Dr. Marie Battiste is a Mi’kmaw educator from Potlotek First Nations, Nova Scotia. She is full professor in the College of Education, and founding Academic Director of the Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC) at the University of Saskatchewan and founding board member for the Canadian Council on Learning. Former director of the Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre, her research interests are in initiating institutional change in the decolonization of education, in particular humanities, language and social justice, and postcolonial educational approaches that recognize and affirm the political and cultural diversity of Canada. She heads a research hub at the University of Saskatchewan, which is working on a national project funded by SSHRC called the Canadian Prevention Science Cluster aimed at identifying approaches to culturally appropriate school-based violence prevention. She is lead to the Animating Indigenous Humanities project also funded by SSHRC. A recipient in 2008 of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in education, her most recent book Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit (Purich Press 2013) was nominated for the Saskatchewan Book Awards in three categories, including Scholarly Book. She received a Saskatchewan Book Award for Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge she wrote with J. Youngblood Henderson (Saskatoon: Purich Press, 2000). She has published widely, journals and books, including edited Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000); edited a special edition of Directions, a publication of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation; co-edited a special edition of the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education (May 2005); and senior editor with Jean Barman for First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and holds three honorary doctorate degrees, has several awards including the Indspire Foundation and Canadian Association of University Teachers.

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