Stefanie O’Connor has a double major in History and Geology along with an Associate Degree in Science. She graduated in May 2014 and is currently applying for Grad School to obtain her Masters in History. Stefanie completed her Senior Honors Thesis in Native Indian Dance in 2014; during her process in writing her Senior Honors Thesis she was adopted by Leonard Little Finger a Lakota Elder, whom now she calls grandfather. Stefanie participated in the Undergraduate Conference in 2014, held the position of Geology Club President from 2009-2013, is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, participated in the Leadership Program in 2009-2010, a member of Student Government 2009-2010, Honors Program Membership from 2011-2014 In her free time she enjoys reading, researching, golf, swimming, spending time with her 10 year old son, being outdoors hiking and fossil collecting.

Nell Orndorf holds a Bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Akron (1985) and a Masters degree in Family Ecology from the University of Akron (1990.) She also served as a board member for the Native American Indian and Veterans Center of Summit County. Nell's native American heritage is Ojibwe and Blackfoot from the Turtle Clan on her father's side. Her husband, Jim is Lakota. Nell provides consultation to several universities on Native American issues and pow wows. In addition, she teaches sewing, crochet, tatting, quilting, Native American beading, card making and scrapbooking as a way to help and encourage others in honoring and preserving their culture, customs, and heritage. Nell has proudly sewn and presented ceremonial regalia and quilts for many friends and dignitaries in the northeast Ohio area.

Mona Polacca is a Havasupai, Hopi, and Tewa member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes of Parker, Arizona. She is one of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers – a group of spiritual elders, and wisdom keepers. Promoting a call of basic consciousness that we are all related.

She is an author in social sciences, has served as Treasurer for her tribe, and is known for her social and spiritual activism and leadership.

Her work includes the drafting of Water Declarations, as a “call for protection of the cultural and sacred waters” on the lands and territories of the Indigenous peoples of the world, and planning the Indigenous World Forum on Water.

Laura Fong is an award-winning photojournalist; her photos have been published nationally and internationally. Her heartfelt and sensitive documentary work about women’s issues, and military service members and the transition to civilian life have been featured on NPR and in national media.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Kent State University, where she was awarded a scholarship from the Women’s Center in 2010 and served as a member of the board.

Currently, she teaches Digital Science and Multimedia Journalism at Kent State University in addition to her freelance documentary film-making career, while raising her 9-year-old daughter, Lily.

Kimberlee Medicine Horn Jackson, Yankton Sioux, is an emerging Native American poet and writer. She studied for and received her MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry at Ashland University. Her current study if for an Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies with George Fox University and in partnership with the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies with an expected graduation date in 2015. Recent publications of her poetry are in The Prairie Wolf Press Review and The Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought. She has been invited to share her writing at Bowling Green University, Firelands Campus and Ashland Theological Seminary for the Created in God’s Image: Walking Holy Ground Together conference. As an adjunct English professor at Kent State University Geauga Campus, she teaches the Native American Boarding School Era to College Writing II classes because it is still a hidden layer in American history. Her passion is writing and researching past and present concerns for Native Americans, writing about life as a Native American adopted off the reservation under false pretenses and the intersection between traditional ways and Christianity.