Persephone Hooper Lewis

Perse(phone) Hooper Lewis is a citizen of the Yomba Shoshone Tribe, located in the mountains of present-day Nevada. Deeply committed to Indigenous activism, tribal sovereignty, and Nation-building, she is a community-based consultant, educator, relative, and Newe language learner. Over the past 20 years, she has held a number of leadership positions in higher education, Native American education programs, social and behavioral health services and community development efforts. Currently in her fifth year of a PhD program in the Education Studies Department at UC San Diego, Perse’s research focuses on Indigenous Land-based education efforts, climate justice, and Indigenous womxn activism and leadership. Her current project is a collaborative effort with Whose Knowledge? that brings together Indigenous womxn leaders from the Great Basin (USA), the Amazon, and the Great Ocean States. Named Zah Yahninee Hubizo Neh, her project is co-constructed with womxn Elders and focuses on preserving the Newe dialect and Land knowledges of their traditional homelands.

Curriculum Vitae

PhD Student in Education Studies, University of California, San Diego, expected 2023

Master of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership and Management, University of San Diego, September
2009

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego,
September 2004

Principle Investigator, Understanding Kumeyaay Ways of Knowing, Qualitative Interviews, University of San Diego, 2018

Evaluator, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Grant from Center for Disease Control, San Diego American Indian Health Center, 2014-2015

Research Assistant, Circles of Care Grant from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Council for Urban Indian Health, 2013 & 2015