Kate Martin is an assistant professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Ethnic Studies Department, and teaches courses in Indigenous Studies. She is the mother of three daughters, all of who have finished advanced degrees, and five grandchildren, in whom I see the hope for new possibilities in the future and who make my heart happy. Her German, Irish and Dakota family is from Minnesota and South Dakota, and she holds MA and PhD degrees in Native Religious Traditions and Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include advocacy and equity in educational leadership, and issues in American Indian education and language learning. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Academy of Religion, and her current edited volume, Indigenous Symbols and Practices in the Catholic Church on visual culture, missionization and appropriation was published in Feb 2010. Kate's poetry and photography has appeared in a range of publications including the University of Arizona’s prestigious American Indian student publication Red Ink, whose mission is to promote creative expression and promote ongoing dialogue with students, professors, tribal leaders and members, and other community members. She is currently working on a book entitled “Slides for Stars: Poetry and Photographs of Living and Dying.” Important to Kate has been her work with American Indian and Indigenous students through Community of Scholars, Cal Poly and when teaching at D-Q (Deganawidah-Quetzacoatl) University (California’s tribal college).