Yvonne L. Barrett, St. Paul, executive director of Ain Dah Yung Center (Our Home), plans to become a fluent Anishinabe speaker through structured academic coursework and self-directed study with Native-speaking elders. On the completion of her fellowship, she hopes “to use language acquisition and cultural learning as a form of strengthening family systems” among Native youth.

Marisol Chiclana-Ayala, St. Paul, plans to obtain a master’s degree in public affairs at the University of Minnesota. She wants to create a culturally sensitive “home” to ease the transition of Latino immigrants by providing information about housing, food, jobs, medical attention, schools, and legal and social services in one location.

Joi D. Lewis, St. Paul, the dean of multicultural life at Macalester College, will complete an Ed.D. degree in higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania and study higher education policies through an internship at the Spencer Foundation in Chicago, with a goal of reforming those higher education policies in the United States and South Africa that descend from Jim Crow laws and apartheid.

Mark Lindberg, Minneapolis, a senior program officer with the Otto Bremer Foundation, intends to study immigration policy, history and law through a self-directed program and hopes to launch an immigrant coalition and run for public office in the future.

Steven Newcom, Brooklyn Park, executive director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, will study and advance social justice ministry through a self-directed study program.

Diane L. Sprague, Minneapolis, will study the application of “smart” home sensing and the emerging field of design/modification assistance in Alzheimer’s and related dementia fields through a self-directed study program and hopes to bring the full array of emerging telehealth technologies to people’s homes, allowing them to live longer, independently and safely.

Kimberly A. Reid, Rochester, will attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison in pursuit of a doctoral degree in teacher education; ultimately, she would like to teach at the university level and “take a leadership role in the development of Minnesota’s future teachers.”