American Indian and Indigenous Studies Minors
Recognizing the students who have completed the AIIS minor by the conclusion of Spring 2021. Congratulations!
Kaitlin LaGrasta, M.A. in Archaeology ’21
Kaitlin has worked toward a graduate minor in AIIS and acted as a teaching assistant for the program’s Indigenous North America (AIIS 1100) class in Fall 2020. Her thesis research concerns use of glass beads by the Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) community that consecutively occupied the Ganondagan, White Springs, and Townley-Read sites between about 1670 and 1754. Kaitlin has been particularly attentive to ways that Onöndowa’ga:’ people demonstrated agency in their selection, use, and remanufacture of glass acquired from Europeans. She is putting the finishing touches on her thesis and will graduate in August 2021. Congratulations, Kaitlin!
Paolo Alguero ’21
Paolo is graduating in Biological Engineering from the College of Engineering. His initial interest in learning more about Indigenous peoples stemmed from his Aunt, who is Diné, and her strong connections to Ganondagan. During his freshman year he lived in Akwe:kon, and was a Resident Advisor/Senior Resident Advisor in Donlon Hall for the other three years. He realized during his studies that STEM can be very rigid in its way of thinking, and hopes to use what he has learned from the AIIS minor to gain a different perspective in engineering research and design.
Julianne Billiman ’21
Julianne is majoring in Animal Science and minoring in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her interest is in large animals, a passion she developed while taking care of the animals at her family’s small ranch. In fall 2017, Julianne became an active member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and the Native American and Indigenous Students at Cornell (NAISAC). In Spring 2018, she was voted in as AISES Secretary, while in Fall 2019, Julianne served as AISES Co-Chair. For the year 2020, she served as the treasurer for NAISAC. In Spring 2020, she was awarded the NAISAC award on the 2020 AIISP Awards Ceremony website for her dedication to the student organization that went above and beyond the call of duty. Since her freshman year, Julianne has resided in Akwe:kon as a key member of the community, known for her legendary Navajo taco making skills. She will be receiving the Akwe:kon Lifetime award on this year’s AIISP Awards Ceremony website.
Corrine Kennedy ’21
Corinne Kennedy is a graduating Interdisciplinary Studies Major with a focus in Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Anthropology as well as a minor in Indigenous Studies and Environmental Science and Sustainability. She participated in Varsity Track and Field. She is pursing a research internship this summer in Big Sky, Montana after graduation to look at the historical and current Indigenous presence in the area.
Lucas Reyaes ’21
Lucas Reyes is a Government student in the College of Arts and Sciences who will be graduating with minors in Law and Society, American Indian and Indigenous Studies, and Public Policy. Interested in attending law school, he took classes in the AIIS department interrogating the ways in which contemporary indigenous issues are linked to U.S Federal Indian law and its colonial foundations. He hopes to support indigenous communities in the future through legal advocacy. Congratulations Lucas!
Annabel Young ’21
Annabel Young is a senior graduating in May 2021, and is Ojibwe (Saginaw Chippewa, ajijaak/Crane clan). She is an American Studies and English double major with minors in AIIS and Inequality Studies. Annabel first got involved with AIISP her freshman year by joining NAISAC, and later served as both secretary and co-chair of the organization. She has also served as Layout Editor of Rainy Day Literary Magazine and as a staff writer for Cornell’s yearbook. She plans on haunting Cornell’s campus next year.
