AILRC Events

Upcoming AILRC Events

Fall Feast - September 22, 2026

12-2 p.m. | Kirby Ballroom | RSVP

The annual feast is a gathering to welcome everyone back to UMD. It's all about bringing the UMD community together as we start a new academic calendar year with the changing of the seasons.

A light lunch of soup/salad/breadsticks with dessert/drinks will be served.

Speaker: Arne Vainio, M.D. is a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe tribal member. He was born to a Finnish father and an Ojibwe mother, one of seven children. When he was four years old, his father died by suicide and poverty for his family followed. He credits less than a double handful of people for changing his course and advises we are all that person for someone who might be lost.

He started UMD in 1987 and majored in Chemistry. In 1990, he was accepted to the University of Minnesota Duluth medical school and did his family practice residency at the Seattle Indian Health Board/Providence Hospital in Seattle, Washington. He has been a physician at the Min-No-Aya-Win Clinic on the Fond du Lac Ojibwe Reservation in Cloquet, MN since summer of 1997.

He has been a columnist for three Native operated newspapers from 2007 – 2023, was featured in the Emmy nominated Native Health documentary “Walking into the Unknown,” and is featured on PBS North’s Native Report in his “Health Matters” segments since 2016.

Past AILRC Events

Spring Feast - March 24, 2026

The 2026 spring feast speakers were Leah and Logan Monroe from Northland Community Schools in Remer.

They brought their 5th-12th-grade drum and dance troupe students for a dance exhibition.

Leah is a Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe member and Native Nation Rebuilder, and the Indian Education Director. She will talk about the importance of having language and culture in public schools as it helps build understanding across cultures. Logan is the school's cultural consultant and drum instructor.

PBS North also created a Spring Feast video for The Slice program.

Fall Feast - September 16, 2025

Speakers: Thomas Peacock, Fond du Lac tribal member & Betsy Albert-Peacock, Red Cliff tribal member

The Peacocks are retired UMD faculty members. Thomas was UMD’s first Endowed Chair of Indigenous Education. They spoke about their retirement and their Native-owned publishing company, Black Bears and Blueberries, which focuses on Native authors and illustrators.

Sovereignty & Stories - April 1, 2025

Speaker: Allison Waukau, Menominee/Navajo

This event featured keynote speaker Allison Waukau, Menominee/Navajo, who serves as the tribal liaison and Native relations coordinator for the Metropolitan Council. Waukau is the president of the American Indian Library Association and founder of the "Books are Good Medicine" podcast. She talked about her podcast, told the story about how she became a librarian and discussed the role she plays in making sure Native history is included in education.

UMD American Indian Advisory Board Fall Meeting

Charles Nies, Agatha Armstong, Dorothy Olson, Cathy Chavers, Marie Spry, Jody O'Connor, Bobby Deschampe, Bruce Savage

Three times a year the UMD American Indian Advisory Board (AIAB) holds community building meetings at the reservations of the three northern Minnesota Chippewa tribes of Grand Portage, Bois Forte, and Fond du Lac. A recent meeting in Grand Portage featured a meet and greet for UMD’s incoming Chancellor Charles Nies.

Jody O’Connor, director of the American Indian Learning Resource Center, is co-chair of the AIAB. The elected board works to ensure UMD is responsive to the needs of UMD's Native students. It includes two students and representation from the three tribes, including Grand Portage Tribal Chairman Bobby Deschampe, Fond du lac Tribal Chairman Bruce Savage and Bois Forte Tribal Chairwoman Cathy Chavers.

Fall Feast 2024

The 2024 Fall Feast was held on September 25 and featured students from the Tribal Administration and Governance master's program, Jaylen Strong and Nicole Smith, who presented "Education is not a one size fits all concept."

For more information check out the Fox News article.

Spring Feast 2024

Student workers tabling during Spring Feast

Spring Feast 2024 was held on March 19 and it featured author Sandy White Hawk. She spoke about the Supreme Court's decision to not overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act, her book "A Child of the Indian Race," and her experience as a Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.

For more information check out the Fox News article.

Spring Feast 2023

Jody O'Connor, Dennis Olson, Rachel Evangelisto, and Iris Carufel at the 2023 Spring Feast

The American Indian Learning Resource Center's Spring Feast event was held on March 29, 2023. As reported by WDIO, "The celebration hosted two guest speakers. UMD alumnus Dennis Olson, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and Rachel Evangelisto, the 86th Miss Minnesota and alumna of the University of Minnesota Morris."

Upcoming AILRC Events

Past AILRC Events

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