Featured speakers

Schedule

Tuesday, April 2: Optional tours/workshops at various locations

Space is limited for tours, sign up via the Eventbrite registration site

1 p.m.: Love Library, Peterson Room 221

Comics making workshop CANCELLED

2:30 p.m.: Great Plains Art Museum
Indigenous campus tour with Dr. Margaret Huettl

8:30 p.m.: Auld Pavilion, Antelope Park, parking lot on the south side of the building
Lincoln Legends tour with Mystery Harwood. A brief walking tour of Antelope Park, home to several ghostly legends. We will visit the memorial field and the amphitheater, and some local high school students will demonstrate how ghost-hunting and legend-tripping are done in the digital era.

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Tuesday, April 2: Conference begins at Great Plains Art Museum

4:45 p.m.: Check in opens

5:30 p.m.: Reception

6 p.m.: Keynote Paul Chaat Smith

Out of the Blue and into the Black: Are the Great Plains still Great?

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Wednesday, April 3: Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center

8:30 a.m.: Check in opens

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9-10 a.m.: Keynote, Dr. Kristin Lee Hoganson

Reconsidering the Heartland Myth in Light of Local History, Banquet hall

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10:15–11:30 a.m.: Concurrent Session 1

A. Conflicting Landscapes: The Place of Trees in Seas of Grass, breakout B2

The story of humans and the Great Plains is a complex one. Following European settlement, the native prairie has been irrevocably altered through plowing, overgrazing, irrigating, developing municipalities, and planting trees. This panel focuses on the latter and untangles the myth of how planting trees to “diversify” a flat landscape has affected prairies and our relationship with them. Panelists will discuss the interaction of trees and prairie from their respective lenses in prairie conservation and restoration, ranch land management, and human dimensions of ecology. Finally, this panel will offer notes on restoring pockets of native prairie into your own landscaping.

• Brandon Cobb, Indigenous Conservation Specialist, The Nature Conservancy
• Chris Helzer, Director of Science, The Nature Conservancy
• Mary Ann Vinton, Professor & Program Director, Environmental Science, Creighton University
• Dave Wedin, Professor & Director, Center for Grassland Studies, UNL

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B. Westerns, Comics, and New Storytelling, breakout C

Western novels and comics were one of the first ways America and the wider world was introduced to the myths of the West. Fantastical tales of cowboys, outlaws, and Native Americans were shipped around the world and paved the way for later Western movies. How did those early portrayals represent the Great Plains and its peoples? How did those representations affect art making today? How are the Great Plains represented in today's comics, Westerns, and other visual works?

• Dr. Sara Spurgeon, Texas Tech University
• Robert James Russell, Writer and Artist

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C. Reframing Willa Cather's West, breakout B3

Willa Cather endures as a powerful representative of Nebraska and the Great Plains, and she is rightfully celebrated for her intimate and compassionate portrayal of the lives of women and immigrants in the region. However, her writings in and about the Great Plains do not contain real representation of or engagement with Indigenous peoples in the region. In this panel, we reckon with Cather’s erasures and silences, confronting her work honestly to resituate her writing within the context of Indigenous peoples in the Great Plains, the role of the transcontinental railroad in reshaping the region, and the conversations between Cather’s works and other artistic productions. We address questions such as: How did Cather’s embeddedness in the settler colonial project influence her fictional portrayal of the Great Plains? How much of Cather’s lack of representation of Indigenous peoples in the Great Plains was intentional, and what work can exploring possible motivations behind that choice do for us today? How does putting Cather in conversation with other writers and artists allow for challenging and complex readings of each? We hope this reconsideration of Cather’s work and legacy will help to fill in the silences in her writings and serve as a model for reckoning with complex figures in nuanced and productive ways.

• Emily J. Rau, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Ariel Silver, Southern Virginia University
• Paul Burch, Rice University

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D. Advancing Inclusive Storytelling in the Great Plains: Nebraska’s Historical Marker Equity Program, breakout D

This panel will explore the past, present and future of the historical marker through a conversation with History Nebraska’s Equity Marker Program, a new effort examining the language and themes of the well-known landscape form, updating narratives to incorporate more voices, and creating improved access for underrepresented communities to commemorate their own histories. The discussion begins with an exploration of the program’s history, followed by an analysis of geographical distribution and thematic areas – providing insights into how Nebraska’s history has been traditionally represented and why updating these narratives matters. The panel will also share inspiring stories of community involvement in the creation of new markers and provide insight into the future directions of the program.

