-Native Skywatchers - Contact Us

Annette S. Lee

Director and founder of the Native Skywatchers research and programming initiative. She has over three decades of experience in education as a teacher, university instructor, teacher educator, program administrator, professional visual artist, and researcher. Annette is mixed-race Lakota and her communities are Ojibwe and D/Lakota.

Jim Knutson-Kolodnze

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Jim has decades of experience as an educator and recently retired as the Director of the American Indian Center at St. Cloud State University. Jim has vast expertise in working with Native communities in Minnesota and the region and is a descendant of the Ottawa nation from central MI.

Elaine Hardwick

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Elaine is the lead educator for the Mankato We Are Stardust cohort, in parrtnership with Mankato Community Education. She is the part-time American Indian Community Laison for Mankato Area Public Schools, and the full-time Professional Science Tutor for South Central College (North Mankato/Faribault, NM). She has a Ph.D. in Microbial Ecology from the University of Georgia, and is a former Associate Professor, Univeristy of Wisconsin-River Falls (Department of Biology).

Travis Novitsky

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate/Collaborator.A lifelong resident of the north shore of Lake Superior, born in 1975 in Grand Marais, Minnesota and a proud citizen of the Grand Portage Anishinaabe Nation. Travis is a self-taught nature and wildlife photographer. See more at Travis' website

Carl Gawboy

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate & Elder. Scholar and retired professor - College of Saint Scholastica, professional visual artist. Member of Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. "Father of Ojibwe Indigenous Astronomy Revitalization", started research on Ojibwe Star Knowledge in the 1960s.

William Wilson

(in memoriam)

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate& Elder. First language Ojibwe speaker. Cultural expert, language expert, and Visual artist. Member of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek - Gull Bay First Nation.

Milgros Varguez

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Milagros is the Planetarium Director at the Cancun Planetarium and a film director and producer. Directora del Planetario de Cancún en Consejo Quintanarroense de Ciencia y Tecnología. Her PhD is in Humanistic Studies, with a specialization in Science and Culture. Learn more about Milagros'work...

Anne Simonis

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate/Collaborator. Anne is an ecologist, educator and mentor... "my job is to nurture curiosity and train students to become independent, critical thinkers who practice and appreciate the scientific method". NOAA affiliate. Visit Anne's website at: https://www.annesimonis.com/

Carmen Gavin-Venagas

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate/Collaborator. Carmen is the lead Science Instructor of the All Nations Program at South High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "I have a Master of Science degree in Plant Pathology, a Master of Arts degree in Spanish with a focus on linguistics, a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Biology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Studies and German Studies. I am currently working toward a doctorate of education. I am licensed to teach Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, Reading, Bilingual/Bicultural Education, and English as a Second Language. I have been teaching since 2006. In my free time, I like to run, read, life weights, garden, and spend time with my family."

Angela Osuji

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate/Collaborator. Angela 2018-19 Policy Fellow at Humphrey School of Public Affairs; Past-President, Minnesota Science Teachers Association; Chair, Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing, and Standards Board, Ph.D. in Science Education

Jeffrey Tibbetts

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Educator, Artist-Sculptor, Culture & Language teacher. Title III Director at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Member of Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Ramona Kitto Stately

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Ramona is a member of the Santee Dakota Nation and Project Director for We Are Still Here Minnesota. She has also earned an MA in Education & Teacher Leadership

Barbara Sarbin

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate. Barbara is a teacher of Civics and Permaculture at the Volcano School of Arts & Sciences in Volcano, Hawaii on the Big Island. Her specialty is nature-based, arts-integrated, experiential education and she is part of a dynamic team that leads the Kula 'Amakihi blended learning program. She is the Director of Something Good in the World, a charitable nonprofit children's educational organization based in both NY and HI. She has performed extensively as a professional actress and movement theatre artist, and has worked as an Artist-in-Residence in New York area public and private schools for over 30 years. She also developed the Golden Education Template (GET) curriculum for Elementary through Middle School grades, and has been teaching home schooled children inside of an “Earth As School” environment since 1998.

Nancy Nair

Native Skywatchers Team Member Affiliate/Collaborator. Nancy is the Director of the Dance Program and Part of the All Nations Program at South High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nancy is a native of South Minneapolis and has been working in the performing arts the past twenty years in New York and the Twin Cities as director, choreographer, teacher and performer. She has had the honor of participating in the creative work of many artistic communities including: The Children’s Theatre, Zenon Dance, Concordia University, Nautilus Musical Theatre, Stages Theatre, Kairos Dance Theatre and Mixed Precipitation's Picnic Operetta. Nancy spent the past seven years at Folwell School, Performing Arts Magnet where she served as teacher, as well as director/choreographer for the school musical.

NATIVE SKYWATCHERS