Grace Chaillier, a Northern Michigan University alumna and recently retired adjunct professor in the Center for Native American Studies, was selected as a recipient of NMU's 2021-2022 Excellence in Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award.
Chaillier started teaching at Northern in 2005. She wrote the curriculum for and taught Northern's Indian Boarding School Education course. She also created and taught the American Indian Humor course to counter the intensity of the boarding school course.
“Teaching History of Indian Boarding School Education morphed into my own profound learning experience,” she said. “Many of my students had grown up with and were/are living lifetimes constantly shadowed by intergenerational trauma and historic grief that resulted from their ancestors' Indian boarding school experiences. Some share their stories in haunting detail.
“Over time this course became more discussion-based. I wanted all of us to learn from one another in an effort to begin or further some facsimile of healing. All of this is important because practically none of it is taught in primary or secondary classrooms throughout America. The subject holds a mirror to one of many negative aspects of U.S. history; this one is altogether ignored but for a few college classes.”
In addition to teaching, Chaillier wrote a grant proposal that was funded by the Michigan Humanities Council, which resulted in the publication of the book Voice on the Water: Great Lakes Native America Now by the former NMU Press in 2012. This book illuminates the experiences of Native Americans living in Michigan.
Chaillier was a King*Chavez*Parks Future Faculty Fellow and a Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) Teachers for the Dream associate. She retired from teaching at NMU in December 2021.
“I will always be appreciative of the many opportunities I've had to meet and spend time with bright, intense and humorous students, professors and staff. They have enriched my life more than I can express. I am thankful to have spent the years that I did teaching for the Center for Native American Studies. It was immensely satisfying work that I hope always honored our ancestors.”
Chaillier is a registered tribal citizen of the Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux. She earned her bachelor's degree in English from NMU in 2002 and went on to earn both her master's degrees—in English literature and creative writing—from Northern in 2004 and 2008.