• Autumn Langemeier, Historic Marker Programs at History Nebraska
• Eric Ewing, Executive Director, Great Plains Black History Museum
• Araceli Hernandez, History Nebraska
• Vickie Schaelper, Legacy of the Plains Museum
• Nolan Johnson, History Nebraska
• Nathan Tye, University of Nebraska at Kearney

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11:45 a.m.–1:30 p.m.: Lunch and Keynote Dr. Margaret Huettl

Here Lies the Pioneer: (Re)Covering the Oregon Trail, Banquet hall, Lunch provided

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1:45–3 p.m.: Concurrent Session 2

A. Exploding Plastic Indigenous, breakout C

As an artistic movement, Native Pop Art routinely challenges and updates myth, and while the approach is present across North America, the movement has been especially active on the Plains. This panel discusses the work of a variety of Native artists currently working in a Pop style on the Plains, considering how they disrupt legendary depictions of Indigenous people.

• Wendy Red Star: Archival Interventions, Karen Barber, University of Mississippi
• Paint Buffalo and You’ll Have a Career, Tom Farris (Otoe-Missouria), First Americans Museum
• Mary Sully’s Proto-Pop Art, Todd Richardson, UNO

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B. Legendary Plains Folklore (and Folklorists), breakout B3

The Great Plains doesn’t have more folklore than anywhere else—folklore is everywhere all the time—yet Plains folklore is better documented and understood than folklore from other places because so many amazing folklorists have called the region home. In that spirit, this panel will consider “legendary” folklore of the Plains, from the contributions of legendary folklorists like Roger Welsch to the ongoing practice of “legend-tripping” in Lincoln, Nebraska.

• The 'Compulsive Teachers' of Folklore: A Case for the Power of Folklore Studies in General Education Curricula, Cassandra Pfeifer, Mid-Plains Community College
• Homeland Hauntings: Thirty Years of Legend-Tripping in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mystery Harwood, Union College
• The Stories We Keep: Reflections of the Late Roger Welsch, Antonia Welsch, writer

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 C. Reshaping Earth's Skin: The Effect of Settler Mythologies on the Soils of the Great Plains, breakout B2

How deep do we find the myths of the great plains beneath the Earth’s surface, and what are the consequences of these myths for the soils? Soils of the Great Plains are worlds unto themselves, and even a tablespoon of soil holds a billion microscopic creatures. These creatures form the backbone of dynamic soil processes that have supported the perennial endeavors of our grassland ecosystems over centuries. This world beneath the surface has been the unseen recipient of human attention. Where Indigenous peoples had stewarded the region and their soils for thousands of years, settlers saw untamed lands, a Great American Desert, unfit for cultivation. However, the invention of the steel plow allowed settlers to cut through the dense roots and rich soils of the prairies. With this invention, they not only cultivated crops, but a new myth: rain follows the plow.  While the plow ushered in a new era of North American cultivation, it failed in increasing rainfall, but rather contributed to one of the most infamous agroecological disasters: the Dust Bowl. Despite the lessons of the Dust Bowl, we continue to perpetuate agricultural myths that degrade the fundamental soil properties. In today’s landscape, these myths persist in erosion control, fertilization, and irrigation practices, which patch damage temporarily but ultimately push forward a feedback loop of soil depletion. In this session we will explore how agricultural myths can be observed in soil ecosystem processes up to two meters deep within the Earth’s subsurface, learn how agricultural legacies shape grassland restoration practices and outcomes, and importantly, how new approaches to agroecosystems are transforming soils by interfacing with soil ecosystem processes. Together we will then ask, as we work to rebuild our relationship with soils, what new mythologies will we see reflected in Earth’s skin.

• Reb Bryant, PhD student at the University of Kansas studying plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi relationships for tallgrass prairie restorations
• Katja Koehler-Cole, Soil health management extension educator
• Ligia Souza, Soil Carbon Solutions Center

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D. Native Nation Building through Tribal Engagement and Intergenerational Knowledge, breakout D

This panel assembles a group of indigenous landscape architects, planners, and architects to discuss design within Native Nations spanning historical perspectives, present-day initiatives, and future prospects. At its core, the panel champions the central design ethos encapsulated in the principle of "For Native communities by Native communities," firmly asserting the belief in the innate knowledge and vision harbored by Native communities to chart their own destinies. The panel will feature a diverse range of voices, starting with representatives from MIG Native Nation Building Studio, a professional firm specializing in tribal community engagement design projects. The speakers will illuminate past challenges and present directions in their efforts to empower indigenous communities through design nationwide. Following this presentation, an architect practicing in Nebraska will offer a unique perspective on localized design challenges and solutions. Lastly, a group of educators will share insights into the pivotal role of involving students in the Tribal community engagement process, emphasizing the importance of intergenerational knowledge transfer and the cultivation of future leaders in the field. This multifaceted discussion sheds light on the intricate interplay between design, indigenous empowerment, and education, envisioning a more inclusive and culturally vibrant future for Native Nations. 

