The Indigenous Mind Masters Program is a dynamic learning community with continual dialogue between students, faculty and Elders who share the knowledge and insights of their authentic indigenous heritage.
Brian Bates, Ph.D. (Bachelor’s Degree – University of California; PhD – University of Oregon; Post Doctorate – Cambridge, UK) is currently a Professor of Psychology based at the University of Sussex, England, where he is also former Head of Psychology and Research Training. He founded and has run for 20 years the first undergraduate teaching and research program, in a major western university, on the contemporary significance of the thinking, beliefs and inspiration of ‘origins knowledge’. He authored the bestseller “The Way of Wyrd” on Anglo Saxon spirituality, has published five other books and many academic articles. He has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences. He is collaborating with Dr. Apela Colorado on programs applying the insights of tribal cultures to crucial global issues.
Apela Colorado, Ph.D. - Dr. Apela Colorado received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees from the University of Wisconsin. As a Ford Fellow, Dr. Colorado studied for her Doctorate at both Harvard and Brandeis Universities and received her Ph.D. from Brandeis in Social Policy in 1982. She is a member of the Oneida tribe and is a traditional cultural practitioner. Drawing from both Native and academic training, she established the Spirit Camp cultural revitalization project with the University of Alaska in 1985, and then relocated to the University of Calgary where she built the Native Social Work Concentration. She represented the University’s Division of International Development (the first Canadian international center of excellence) at numerous overseas conferences and in research and evaluation projects.
Virginia Davis Floyd, MD, MPH – Dr. Virginia Floyd is a Visiting Scholar in Traditional Knowledge at Spelman College where she also serves as a Faculty member in the Spelman College Independent Scholars (SIS) Program. She also serves as the Project Director of SIS Giving Voice: Protecting Preserving, Validating Traditional Knowledge Throughout the Global Community. She conducts academic research, has a lecture series, and mentors students. She is also Executive Director of PROMETRA USA, Inc., a non profit, US-based organization dedicated to research and educational activities within the area of traditional knowledge systems, traditional medicine and global cross-cultural experiences. Dr. Floyd has also served as the Director of Human Development & Reproductive Health for The Ford Foundation, among numerous other positions. She has traveled and studied abroad in a dozen countries, has received dozens of honors and awards, and has scores of scientific publications. Dr. Floyd has a Masters of Public Health from Emory University School of Medicine and an MD from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC.
Yacine Kouyate, Ph.D. – Dr. Yacine Kouyate is a jali, a keeper of oral history, from Mali, West Africa. He is a traditional African instrumentalist, singer and Malian cultural historian. Dr. Kouyate has taught African Culture at Stanford University, and speaks on issues including Preservation and Restoration of African Language and Culture. He has a Ph.D. in Microbiology.
Busaba Paratacharya, Ph.D. – Dr. Paratacharya is of the Yip Khui Gee clan; she received her Ph.D. in 1998 with a concentration in Indigenous Studies at CIIS under Dr. Apela Colorado. She served as Coordinator of the Curriculum Review Project, a traditional knowledge program of the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network. Dr. Paratacharya is currently running the Wo Hing Temple, now a museum on Maui, Hawaii, educating visitors about the history of the Chinese in Lahaina.