Beyond Land Acknowledgements

With Rick Chavolla and Anne Klaeysen.

Rick Chavolla, Senior Advisor to the American Indian Community House in NYC, and Anne Klaeysen, Ethical Culture Leader and BSEC vice president, will have a conversation about Rick’s important work with Native American and other Indigenous communities. They will also explore ways in which congregations and other local community groups can better support Native American New Yorkers and go beyond land acknowledgments.

Rick Chavolla (Kumeyaay and Chicano) grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and earned his B.A. from Boston University and his M.A. from Boston College. Throughout a 35 year career, he has directed centers and initiatives to advance racial/cultural diversity, equity and student success and taught classes in his academic fields of political science and history, as well as seminars on equity and social justice at a wide-range of insitutions. The positions he has held include Assistant Dean at Yale, where he directed the Native American Cultural Center and La Casa Cultural; Associate Director of the American Council on Education’s Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity in Washington D.C.; and Director of New York University’s Center for Multicultural Education and Programs. Currently, Rick works as Senior Advisor to the American Indian Community House in New York City and adjunct faculty in Social and Behavioral Sciences at San Carlos Apache College. Additionally, he works as a consultant with diverse entities ranging from universities to museums to non-profit organizations in their decolonization efforts and serves on the Telluride Institute Board of Trustees and on the Telluride Foundation Board.