• José de Jesús Leal, ASLA, APA, Principal and Native Nation Building Studio Director, MIG, Inc.
• Paul Fragua (Pueblo of Jemez), Elder Architect and Planner, MIG, Inc.
• William DeRoin, architect
• Monique Bassey, Visiting Assistant Professor University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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3:15–4:30 p.m.: Concurrent Session 3

A. The Persistence of the Pioneer in Museums and Historic Sites, breakout C

This panel will examine why pioneer narratives persist in museums and historic sites, both in the interpretation of westward expansion, as well as in the insistence on celebrating “firsting” within our communities. Panelists will talk about the consequences are of those narratives, and what we can do about them.

• Cynthia Prescott, University of North Dakota
• Connor Thompson, University of Alberta (Doctoral Student)
• Broc Anderson, Buffalo County Historical Society/Trails & Rails Museum
• Will Stoutamire, moderator

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B. Representation of Great Plains Peoples, breakout B3

This panel will present a counter-narrative to the default settler colonialism associated with the region and include representation of other populations in the Great Plains through the lenses of art and history.

• Sharon Kennedy, Former Curator of Education Nebraska History Museum at History Nebraska
• Micah Chang, Assistant Professor, Montana State University
• Joel Zapata, Oregon State "Depicting the Real Heartland/Corazónlandia: The Great Plains’ Long Mexican Past and Present Through Art"

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C. Collecting Truth and Myth, breakout B2

How do we choose what to keep? What can archives and special collections tell us about the legends and myths of the Great Plains? How do we use what has been saved to tell more full stories of this place? Join experts in research, collections, and archives to hear about how three different institutions are using archives to tell new stories of the Plains.

• Dr. Gabriel Bruguier (Yankton Sioux Tribe), Assistant Professor, Research Specialist Librarian
• Sunshine Thomas-Bear, Cultural Preservation DirectorTHPO Office/Angel De Cora Museum
• Laurinda Weisse, University Archivist and Digital Repository Manager at University of Nebraska at Kearney

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D. Re-Indigenizing Southeast Nebraska, breakout D

Learn more about a new joint project of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma that aims to promote healing and reconciliation in southeast Nebraska by reconnecting the Otoe-Missouria to their homelands and educating non-Native people about the history and ongoing presence of the Tribe and other Indigenous peoples in our region. 

• Christina Faw Faw Goodson (Jiwere-Nut’achi/Baxoje) co-directors the Footsteps Project and is an educator, historian, and linguist who has served as the Indian Education Director for Frontier Public Schools in Red Rock, Okla., as Language Coordinator and Instructor for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and as the Native Language Specialist for the National Indian Education Association.
• Margaret Jacobs (settler background) co-directors the Footsteps Project and is the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, Charles Mach Professor of History at UNL, and co-director of the Reconciliation Rising Project.
• Kevin Abourezk (Sicangu Lakota) leads the “Creating Land-Based Commemorations” work for the Footsteps Project and is the Journalist and Deputy Managing Editor for the Indian Country Today Media Network, and Co-Director, Reconciliation Rising multimedia project.

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6:30–9 p.m.: Glacial Till Vineyard & Winery

Great Plains-themed dinner at Glacial Till Vineyard & Winery (additional ticket required, see Eventbrite).

Reading from The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren, who has been writing about the American West for more than 20 years. Her journalism, which has won the Hillman Prize, an Alicia Patterson fellowship and ten grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, has appeared in such publications as TIME, Politico, The Nation and Indian Country Today. Her latest book The Cost of Free Land won a 2021 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant; Kirkus Reviews named it one of the best nonfiction books of 2023.

