Ashley Lemke is an archaeologist and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Michigan. An expert on submerged ancient sites in the Americas, she has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Her books include Anthropological Archaeology Underwater and The Architecture of Hunting. She previously taught at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Teaching Award for Tenure Track Faculty and was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and a past chair of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology.

Mark Freeland, PhD, Makwa nindoodem, Bahweting gaye Mikaanik nindonjibaa. He is bear clan and a member of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians in what is now northern Michigan. He is Director of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education, Director of American Indian Studies, and Associate Professor Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He earned a PhD in Religious and Theological Studies in 2015 from the Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver. Before beginning his teaching career in higher education, he was involved in community organizing in Denver, Colorado at the Four Winds American Indian Council. His first book, Aazheyaadizi: Worldview,Language and the Logics of Decolonization provides a critical definition of worldview utilizing his own Indigenous language, Anishinaabemowin, as a methodological engagement to demonstrate deep cultural difference. He is currently working to intersect Indigenous language with land restoration work in the Milwaukee River valley, using local Potawatomi language as a guiding framework to interact with the land and water as a relative. This project brings together Indigenous peoples, American Indian Studies and a governmental agency to provide educational training for the next generation in the conservation labor force.