Educator and DEI leader Lori V. Quigley to discuss indigenous perspectives during visit to SBU

St. Bonaventure University is pleased to welcome alumna Lori V. Quigley, ’81, as the Spring 2024 Lenna Visiting Professor, March 11-22.

A professor of leadership and policy at Niagara University, Quigley is also an accomplished educational consultant in areas ranging from curriculum development to the strengthening of diversity, equity and inclusionary policies and practices. 

She grew up on the Allegany Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians and is a member of the Wolf Clan. Her research interests include multigenerational trauma, maintenance of indigenous languages, and culturally relevant pedagogy. She served as an advisor for the documentary Unseen Tears: The Impact of Native American Residential Boarding Schools, and has published journal articles on the history of the Thomas Indian School and constructivist approaches to teaching native languages.

Quigley will offer several lectures and classroom presentations at St. Bonaventure and Jamestown Community College (JCC) during her two-week visit. She will speak about the relationship between indigenous peoples and the U.S. today, covering such topics as the notion of subtractive bilingualism, sovereignty and public education, Haudenosaunee women’s leadership, and the role gaming has played in indigenous communities.

On Monday, March 18, Quigley will give the lecture “Thomas Indian School: My Journey Towards Understanding,” at 5 p.m., in the Doyle Conference Center at St. Bonaventure. 

On Wednesday, March 20, Quigley will offer “Thomas Indian School Introductory Notes and the Documentary Viewing of Unseen Tears,” beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the JCC Jamestown campus. 

The presentations are free and open to the public. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Quigley as the Lenna Visiting Professor,” said Dr. Guy Imhoff, interim dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at St. Bonaventure. “Her commitment to empowering people and eliminating racism is a model for us all.”

Quigley lives in Grand Island, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from St. Bonaventure and a Master of Arts degree in Public Communication and a doctorate in Language and Literacy from Fordham University. She has received local, state and national accolades, including a U.S. presidential appointment. More recently, Quigley was listed as #86 on the 2023 City & State’s Higher Education Power 100 list of most influential people in education.

The Lenna Endowed Visiting Professorship, established in 1990, is funded through gifts from the late Betty S. Lenna Fairbank and Reginald A. Lenna of Jamestown. It is designed to bring scholars of stature in their field to St. Bonaventure and JCC for public lectures.