John Bilorusky (PhD, Higher Education, 1972, University of California at Berkeley) is President, Faculty Member and Co-founder of the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR). Prior to WISR’s founding in 1975, he taught at University Without Walls-Berkeley, the University of Cincinnati and the University of California at Berkeley..
Margery Coffey received her Master’s and PhD from WISR and is the Assistant Director of the Omaha Tribal Historical Research Project (OTHRP). She is an accomplished artist, and her work has been shown in many art shows over the years, including the Phi Beta Kappa Gradauate Art Show at Michigan State in 1975, and subsequent juried and invitational shows in New Orleans,Lincoln, NE, Omaha, Buffalo, NY, San Francisco, CA, Sioux City, IA, Laramie, WY, Colorado Springs, and Tuscon, AZ. Dr. Coffey has used writing and artistic skills to educate people about the Omaha. She has created and produced eleven different 40-page style books ranging from children's stories, poetry books, how-to manuals to art show catalogs for the mainstream culture's consumption. On the Umonhon [Omaha] Indian Reservation, she created puzzles in the Umonhon language, worked on the Native Economic Development newsletter, in Macy, NE, as well as, working on assorted Native American artworks for illustrations on local posters, newsletters, and an educational coloring book in connection with Walthill Public School and Thurston County 4-H projects. She was a Newberry Independent Fellow at the Newberry Library in Chicago (2004), and she compiled an Umonhon language dictionary and workbook and other projects, including coauthoring with Omaha elder, Thurman Cook, a Culture and Language workbook.
Osahon Chris Eigbike’s research interest is in the Arts and Science of Indigenous Spirituality & Culture, and Multi-Faith Theology for meaningful contextual living and sustainable development. Accordingly, his focus is a multidisciplinary, deconstructive exploration of how the colonized peoples need to respond to their developmental crossroad in a so-called postcolonial world. Osahon is a teacher, theologian, herbalist, community worker, storyteller, and an intellectual activist for healthy social change.
Summary of Education:
- BSc, Political Science (University of Benin, Nigeria)
- MSc Studies, Interdisciplinary Primary Health Care & Population Science (University of London, UK)
- D.Div, Holistic Spirituality (Institute of Holistic Theology, Birmingham, USA)
- PhD, Higher Education & Social Change (Western Institute for Social Research, Berkeley, USA)
- MA, Indigenous & Interfaith Theology (Vancouver School of Theology, University of British Columbia, Canada)
Sevgi Fernandez earned her Bachelor’s degree from WISR, and will soon be completing her Master’s degree in Psychology at WISR. She also serves on WISR’s Board of Trustees. She is married and a mother of 3 amazing multiracial boys. She has a coaching business, Diverse World Coaching, specializing in working with cross-cultural/multi-racial individuals/families and works closely with Advanced Research Management Consultants Global (ARMCG) as a researcher and corporate coach in the areas of racial bias and stereotypes.
Steven Fletcher received his PhD in Higher Education and Social Change from WISR in 2012. He is a curriculum developer, musician, author and a teacher. He takes life as an adventure to be embraced, a journey to be taken. His approach to life and to education is that of drawing forth the best – trying to find the best in himself and the best in others. Born in a small town in northern California, he spent most of his adult life living outside of the US. From 2010 to 2014 he was an associate professor in Guizhou University, where he transformed his office into a center for research, sponsored many innovative activities and founded the HILL (Holistic Integrated Language Learning) program. He is now involved in curriculum development, training teachers and direct teaching at Encourage International English School in Lanzhou, China. He has two children and four grandchildren, all living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. He is 68 years-old and says retirement is not in his plan.
Dennis Hastings received his Master’s and PhD from WISR. He is the founder and Director of the Omaha Tribal Historical Research Project (OTHRP). OTHRP is the Cultural Authority for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa in Perpetuity by Tribal Council Resolution. Among his many awards and accomplishments are:
• Certificate of Award presented by the Pawnee Tribe in recognition of assistance and support leading to the enactment of the Nebraska Unmarked Burial Sites and Skeletal Remains Protection Act
• Honorable Mention of the Victor Turner Prize in Anthropology for Blessing For a Long Time: The Story of the Omaha Sacred Pole co-authored with Robin Ridington. (University of Nebraska Press, 1997 still in print). Dr.Hastings has collaborated on many books on the Omaha
• Genealogical Research: Paul Brill, Genealogist. Research into the Genealogy of the Omaha Tribe.
• Omaha Archival Photographic Project: John Carter, Nebraska State Historical Society
• West Meets West: Awarded 1993 Nebraska Arts Council's Governor's Art Awards for West Meets West, a collaborative performance with the City of Omaha Symphony Orchestra of contemporary Omaha tribal and symphonic music. Dennis coordinated the Omaha sector.
• "We Are One" Project: Dennis Hastings and Nebraska Educational Television (film of traditional Omaha life in 1800 designed for 4th and 5th grade curriculum in Nebraska public schools to educate both Indians and non-Indians).
