Meet the INNR Team

Dr. Ted Gordon

Position: Director, Initiative for Native Nation Relations

Joseph Farry Endowed Professor, McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement

Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology

His publications and research focus on native nation economic sovereignty, activism, and boarding school truth and reconciliation. (More information here.)

Macy Ellis

Pronouns: she/her

Position: Assistant Director for Native Nation Engagement

Major & minors: English major with a concentration in Creative Writing, minors in Book Arts and Art

Grade: Sophomore

Why you joined INNR: I joined INNR my first year in college after hearing about our school’s history involving monastic Native American boarding schools. I’m so thrilled that we have this organization that is actively working toward repatriation and reconciliation.

Savannah Supan

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Position: Research Assistant

Major & minor: Nutrition major and chemistry minor

Grade: Junior

Why you joined INNR: I joined INNR after taking Dr. Gordon’s honor course. The more I learned about the history of Indigenous boarding schools, especially the ones run on or near campus, the more I knew that I had to be involved in this work. Now here we are!

Kathryn Schug

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Position: Research Assistant

Major & minors: English with a concentration in Creative Writing and minors in Book Arts and German

Grade: Sophomore

Why you joined INNR: I joined INNR this year, as I heard about INNR last year when I took Ted Gordon’s CSD 100 class. I am excited to be doing this work. It is important to acknowledge the boarding schools that were previously operated by the Abbey and Monastery on campus, while working to return artifacts to the rightful tribes.

T Meier

Pronouns: they/them 

Position: Archival Research Assistant

Major & minors: History major, English and Philosophy minor

Grade: Sophomore

Why you joined INNR: As a CSB+SJU student, I want to both take pride in what this school accomplishes for its students here and the opportunities available while also understanding and helping to share its harmful history it has inflicted on others during its operation here. These two things need not be exclusive of each other; by working toward the latter, I believe we can create a stronger and more honest institution that recognizes its past, and I hope to help further that idea by working with INNR.

Emily Mundt

Pronouns: she/her

Position: Research Assistant

Majors & minors: Hisotry major and Data Analytics and Hispanic Studies minors

Grade: Sophomore 

Why you joined INNR: I joined INNR after learning more about the history of the Abbey and the Monastery’s use of boarding schools in my first year history class. I want to make sure history is remembered and returned to Native Nations in a way that supports their goals for healing. I believe doing history requires acknowledging the past as its weight has tangible traces in the present.

Hanna Lysne

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Position: Research Assistant

Majors: Biology and Peace Studies double major with a concentration in Global Health

Grade: Senior

Why you joined INNR: Within the same week of learning about INNR, I was sitting down in Ted Gordon’s office asking to be a part of the team. INNR allows students to learn first-hand about our community’s past and provides students a unique opportunity to be ab active part in reconciliation work. As someone who will soon graduate and enter the global health field, I recognize the important of learning about the past which provides an insight into present day health inequities. I’m grateful to be a part of the INNR team and excited for the future!