Supporting Native and Indigenous Students - Danielle Yepa Gunderson

The CharacterStrong Podcast

Danielle Yepa Gunderson is a Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and from Jemez and Laguna pueblo in New Mexico. A proud wife of twenty-one years and a mother of two beautiful & intelligent teenage daughters. She is the Associate Director of College Counseling and Director of Native American Studies at Sandia Preparatory School (Sandia Prep) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and Master of Arts in Counseling at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She is working on her Doctoral degree at The University of New Mexico in the Native American Education in Leadership (NALE) Cohort. She serves as the Primary Contact Coordinator/Local Chair on the Rocky Mountain Association of College Admissions (RMACAC) New Mexico College Fair at Albuquerque Committee, served as the Secretary on the RMACAC Executive Board and on a College Advisory Board for a highly selective university, along with volunteering for College Horizons Summer Program as a faculty member for the past ten years. She oversees the Native American Studies program, is a faculty sponsor of the Native American Sandia Prep Alliance (NASPA) at Sandia Prep. She also serves as one of the co-leaders for the Native Indigenous Peoples Special Interest Group through NACAC and is the RMACAC Tribal Institution Relations Chair. Danielle holds a strong commitment to working and bridging tribal communities and students with post-secondary opportunities through college counseling and volunteer opportunities. Supporting efforts to serve Native American and Indigenous peoples in secondary and postsecondary institutions is her focus. She speaks from personal experience on identifying and taking ownership of her Native American heritage has become a significant component of who she is as an individual and professional. She led pre-conference and conference sessions with a panel of Native American and Non-Native professionals on how best to support Native American students, led a session about Indigenous land acknowledgement at a national conference, and participated in other sessions as a panelist. Her passion lies in guiding students and parents through the college admission process and educating others on effectively supporting diverse, Native American, and Indigenous students.

Resources that Danielle shared:

• Decolonizing Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples - Linda Tuhiwai Smith
• Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education - Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe, and Stephanie J. Waterman
• Standing Together: American Indian Education as Culturally Responsive Pedagogy - B.J. Klug
• Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education - Robin Starr Minthorn & Heather J. Shotton
• Beyond Access: Indigenizing Programs for Native American Student Services - Stephanie J. Waterman, Shelly C. Lowe, and Heather J. Shotton