Ms. Roxann Smith (Project Director, Fort Peck Community College and member of the Fort Peck Tribes) will oversee the project, provide curricular materials for teacher consideration in lesson development, and liaison with workshop presenters and learning circle facilitators from the Fort Peck Nations. She will also present and serve as a facilitator at the workshops.

Dr. Christine Stanton (Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at Montana State University) will serve as co-Project Director. She will support the PD in her various responsibilities, co-lead the teacher workshop programs, and lead efforts to develop and refine Buffalo Nations curricular resources. During the workshops, Dr. Stanton will also serve as a presenter and learning circle facilitator. Following the workshops, she will co-facilitate post-workshop learning communities and support program evaluation.

Dr. Elizabeth Bird (Project Development & Grants Specialist in MSU’s College of Education, Health & Human Development) will help coordinate the project team in finalizing the teachers’ workshop plans. She will contribute her perspective based on 10 years of collaborations with members of the Fort Peck Tribes that have organized major public/school events celebrating the buffalo’s restoration, developed Pre-K buffalo-centered curriculum and shepherded the development of a Buffalo Trail on the Fort Peck ranch that hosts YNP transferred buffalo. She will assist with workshop and team facilitation and lead the project evaluation.

Mr. Alexei Desmarais (Yellowstone Program Manager, Ecology Project International) and other EPI staff will coordinate logistics for the workshops and contribute K-12 Buffalo Nations and YNP curricular elements rooted in their prior engagement with both teachers and high school students. He will assist relationships with stakeholders and knowledge-holders relevant to buffalo in YNP, and also serve as a workshop presenter and learning circle facilitator.

Dr. Jill Falcon Mackin (Director of the Buffalo Nations Food System Initiative and Assistant Professor in the MSU Department of Health and Human Development, and Anishinaabe: Ojibwe) will contribute to the delivery of the teacher workshops, provide curricular materials for their consideration, and serve as a liaison with certain workshop presenters and learning circle facilitators. She will play an active role as presenter and facilitator in the workshops. She will contribute her Indigenous food system knowledge to evening meals.