• The Omahas and the History of Anthropology: Joan Mark, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
• Bringing the past to the future: Placement of pictures in the various institutions on the reservation, OTHRP
David Hough received his PhD from WISR, where his research and dissertation furthered his professional writings about critical approaches to learning and teaching culture. He taught in Japan for many years as professor of communication at Shonan Institute of Technology in Fujisawa. There, he assisted in initiatives throughout Asia and the Pacific to develop dictionaries and language and culture learning materials for indigenous minorities. In 2001, Dr. Hough received a three-year grant from the Japan Ministry of Education and Science to produce dictionaries and first language reading materials for the Kosraean, a Micronesian language spoken by about 12,000 people in the Federated States of Micronesia. He has also advised ministries and departments of education, institutions of higher learning, local educational bodies, NGOs, INGOs, and indigenous peoples’ organizations on issues of linguistic human rights, multilingual and multicultural education, and language planning and policy. He served from 2007-2008 as Chief Technical Advisor to the Nepal Ministry of Education and Sports for the country’s Multilingual Education Program. He has also officially advocated with indigenous organizations at the United Nations. In 2013, Dr. Hough retired from Shonan to become Senior Advisor for Bilingual Education in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He currently lives and works in the Marshall Islands but maintains a residence with his wife in Japan.
Zak Kondo received his PhD from WISR. He has spent more than 25 years teaching History and Black Studies on the college level full-time. Since 2005, he has served as an Associate Professor of history at Baltimore City Community College. Prior to this, he spent 15 years at Bowie State University in Maryland, where he founded and coordinated the Pan African Studies program. He also has taught at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey and Goddard College in Vermont. Dr. Kondo is a regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Malcolm X in the world. He is author of one of the most authoritative works on Malcolm's assassination [Conspiracys: Unraveling the Assassination of Malcolm X] and served as a consultant on four films on Malcolm X. He consulted on Spike Lee's motion picture, Malcolm X; Blacksides' documentary, Malcolm X: Make it Plain and Xceptions' documentary, Brother Minister: The Assassination of Malcolm X. More recently, he consulted on Abdul Rahman Muhammad's upcoming documentary on Malcolm X. He has also served as a consultant on two films on the Black Panther Party. His first book, The Black Student's Guide to Positive Education and four others, have been used over the years at numerous colleges and universities as required reading. He is a nationally recognized lecturer who has spoken at more than 45 colleges and universities, before hundreds of community programs and organizations and delivered keynote addresses at several conferences and programs nationwide.
Cynthia Lawrence, PhD is faculty member emeritus at WISR where she served on the faculty and Board for almost 25 years until her recent retirement. She received her PhD from WISR in 1987. For many years, she was a full-time faculty member in teacher education at the University of California at San Diego.
Ronald Mah, M.A., Ph.D., L.M.F.T. practices as a therapist in San Leandro, CA. With extensive background in education, multi-cultural, and social services, and authoring books, in discipline & behavior, he individualizes therapy, according to logical, emotional, cognitive, social, spiritual, familial, & cultural roots that led to current behavior for youth, adults, couples, and families. Ronald received his MA and PhD at WISR, and for two decades, he has been a core faculty member in the Marriage & Family Therapy program at the Western Institute for Social Research. He is also Executive Consultant for Behavioral Sciences-Private Tree, a confidential online communication business.
Jake Sloan is a WISR PhD student and a member of WISR’s Board. He has his Master’s in History from San Francisco State. He has more than 40 years’ experience in the construction industry and His experience in construction is comprehensive. Mr. Sloan began his working career as a pipefitter, gaining his first experience with organized labor. Over the years, he worked his way up to the position of construction project manager, managing multi-million dollar projects for The George Hyman Construction Company and Jefferson Associates. In 1982, Jake received his General Contractor’s license and started his own construction company, rehabilitating and upgrading dilapidated Bay Area residential properties. In 1984, Jake started the company Davillier-Sloan, Inc. a Labor-Management consulting firm, specializing in negotiating and administering Project Labor Agreements, Labor Compliance and Local Business/Hiring Programs. This broad and deep range of experience allows Jake to bring a unique perspective to each client. Currently, Davillier-Sloan is one of the largest Labor-Management consulting firms in California. Jake is past Chair of the Board of 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, past member of the Executive Committee of the Board of 100 Black Men of America, Vice President of Black American Political Action Committee and lifetime member of the NAACP. He was elected to the Contra Costa College Hall of Fame in 2005.
Heather Watkins is an artist, musician, dancer and Bay Area native. She received a BA in Social Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. She has been working with youth for the last 29 years facilitating visual arts, music, dance, and theater classes in several arts enrichment programs throughout the Bay Area. She co-founded and served for over 18 years as an instructor and the artistic director of Loco Bloco, a youth development organization based in the Mission district in San Francisco that utilizes the performing arts as a means of social activism, education, community building, leadership training, empowerment and healing. Working collaboratively with youth and adults, she co-created and directed several performance pieces themed around issues relevant to the community, including gentrification, war, child molestation, rites of passage, and immigration. In the course of her work, she developed a strong interest in counseling, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy at WISR. She is doing her practicum as a counselor at Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley.
“Ana Y” is a Psychology student at WISR and works with children with developmental disabilities.
Editor: Keith Lawrence
This inaugural edition of WISR journal was designed, edited and produced in collaboration with, and under the guidance of, former WISR student, Keith Lawrence, LMFT.
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