World Issues Forum Presents: WWU’s House of Healing Longhouse

Mary Baker, PhD, Moderator

Mary Tuti Baker is an Assistant Professor in comparative Indigenous studies with a joint appointment in Canadian-American Studies, Salish Seas Studies and Fairhaven College. A Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) scholar, she earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with specializations in Indigenous Politics and Futures Studies. Her work examines the relationship between Kanaka Maoli values and practice and the politics of decolonization.

Laural Ballew-Ses yehomia (‘02), Panelist

Laural Ballew has been named as Western Washington University’s first executive director of American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations Relations & Tribal Liaison to the President.

An enrolled member of the Swinomish Tribe, Ballew has lived on the Lummi reservation with her husband of 43 years, Timothy Ballew Sr. She received a bachelor’s degree, with a major in American Cultural Studies and a minor in Native American Studies, from Western in 2002. She earned a master’s degree in Public Administration, from The Evergreen State College, and is studying for a doctorate in Indigenous Development and Advancement from Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, in New Zealand.

Kyles Gemmell (Suquamish), PhD, Panelist

Kyles Gemmell is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Fairhaven College. A graduate of Fairhaven College, they received their PhD at Oregon State University in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Their research focuses on Coast Salish Two-Spirit stories, queer of color critiques, and Indigenous Feminisms. Their current work looks at Tribal Canoe Journeys as a site of healing and reclamation.

Karlie E. Kinley, Panelist

Karlie E. Kinley is an elected member of the Lummi Nation Council.

Caskey Russel, PhD (‘93, ‘96), Panelist

Caskey Russell is a professor in Fairhaven College. He received his BA and MA in English from Western Washington University. During his undergraduate days at Western he took FCIS courses in Audio Recording. Caskey received his PhD in English from the University of Oregon in 2001. His dissertation examined Tlingit Intellectual Traditions. Caskey is an enrolled member of the Tlingit tribe of Alaska. His research focuses on Indigenous literature and film, Indigenous Civil Rights, Tlingit Studies, and critical race theory.