Our Staff
Director: J. Cedric Woods, PhD
Cedric Woods is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He combines over a decade of tribal government experience with a research background, and has served as the director of INENAS since 2009.
The institute's purpose is to connect Native New England with university research, innovation, and education. Currently, Cedric is working on projects with tribes in the areas of tribal government capacity building, Indian education, economic development, and chronic disease prevention.
Prior to arriving at UMass Boston, Cedric completed a study on the evolution of tribal government among the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. While pursuing his doctoral studies at the University of Connecticut, he served in a variety of capacities for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. These positions included director of career development, research analyst, tribal government spokesman, and deputy chief operating officer.
Cedric has served as a consultant for the National Museum of the American Indian, the Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Plimoth Plantation, a bicultural living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Email: Cedric.Woods@umb.edu
Phone: 617-287-5784
Program Manager: Jaime Morrison
Hometown: Medford, MA
Email: Jamie.Morrison@umb.edu
Rachel Winters (She/Hers)
Hometown: Edmond Oklahoma
Role: Research Assistant
Affiliations: Citizen, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Research Interest/Focus: Rachel is a doctoral candidate in the higher education program at UMass Boston. Her research interests include equity, justice, and access for Native & Indigenous students in higher education, institutions of higher education 'indigenizing' and/or 'decolonizing', and tribal-university relations. Additionally, she focuses on community engagement and student leadership development.
Brittney Walley
Hometown: Medway, MA
Role: Graduate Assistant
Affiliations: Nipmuc Tribe, Critical Ethnic & Community Studies
Research Interest/Focus: Nipmuc Tribal Community, capacity, and continuity
Dawn Anderson
Hometown: Harvey, IL
Role: Research Assistant
Affiliations: School for Global Inclusion & Social Development
Research Interest/Focus: I am researching the impact and implications of using local history to strengthen teacher community and cultural responsiveness in K-12 classrooms. Research areas include: Community History, Culturally Sustaining and Revitalizing Pedagogies, Teacher Education, Critical Multi-cultural Education, Experiential Education, Community Engagement
Shymaa Bedaiwy
Hometown: Cairo, Egypt
Role: Research Assistant
Affiliations: School for Global Inclusion & Social Development, Umass Boston
Research Interest/Focus: Financial Inclusion and Women Economic Empowerment
Sonie Johnson, MSW
Hometown: Sonie is from the Island of Jamaica and now lives in Maine.
Role: Research Assistant
Affiliations: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (SGISD)
Research Interest & Focus: Housing, homelessness, education, and health and wellness for individuals experiencing domestic violence, especially women living in shelters.
Rita Ortiz-Zayas (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Hudson, MA
Role: Graduate Assistant
Affiliations: Critical Ethnic and Community Studies (CECS) Master's Program at UMB
Research Interest/Focus: Within my time at the master's program, I have been able to research the history and role of certain Puerto Rican cultural foods in our diet and within the growing food sovereignty movement on the island. Viandas in particular have become a food group that I've come to cherish even more due to this research, as they represent the resiliency of Puerto Ricans. However, food sovereignty is something I feel passionate about no matter which community is the focus of it. Right now, I'm working with two UMB professors, Dr. Cedric Woods and Dr. Michael Tlusty, in order to understand the needs of New England/local tribes in their fight for food security and/or sovereignty.
Nicholas H. Johnson
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Role: Research Assistant
Affiliations: School for Global Inclusion & Social Development , William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture
Research Interest/Focus: Indigenous & African Diaspora Political Ecologies, Climate Reparations, International Relations, Restorative Justice, Participatory Action Research
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Cedric Woods, Director
Cedric.Woods@umb.edu
617.287.5784
Bayside, 4th Floor
150 Mt. Vernon St.
Boston, MA 02125
617.287.5784
This institute is part of the College of Education and Human Development.