IAS News

IAS faculty member Margaret Redsteer published an article co-authored with Klara B. Kelley, Harris Francis and Debra Block, “Accounts from Tribal Elders: Increasing Vulnerability of the Navajo People to Drought and Climate Change in the Southwestern United States.”  The article appears in a new UNESCO-Cambridge book Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation.  It argues that while there is growing respect and appreciation within the academic scientific community for indigenous knowledge ...

IAS alum Abigail Echo-Hawk spoke with KUOW’s Guy Nelson about a 2010 survey of Native women living in the Seattle area. It found that 94 percent had been raped or coerced into sex at some point during their lives. Echo-Hawk directs the Urban Indian Health Institute (UHIHI) in Seattle and holds an M.A. in Policy Studies (’09) and B.A. in American Studies (’07) from UW Bothell. UIHI’s mission is “to decolonize ...

IAS Alum Andrea (Sweerus) Downs has worked in special education for close to ten years, specializing in emotional behavioral disabilities. Downs has advocated for equity, changes in discipline polices, and equal access to educational supports and environments. Since leaving the classroom, she has worked as a behavior specialist and program facilitator for both Everett and Seattle Public Schools, and most recently, accepted a position as the Director of Special Services with Coupeville School District. There, she will oversee ...

Allyson Fredericksen has dedicated more than 10 years to serving nonprofits. Passionate about social justice and mobilizing communities for change, she has found her calling as a strategic operations professional, helping organizations create efficient and effective internal systems so they can focus on their missions. Fredericksen is thrilled to ...

IAS faculty member Dan Jacoby wrote a commentary for The Herald on the Supreme Court’s Janus decision, which put an end to public agency unions requiring non-union member to pay “agency fees” toward collective bargaining expenses. Jacoby argues that the Janus decision will weaker unions and put workers at risk.  “…this ruling will push public policy further down the discredited path of private contracting agencies. Private contractors do bargain the terms of employment, but ...