IEI Committee Members

Professor Al Bardi

Chair of the Indigenous Engagement Initiative and Associate Professor of Psychology

Al Bardi is Chair of the Indigenous Engagement Initiative and Associate Professor of Psychology. Prior to his eighteen years at Sewanee, Al worked for five years as a Tribal Clinical Psychologist for the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township. He is honored to facilitate the broadening and deepening of our community's connections to Indigenous history, lifeways, and ceremony.

Richard Tate

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Richard Tate's research is at the intersection of environmental anthropology, geography, and ethnobotany. He is especially interested in human knowledge about plants and how landscape and lifestyle shape this vital interaction. Issues impacting indigenous peoples are central to many of the classes he teaches. He was invited to join the IEI by sitting members.

Akosua Aryeh-Green

IEI Canale Intern

Akosua Aryeh-Green is a Junior Biology major at Sewanee: The University of the South, with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. She joined IEI as an intern through the Bonner/Canale program and became the Canale Intern for the Indigenous Engagement Initiative, supporting administrative and promotion responsibilities for this organization.

John M. Gilmer

Postulant for Holy Orders

John (C'12 + T'28) is a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Diocese of Alabama and a rising middler at the School of Theology. John coordinates with IEI on behalf of the Diversity and Reconciliation Committee at the School of Theology. He is an avid supporter of programs that center and celibrate Indigenous peoples and cultures on the Domain and back home in Tuscaloosa, including the Bama Indigenous Student Organization Network (BISON). John has been grateful for the opportunity to attend talking circles and is especially excited to be part of IEI's project to create a Sacred Turtle Effigy at Lake Cheston.

Lydia Reinig

Director of Dialogue Across Difference Programs

Dr. Lydia Reinig is Director of Dialogue Across Difference Programs in the Office of Civic Engagement. She joined the committee as a collaborator with the Turning Towards cohort, which brought forward the talking circles initiative that continues forward.

Ashlei Laing

Co-Founder/Executive Director of Regenerative School

Ashlei engaged in community as a regenerative farmer in the US and Italy, and has had a long-term interest in nature, art, and bodyful based therapy, and education alongside trauma informed language and practice. She has studied alternative forms of education which seek to walk with learners, supporting them to connect with their knowing and the community as a whole. Graduate degree as a Peace Corps Coverdale Fellow in Community based conservation leadership and change, with a peace building lens. Deciding the best way to create a new form of education was to start a school from scratch, in 2018, she and Felix Bivens co-founded Rē with an aim to build a new kind of educational experience that will help prepare students and community partners to build a more just, peaceful and sustainable future.

Brian McCray

University Anthropological Archaeologist

I'm an anthropological archaeologist with fieldwork experience in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In my role as university archaeologist, one of my core commitments is fostering genuine relationships with indigenous students and communities, which aligns closely with the mission of the IEI. I look forward to contributing to the turtle sculpture project by helping document and share its process and cultural background through a dedicated website.