education by the American Education Research Association and 2005 Scholars of Color Distinguished Scholar Award also by AERA.

Professor Pewewardy seeks to bring decolonizationing frameworks and Indigenous ways of knowing approach to any classroom, valuing the learners' experience and insights. His belief in collaboration has led to work with several learning communities, including multicultural cross-curricular teams, networks for culturally responsive teaching practices, and curriculum design teams. He is known for his effective teaching methods and has presented throughout the country.

Cornel is currently involved in efforts to improve local K-12 American Indian educational outcomes in Oregon and Washington. He is a consultant to the Native American Community Academy-Inspired Schools Network in Albuquerque, NM in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.