Speaker bios

Kevin Abourezk (Sicangu Lakota) leads the “Creating Land-Based Commemorations” work for the Footsteps Project and is the Journalist and Deputy Managing Editor for the Indian Country Today Media Network, and Co-Director, Reconciliation Rising multimedia project.

Broc Anderson is originally from Alliance, Neb., and found a niche for history early on through many of Mari Sandoz’s writings. Anderson graduated from Chadron State College with his bachelors in Social Science Education and has since explored more of his Lakota heritage through his current research. As the Sandoz Scholar 2020 – 2021, Anderson continues building on Sandoz’s research through his master’s thesis at the University of Nebraska Kearney on the relationships between the Lakota from Pine Ridge and non-natives in northwest Nebraska during the late nineteenth century. In addition to his research interests, Broc also organizes events, fundraisers, and many other museum duties as the Community Engagement Director for the Buffalo County Historical Society/Trails & Rails Museum.

Dr. Karen Barber is an American art historian, specializing in the history and theory of photography and Modern art. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Mississippi. She is also a contributing editor for twentieth-century photography at Smarthistory/Khan Academy. Her research explores interwar photography, photobooks, photographic exhibitions, and photography as it relates to Native America within the context of, and as a means of upsetting, traditional settler colonialist narratives. She has also worked in significant photography collections in numerous American art museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Monique Basse is a visiting assistant professor with the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Bassey’s teaching interests and experience include design studios with a focus on environmental and social justice as well as landscape technology courses on grading, materials and methods, and construction detailing. Prior to joining UNL, Bassey was the Marie M. Bickham Chair, Professional in Residence, with the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. As a practitioner, Bassey has 10 years of experience as a landscape designer. Her experience spans a variety of project types, including neighborhood plans, university campus plans, community engagement, site design, and outreach initiatives. As an educator and designer, Bassey is passionate about bringing diverse perspectives to her students and project teams and contributing to innovative and creative design solutions. Bassey is an active member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). She currently serves on the national ASLA Executive Committee and Board of Trustees as the vice president of communications. Additionally, she is a passionate member of the Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) and serves on the emerging professionals committee.

Sunshine Thomas Bear is the Cultural Preservation Director/Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) at Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Angel De Cora Museum and Research Center

Gabriel Bruguier is an Assistant Professor and Research Specialist at UNL Libraries and is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Reb Bryant (they/them) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at the University of Kansas in conjunction with the Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research. Reb studies how we can restore the relationship between plants and their microbiome to support diverse, resilient, tallgrass prairie communities on post-agricultural lands. They are passionate about the ecology of symbiosis and the power of communities, human and otherwise.

Paul Burch is a graduate student in the Department of English at Rice University who studies Late 19th and early to mid 20th C. American literature and culture; American narratives of movement and dwelling; literature, technology, and culture; critical media theory

Rebecca Clarren has been writing about the American West for more than 20 years. She is the winner of the 2021 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for her work on The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance. Her journalism, for which she has won the Hillman Prize, an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, and ten grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, has appeared in such publications as Mother Jones, High Country News, The Nation, and Indian Country Today. Her debut novel, Kickdown (Sky Horse Press, 2018), was shortlisted for the PEN/Bellwether Prize.

Brandon Cobb joined The Nature Conservancy’s team as an Indigenous Conservation Specialist in 2022. This is a new role for the Nebraska chapter. Cobb is from Edmond, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in Environmental Science and a concentration in sustainability and natural resource use. As a 2022 Claire M. Hubbard Young Leaders in Conservation Fellow, Cobb chose to develop guidance for building and maintaining relationships with Tribal nations, primarily in Nebraska. From there, he organized and led the first Nebraska Intertribal Conservation Summit. Brandon now works on different projects with Indigenous groups and tribal nations across the state and other parts of North America.

William DeRoin is a practicing architect and design principal with HDR in Omaha, NE. DeRoin’s work has covered a wide breadth of project types and scales since joining HDR in 2007, including a strong focus on civic, community, and health in his hometown of Omaha and the Great Plains Region. As a design leader at HDR, William’s work and contributions have received multiple local, regional, and national design awards, and recent works have highlighted a focus on mass timber design and behavioral health. A registered member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, William has recently been fortunate to engage in work with both his own tribe and other tribes within the region, helping on efforts aimed at growing long-term economic opportunities and projects. A serving member of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers (AICAE), DeRoin stays engaged with both professional organizations and local community boards.

