Follett Lecture
The Follett Lecture is given annually each spring by the Follett Chair in Library and Information Science, a position established by Dominican University and the Follett Corporation in 2002.
Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, 2022-2023 Follett Chair

Follett Lecture
Grandfather’s Boarding School Journals: An Indigenous Experience Firsthand Account
Monday, April 17, 6:00 p.m.
Watch the recording
Ishi’s Return
Monday, February 20, 4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
Watch the Mini Course
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Monday, March 20, 4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
Watch the Mini Course
Cutcha Risling Baldy is an associate professor and department chair of Native American Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Dr. Risling Baldy researches Indigenous feminisms, California Indians, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and decolonization. She is the co-director of the NAS Food Sovereignty Lab & Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute and co-investigator on an NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant for inclusive STEM pedagogy for Native American Students at Humboldt. She is also the Local Evaluator for a California Department of Public Health Reducing Health Disparities Project: the ACORN Youth Wellness Program with Two Feathers Native American Family Services.
Dr. Risling Baldy’s book We Are Dancing For You: Native feminisms and the revitalization of women's coming-of-age ceremonies received "Best First Book in Native American and Indigenous Studies" at the 2019 Native American Indigenous Studies Association Conference. She received her PhD in Native American Studies at UC Davis; her MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State University; and her BA in Psychology with a Specialization in Health and Development from Stanford University. She is also the volunteer executive Ddrector for the Native Women’s Collective, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the continued revitalization of Native American arts and culture.
Dr. Risling Baldy is Hupa, Karuk, and Yurok and enrolled in the Hoopa Valley Tribe. She lives in Northern California with her family and a puppy named Buffy.
Get Involved with Local Native American Groups & Collections
American Indian and Indigenous Studies: The Newberry’s Edward E. Ayer Collection
The Newberry's Edward E. Ayer collection is one of the largest collections of books and manuscripts on American Indian and Indigenous Studies in the world.
American Indian Center
The mission of the American Indian Center of Chicago (AIC) is to promote fellowship among Native people of all Tribes living in metropolitan Chicago and to create bonds of understanding and communication between Natives and non-Natives in this city; to advance the general welfare of Natives into the metropolitan community life; to foster the economic advancement of Natives; to sustain cultural, artistic, and avocational pursuits; and to perpetuate Native cultural values.
Center for Native American and Indigenous Research
The Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) is Northwestern University’s primary institutional space dedicated to advancing scholarship, teaching, learning, and artistic or cultural practices related to Native American and Indigenous communities, priorities, histories, and lifeways. The Center operates as a hub for multi-disciplinary, collaborative work informed by and responsive to Native American and Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations.
Chi-Nations Youth Council
Chi-Nations Youth Council was created in 2012 and comprised a diverse group of youth and adults, with a mission to create a supportive, open environment for Native Youth, raise awareness of cultural identity, and promote a healthy lifestyle through arts, activism, and education. We work towards this goal by strengthening the community through avid volunteerism, fundraising, and traditional values.
Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative
CAICC is a network of seventeen Native American organizations and programs that joined together to collectively work on improving conditions for Native Americans in the Chicago area. Its inception was stirred by an overwhelming recognition that the community lacked cohesion, was virtually invisible in the City, and needed to develop a shared, comprehensive vision for improvement.
D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies
Founded in 1972, the D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies brings together scholars, teachers, students, tribal historians, and Native community members to promote research and improve the representation of Native peoples and histories in education and writing.
Native American Support Program
For 50 years, NASP, a unit at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has provided resources for Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other indigenous students to enhance their individual growth and development, leadership skills, and academic achievement.

Sinsinawa Mound Land Acknowledgment Statement
The Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa Leadership Council approved a Land Acknowledgment Statement for Sinsinawa Mound and released it in October 2021.
A text version of the Land Acknowledgement Statement for Sinsinawa Mound can be found at https://www.sinsinawa.org/.
Past Follett Chairs and Lectures
- The 2020–2022 Follett Chair Ebony Elizabeth Thomas presented "The Shadow Book: Reading Slavery, Fugitivity, and Freedom in Children’s Books and Media"
- The 2020–2021 Follett Chair, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and author Renée Watson presented “Fantastic Black Girlhoods: A Conversation with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and Renée Watson” on March 29, 2021.
- The 2019–2020 Follett Chair, Bernard Reilly, presented "Money, Technology, Politics and the Future of Memory Institutions" on April 20, 2020. Reilly also presented a spring 2020 lecture series: "Memory Institutions and Digital Evidence in a Civil Society."
- The 2018–2019 Follett Chair, Verne Harris, presented "A Time to Remember, A Time to Forget: Fred Hampton, Nelson Mandela and the Work of Memory" on April 16, 2019.
- The 2017–18 Follett Chair, Andrew Dillon, presented “Shaping a Better Information Space: Putting Humans at the Center of Our World” on April 26, 2018.
- The 2016–2017 Follet Chair is David Lankes, who delivered 2017 Lecture, "The Social Responsibility of the Library and the Librarian in a Post-Factual World" on April 12, 2017 with a respondent panel of Nicole A. Cooke, Miguel Figueroa, and Scott Walter.
- The 2014–2016 Follett Chair is Dr. Janice M. Del Negro, who presented "A 'Belligerent Profession:' Telling the Library Story" on April 8, 2015 and "The All-White World of Children's Librarianship: Baker, Rollins, and the Quest for Diversity" on April 13, 2016.
- Mary Minow, Follett Chair from 2012 through 2014, presented "Copyright in the Digital Age" on April 15, 2013, "Ebooks and the Reader" on March 13, 2012, and "The Right to Control? Writing and Publishing Religious Works" with special insights from Sr. Janet Welsh on April 29, 2014.