Winona Wynn, an enrolled citizen of the Nakoda Nation (Assiniboine/Sioux, Ft. Peck), currently resides in the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington State. She is a Professor of Humanities and Native American Studies at Heritage University, a small private, non-denominational, liberal arts university located on the Yakama Indian Reservation. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies in May 2009 from Washington State University. Her area of specialization is cultural identity and education, emphasizing indigenous community-graced research methodologies. She works extensively with various Yakama Nation Programs, including the tribal courts, foster care, and the cultural museum.

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Additionally, she has directed undergraduate students in community-based research projects at the University of Capetown and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. Related to this work, she has written and served as Project Director for several grants, including a two-year curriculum development project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) titled Somos Indios (WE are Indian) and a Department of Education five-year grant, titled Indigenous Identity Empowerment through Community Engagement.

 

Currently, with support from The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Dr. Wynn created a community-centered storytelling circle, whose themes of Native American Identity and transformation informed her writing of two dramatic scenes for an upcoming musical theater production, highlighting the legacies of Sacagawea, interpretess and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Wilman Mankiller, first woman Primary Chief of the Cherokee Nation.  A third scene illuminating the extraordinary accomplishments of Zitkala Sa will complete a musical stage performance titled We Continue, set for touring in the fall of 2024.