Eric Ewing is the Executive Director for the Great Plains Black History Museum in OMaha. He is retired from United States Navy and has worked in higher education as an Academic Dean, Manager of Academic Advising, an Adjunct Professor for Bellevue University, Metropolitan Community College, and Omaha School of Massage and Healthcare of Herzing University.

Tom Farris has been immersed in American Indian art his entire life. The child of passionate collectors, Farris spent a good deal of his formative years in various museums, galleries and artists' homes. Having such intimate contact with the genre, Tom found inspiration for his own growing artistic aptitude. A member of the Cherokee Nation and Otoe-Missouria tribe, he draws from his culture and his life-long influence of American Indian art to create his works.

Paul Fragua (Pueblo of Jemez), Elder Architect and Planner, MIG, Inc., is a fire keeper, runner, translator, and interpreter. He is keeping the fires of Tribal sovereignty and self-determination burning through his life’s work and bringing visibility to the invisible. Paul specializes in strategic and master planning, resource development and technical assistance. He has over 40 years of Native community outreach, community planning and development experience. His professional work and volunteer involvement have provided him with expertise in public relations, communications, and resource development. He is respected for his skills and knowledge by private foundations, federal government agencies and by tribal nations.

Christina Faw Faw Goodson (Jiwere-Nut’achi/Baxoje) co-directs the Footsteps Project and is an educator, historian, and linguist who has served as the Indian Education Director for Frontier Public Schools in Red Rock, Okla., as Language Coordinator and Instructor for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, and as the Native Language Specialist for the National Indian Education Association.

Mystery Harwood is a folklorist, teacher, and writer whose interests are always filtered through their love of everything creepy and haunting. Harwood is currently teaching at Union College in Lincoln Nebraska and serving on the board of the Nebraska Folk Life organization. Their current research explores the intersection between folklore, narrative, and genre, particularly regarding ghosts, witches, and other creature of horror.  

Chris Helzer is Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, where he conducts research and evaluates prairie management and restoration work. He holds a B.S. in Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife and a Master's Degree in Landscape Ecology from UNL. Helzer is dedicated to raising awareness about the value of prairies through his photography, writing and presentations. He is author of The Prairie Ecologist blog, and two books: The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States and Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter, as well as a frequent contributor to NEBRASKAland magazine and other publications. Helzer and his family live in Aurora, Nebraska.

Araceli Hernandez is the head of Educational Development and Digital Learning at History Nebraska. Over the last three years, she has reached out to over 10,000 students across the state through History Nebraska's virtual programming. Her programming primarily focuses on telling Nebraska stories in a way that is relatable to all Nebraskans and connects students to the state's history. She aims to highlight underrepresented stories alongside popular topics in Nebraska history. This includes highlighting the indigenous perspective of the Oregon Trail and highlighting stories like the Buffalo Soldiers of Fort Robinson, the Omaha Nation's deep connections to bison, and long-serving public servants like George Norris and Ernie Chambers. Araceli is expanding her audience nationally, bringing Nebraska history to learners across the country from North Carolina to Nevada to Oregon.

Dr. Kristin Lee Hoganson is a professor in the Department of Gender & Women's Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her book, The Heartland: An American History, drills deep into the center of the country, navigating the disconnect between history and myth and tracking both the backstory of this region and the evolution of the idea that the heartland is an unconnected, isolated region.

Dr. Margaret Huettl (Anishinaabe) is Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh whose research interests include Ojibwe/Anishinaabe sovereignty and treaty rights, Indigenous Studies, North American West, Indigenous sustainability and resilience, and digital humanities.

Margaret Jacobs (settler background) co-directors the Footsteps Project and is the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, Charles Mach Professor of History at UNL, and co-director of the Reconciliation Rising Project.

Nolan Johnson graduated from the University of South Dakota in 2004 with a BS in History and Anthropology. He received an MA in Anthropology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2006. His thesis was on the Beaver Creek Trail Crossing Site, which was a road ranch on the Nebraska City Cut-Off Trail. Johnson has worked at History Nebraska in a variety of positions since 2007 and as an archeologist since 2012. The largest part of his duties is working on Nebraska Department of Transportation projects in the northeast quarter of the state. Other interests include historic archeology, cultural change in Nebraska, and public archeology. Johnson is also the President of the Nebraska Association of Professional Archeologists.

Katja Koehler-Cole (she/her) is the Soil Health Management Extension Educator at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center with the University of Nebraska. Her work focuses on improving soil health strategies for resilient agricultural systems. Katja believes that in order to improve soil health, we need to approach soil as a living entity, and embrace the complexity of real-life agricultural systems in our endeavors to improve our management practices.

