Instructors
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Vida Woodhull Stabler, Umóⁿhoⁿ tribal member, with the help of fluent relatives, has spent 20 years documenting the language and culture of the Umóⁿhoⁿ Tribe. She is the Director of the Umóⁿhoⁿ Language and Culture Center ‘ULCC’ Program at Umóⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School in Macy, Nebraska. Her dedicated efforts led to 20 years of documenting a team of fluent Elder speakers. Their team developed an Umóⁿhoⁿ language curriculum for the school and Umóⁿhoⁿ community. Eventually, their work led to the co-authored Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye-tʰe, Umóⁿhoⁿ Úshkoⁿ-tʰe textbook with the UNL language team.
Vida received her Associate of Arts in 1993 from the Nebraska Indian Community College and her Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1995 from Wayne State College in Nebraska. She further refined her knowledge of Native education at Oklahoma City University, receiving a Masters of Education Degree in 1996.
As Director of the Umóⁿhoⁿ Language and Culture Center, she continues to believe in the concept of ‘Community as our Teachers’. She has spent 20 years promoting the cultural expertise of community to become teachers to the next generation.
Other revitalization efforts have included partnerships with the Head Start Program, Nebraska Indian Community College, University of Nebraska at Lincoln and the Language Conservancy. Past efforts include an Omaha Basic language app and a soon to be released app from the Language Conservancy.
Bryan James Gordon
Bryan James Gordon, an applied linguist (MA University of Minnesota) has been helping the Umóⁿhoⁿ Language and Culture Center with technical, linguistic and curricular support since 2008, and is currently helping develop the new Level 1 “Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye-wathe” textbook. He has 7 years’ experience teaching community-based linguistic skills, through the Wounaan Oral Tradition Project in Panama, the American Indian Language Development Institute in Tucson, and locally with Umóⁿhoⁿ language teachers in Nebraska. His course on phonology will focus on the Umóⁿhoⁿ and Póⁿka sound and writing systems.
