At a glance
This project builds on the momentum of a Boldt Decision symposium at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), where… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2024-2025
- Mini
- Awarded
- $4,000
- Funding partners
-
- Services and Activities Fee (SAF)
- Website & social links
This project builds on the momentum of a Boldt Decision symposium at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), where strong student interest affirmed the need for ongoing education in Indigenous research ethics and collaboration with Tribes. Launching in Winter 2026, a new three-credit graduate seminar will cover Indigenous fisheries management, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, data sovereignty, and environmental justice, with guest speakers from Tribal communities. Course materials and a collaborative research guide will also be made publicly available, ensuring that students, faculty, and staff committed to ethical, community-engaged science have access to lasting resources.
This past fall I (Nicole Doran) co-organized a Boldt Decision symposium with the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), during which I facilitated a panel on ethical research collaborations with Tribes. I solicited questions for the panelists from the SAFS community. We received an overwhelming number of questions, primarily from students. Over one hundred people attended the panel and, anecdotally, reported learning many valuable lessons from this one-time event. Attendance and the questions posed by the student body affirms that this course is needed and of great interest to students in the College of the Environment. Research ethics and collaborative science with Tribes needs to be more than a one-time conversation; I have developed a course that will introduce key topics in Indigenous research ethics and collaborative skills that will enhance students’ professional development. The symposium marked a renewal of SAFS’ commitment to fostering better relationships with Tribes. For this to be effective, educating ourselves in how to conduct those relationships is a vital step.
The first phase of this project is the course offering in the 2026 winter quarter. This course will be offered through SAFS as a three-credit seminar for graduate students. I will be the instructor of the course, and have developed a syllabus that covers the following topics: Indigenous fisheries management, Indigenous research methodologies, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, data sovereignty, and environmental justice/Indigenous resistance to discuss the lasting impacts of the Boldt Decision. Each week, students will be provided carefully selected readings by Indigenous scholars and guided reading questions, and participate in discussion on the topic during class time. They will also complete a final project that will ask them to engage with the course material by incorporating what they have learned into their thesis research, or analyzing a case study of collaborative research between a university and Indigenous Peoples. CSF Funding will be used to pay myself a stipend for 10 hours per week of work on this project for a 10-week quarter. I will also invite two guest speakers (Ashley Lewis, Quinault; Vanessa Castle, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe) who will speak with the class, and present a public seminar for the broader College of the Environment community. The second phase of this project is to publish course materials on a public website and a collaborative research guide to be hosted on the SAFS website as a resource for all faculty, staff, and students.
Nicole Doran
Project lead
- ncdoran@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
- Years
- 2 year(s) remaining at UW
- Affiliated groups
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Tim Essington
Department director
- essing@uw.edu
- Affiliation and department
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
- Stakeholder approval form
Request amount and budget
Plans for financial longevity
CSF Funding will provide me with the resources I need to complete the project. If this pilot course is a success, funding to offer it in future years could be granted through the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences of College of the Environment, both of which are supportive of this project idea but are limited in funding this upcoming academic year. Funding to support guest speaker honoraria could also be pursued through the American Indian Studies department.
Spring 2025: Work with the SAFS curriculum committee to develop the course syllabus
Autumn 2025: Advertise the course to College of the Environment graduate students
Winter 2026: Graduate seminar course offering
- Two invited speakers will provide guest lectures for the students enrolled in the course, and a public seminar for the SAFS community
Spring 2026: Online publication of course materials
- “Best practices” in collaborative research guide published on the SAFS DEI website
- Publicly available course website with lecture materials, syllabus, and resources
Plans for long-term project management
Although I am graduating from UW within the next two years, I hope to remain affiliated with UW SAFS as a post-doc, and plan to eventually pursue a faculty position at the University of Washington. In this case, I would continue offering this course and incorporate it into my teaching program as a faculty member. Otherwise, a successor to teach the course can be identified from the diverse graduate student community at the UW College of the Environment. Course materials can be used and adapted in future offerings.
Problem statement
SAFS students and faculty played an important role in the establishment of co-management following the Boldt Decision in 1974, but our current curriculum does not prepare students to continue that important work. Social science is underrepresented in SAFS’ curriculum. Many students have expressed interest in working with Tribes through research, but are not give the tools they need to do that. Tribes, their cultural relations with the lands and waters, and ways of knowing, are not centered in any of our graduate-level course offerings. The only comparable courses are offered through American Indian Studies, but admission is highly competitive, and thus not a viable option for our students. This project will introduce a graduate-level seminar to the curriculum that provide students with collaborative skills, as well as the historical context for fisheries co-management and tribal sovereignty. The short-term objective for this project is to create a more inclusive departmental culture by introducing students to diverse ways of knowing and Indigenous approaches to fisheries management. Long-term, I hope this course equips students with professional skills to have impactful careers in Washington and beyond, building both ecological sustainability through equitable fisheries management, and cultural sustainability by collaborating with Tribes in ethical ways.
Problem context
As explained in the overview, I see this course as following on the momentum of the 2024 Boldt Decision Symposium hosted by SAFS. I was an integral member of the planning committee for that event, and I see it as my responsibility to create a structure to continue that work for future student cohorts. This course addresses a gap within our curriculum that will provide students with much-needed skills for conducting collaborative research. There is a precedent for a graduate student-led course being offered by SAFS in response to students' growing interest in environmental justice int he context of fisheries science. It was offered once several years ago, but my hope is by making course materials publicly available online, it can serve as a resource for continued learning once the course is complete, and be adapted by student instructors interested in offering the course in the future. In 2022 I published a similar resource on the SAFS DEI website (an Indigenous Peoples Terminology Guide) and continue to hear reports of people within the UW community and beyond (e.g. Blue Origin), referencing the guide in their work. This course also aligns with the SAFS DEI Strategic Plan goals to improve SAFS' relationship with Indigenous Peoples in Washington.
Measure the impacts
| Impact / goal | Metric(s) of success | UW stakeholders impacted |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled in course | 20 people engaged | Graduate |
| Public seminar for guest speakers | 100 people engaged | Undergraduate, Graduate, Alumni, Academic staff, Admin staff |
Communication tactics and tools
Course advertisement will be done through posters displayed in buildings associated with the College of the Environment and emailed to CoE graduate students. Because the seminar will host at most 20 people, I intend to have a short questionnaire asking potential students what they hope to gain from the course, their engagement with Indigenous Peoples, and if they collaborate with Indigenous Peoples in their research.
Outreach communication plan
This course will be advertised in the fall of 2025 through the College of the Environment, as well as during an annual workshop that I offer for incoming graduate students to SAFS on tribal sovereignty and fisheries management during their orientation. Public seminars for our guest speakers and project deliverables will be advertised to the College of the Environment as well by the SAFS communications manager (social media, posters, blog posts, etc.).
Student involvement
Graduate students will primarily be involved through the course. Course readings, discussions, and the final project is aimed at developing collaborative research skills, and providing students with foundational knowledge of Indigenous research ethics, methods, fisheries management and environmental justice perspectives.