Autumn Langemeier is the Coordinator for the Historic Marker Programs at History Nebraska. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Psychology and a Master of Arts in History from the University of Nebraska at Kearney where she lectured as an adjunct professor. Her research has focused on textiles and domestic labor, modern American women’s history, and material culture. Autumn is an Affiliate Fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies and a member of the Coordinating Council for the Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: Re-Indigenizing Southeast Nebraska project.

José de Jesús Leal, ASLA, APA, Principal and Native Nation Building Studio Director, MIG, Inc., is a Landscape Architect, truth teller, and someone who considers laughter good medicine. His professional and personal journey has always been spiritual in nature—guided by the understanding that he is sometimes the student. As Director of MIG’s Native Nation Building Studio, his work focuses on the power of inclusive community-based design and planning that is culturally sensitive. For Leal, supporting Indigenous community cohesiveness and self-determination are critical to the long-term stability and resilience of Native Nations. He continues to view landscape architecture as a centuries old practice that is not only shaped by culture but also reflects it.

Cassandra Pfeifer is an English Instructor at Mid-Plains Community College. She earned an Associate of Arts degree in General Studies from Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill. in 2006; a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. in 2008; a Master of Arts degree in Literature from the University of Essex, in Colchester, England in 2010 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English and Folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2019.

Dr. Cynthia Culver Prescott is Chair of the Department of History & American Indian Studies and Professor of History. Prescott's work focuses on gender in the American West. She combines social history and material culture methods to study the intersections of gender, race, social class, and historical memory. Her first book, Gender and Generation on the Far Western Frontier (University of Arizona, 2007), traced changing gender roles and ideology among early white settlers in Oregon between 1845 and 1900. Her second book, Pioneer Mother Monuments: Constructing Cultural Memory (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019) won the 2020 Gita Chaudhuri Prize and the 2020 Fred B. Kniffen Book Award. In it, she traces changing portrayals of race, gender and national identity in pioneer monuments erected from 1890 to the present.

Emily J. Rau is an Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the editor of the Willa Cather Archive. She serves as the Book Review Editor for Western American Literature and is at work guest-editing a special issue of the journal titled Reframing Willa Cather’s West, forthcoming in Summer of 2025. Rau is a Fellow in the Center for Great Plains Studies and was the captain of the Graduate Fellows while completing her PhD in the English Department at UNL.

Dr. Todd Richardson is a Professor in the Goodrich Scholarship Program and James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics. In addition to courses he teaches within Goodrich, which include Autobiographical Reading and Writing, Perspectives on USAmerican Culture, and English Composition, he also teaches courses in American folklore and literature for UNO's Honor's Program. His current research interests include creative thinking and expression, particularly how they relate to community and loneliness. Richardson's writing has appeared in a variety of popular and academic publications, most notably The Journal of American Folklore, Cather Studies, and The Omaha Reader, and his co-authored book Implied Nowhere: Absence in Folklore was published by the University of Mississippi Press. He is the founder and editor of Louise Pound: A Folklore and Literature Miscellany.

Robert James Russell is the co-founding editor of the literary journal Midwestern Gothic, which aims to catalog the very best fiction of the Midwest (an area he believes is ripe with its own mythologies and tall tales, yet often overlooked). Fascinated by regionalist literature and the intersection of place/landscapes and relationships to each other and our bodies, his work has appeared in numerous publications. His Western novella, Mesilla, was published in 2015 by Dock Street Press. He was awarded an artist residency with the University Musical Society and was artist-in-residence at the Cedar Point Biological Station in Ogallala, Neb., in 2022. Robert’s graphic memoir Hard Body: A Personal History of My Form on Display—recounting his experience navigating a society obsessed with rigid representations of masculinity while dealing with body dysmorphia—will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2025.

Vickie Sakurada Schaepler is Coordinator of the Japanese Hall and History Project at Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska. Preserving the history of the Japanese on the High Plains and Nebraska through the preservation of a Japanese Hall built in 1928 and moved to the Legacy of the Plains Museum to showcase this history. She is a previous board member of the History Nebraska Board of Trustees and the Buffalo County Historical Society.

Dr. Ariel Clark Silver is Assistant Professor of English at Southern Virginia University. She currently holds the Alyson R. Miller Fellowship from the Massachusetts Historical Society and currently serves as the President of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society. She has presented work on Willa Cather at conferences in Ireland and New York and participated last summer in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Willa Cather: Place and Archive at UNL and in Red Cloud, NE. She is the author of The Book of Esther and the Typology of Female Transfiguration in American Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and has published in numerous other edited collections and journals, including RFEA, EJAS, Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, and Leviathan.

Paul Chaat Smith is a Comanche author, essayist, and curator. He joined the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in 2001. His exhibitions include Americans, James Luna’s Emendatio, Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian, and Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort. He’s the author (with Robert Warrior) of Like a Hurricane: the Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. His second book, Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong, was published in 2009. Although Smith spends most of his time crafting game-changing exhibitions and texts, he also enjoys reading obsessively about the early days of the Soviet space program, watching massive amounts of televised sports, and writing about himself in the third person.

Ligia Souza (she/her) is a data scientist at the Soil Carbon Solution Center at Colorado State University. She is an ecosystem ecologist who specializes in how soils respond to climate and human land use. Fueled by curiosity and caffeine, Ligia is motivated to find soil-based environmental solutions to address climate change.

Sara Spurgeon is a professor of English at Texas Tech University who works in literatures of the American West and Southwest, as well as nature/environmental writing, gender studies, and critical Indigenous and decolonial theory. She is the author of Exploding the Western: Myths of Empire on the Postmodern Frontier, co-author of Writing the Southwest, editor of the critical anthology Cormac McCarthy, and co-editor of Weird Westerns: Race, Gender, Genre. She has published essays on Ana Castillo, Cormac McCarthy, Brokeback Mountain, and Indigenous speculative fiction, comics, and sci fi. She founded and co-directs the Literature, Social Justice, and Environment Program in the Department of English.

Connor J. Thompson is graduate student at the University of Alberta in the Department of History, Classics, and Religion. Thesis Title: The Pioneer-as-Symbol: Historical Memory and Public Commemoration on the Canadian Prairies, 1945–1976

Dr. Nathan Tye is the assistant professor of Nebraska and American West History at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. A historian of transient laborers, better known as hobos, he is a dedicated local and regional historian. He has published in Nebraska History, Annals of Iowa, The Willa Cather Review and The Walt Whitman Quarterly. He has also appeared on NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? He serves on the boards of several community museums and cultural organizations including History Nebraska’s Historical Marker Equity Advisory Board, G.W. Frank Museum of History and Culture, Buffalo County Historical Society, Mari Sandoz Heritage Society, and the Japanese Hall at the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering. He is the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society’s current Mari Sandoz Scholar.

Dr. Mary Ann Vinton grew up as a member of a five (now seven) generation family of cattle ranchers in the Nebraska Sandhills. She completed an undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Wyoming, a MS at Kansas State University, and a PhD in Ecology at Colorado State University. She is now a Professor of Biology and Director of Environmental Science at Creighton University in Omaha. Vinton teaches courses in biology, ecology, and environmental science. Her research program revolves around the ecosystem consequences of human impacts on plant communities and ecosystems, such as impacts wrought by invasive plants or the demise of once-common plants.

Dr. David Wedin has been a faculty member in University of Nebraska’s School of Natural Resources and a cooperating faculty with the Center for Grassland Studies since 1998. He became Director of the Center for Grassland Studies in July 2023. With roots in Iowa and Minnesota, he has studied grassland ecology and conservation since his time at St. Olaf College in the 1970’s. Wedin’s PhD research focused on the interactions of grasses with soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, in particular the destabilizing effect of atmospheric nitrogen pollution on high-diversity prairies. Wedin oversees research, teaching and management at University of Nebraska’s Nine-Mile Prairie and Dalbey Prairie.

Laurinda Weisse is the University Archivist and Digital Repository Manager and an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. They wrangle everything archives and institutional repository, [including teaching primary source literacy, digital humanities, and archives and designing and developing exhibits on various topics in Nebraska history, literature, and more]. They hold a Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology, history, and Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Antonia Welsch is the daughter of prominent Nebraska folklorist and writer, Roger Welsch and the Nebraska artist, Linda Welsch. She grew up just outside of Dannebrog, NE, the small town made famous in her dad's "Postcards from Nebraska" segments, and attended Nebraska Wesleyan University, with majors in History and English Literature. She lives in Minnesota, with her husband Andrew and son Henry, where she works in communications and training and is an active volunteer for the Hopkins Historical Society and Library.