Indigenous Conservation Collaborations
Apply for the Executive Education program today
Transform your conservation leadership through Indigenous knowledge and relational governance — and lead the way forward.
Executives and tribal liaisons are under pressure to demonstrate ethical leadership, cultural competency, and accountability when working with Indigenous communities. However, many lack the experience, frameworks, or guidance to do this authentically and effectively.
Arizona State University is offering an exclusive new executive education program designed to bridge this gap, that includes:
- Actionable frameworks (e.g., UNDRIP, the Four Rs, Two-Eyed Seeing) that empower leaders to align their work with Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty.
- A real-world project that lets participants apply what they learn to their own organizational context, reviewed by Indigenous advisors.
- Exposure to Indigenous-led success stories that go beyond theory and show what ethical, inclusive conservation looks like in practice.
This exclusive program is not just education—it’s reputation-enhancing, risk-reducing, and impact-multiplying. It shows funders, partners, and indigenous communities that learners are not just checking a box. Learners will graduate from this program as changemakers, who are capable of actively reshaping leadership to foster justice, inclusion, and ecological wisdom.
Learners will join this first cohort and learn how to deliver impact while advancing their organization's mission and work.
Course Details
- Cost: $950
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Start Date: August 25, 2025
- Weekly time commitment: 3-4 hours including scheduled sessions and course materials
- Live Zoom Session Schedule:
Please plan to join the weekly live Zoom sessions, held Thursdays from Noon to 1:00 PM (Arizona MST).
Only 25 spots available. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis and space is limited. If accepted, participants must commit to attending weekly sessions for the full duration of the course.
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Who is this program designed for?
NGO/Conservation Program Directors: Leaders seeking cultural competency and ethical collaboration tools.
Tribal Liaisons/Government Officers: Professionals engaging with Tribal Nations on co-management.
ESG/Sustainability Execs: Corporate leaders aligning conservation with Indigenous rights.
Senior Leaders working with Indigenous communities.
Professionals managing co-management, community engagement, or land restoration initiatives.
Instructors
Melissa Nelson
Professor of Indigenous Sustainability in the School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures
Arizona State University
Melissa Nelson
Professor of Indigenous Sustainability in the School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures
Arizona State University
Biography
Melissa K. Nelson (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Ph.D. is an Indigenous ecologist and award-winning scholar-activist and media-maker. She is a professor of Indigenous Sustainability at Arizona State University, Professor Emerita of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, and chair of The Cultural Conservancy (TCC), a Native-led indigenous rights organization she led as the founding executive director for twenty-eight years. She works in higher education and the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to elevate Indigenous rights and Native ways of knowing, protect Indigenous food systems, restore land stewardship and biocultural diversity, and renew planetary health.
Dr. Nelson’s research examines the epistemological roots of the global polycrisis and Indigenous strategies for regeneration, including land rematriation and other forms of Indigenous-led conservation. Her edited publications include Original Instructions – Indigenous Teachings for A Sustainable Future (2008), Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability (2018), and What Kind of Ancestor do you want to be? (2021). Melissa is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
Alycia de Mesa
Indigenous Education Specialist, Firekeepers Initiative, Labriola National American Indian Data Center
Arizona State University
Alycia de Mesa
Indigenous Education Specialist, Firekeepers Initiative, Labriola National American Indian Data Center
Arizona State University
Biography
Alycia de Mesa, Ph.D. is an Indigenous Education Specialist for the Firekeepers Initiative through ASU’s Labriola National American Indian Data Center working with O’odham communities. With maternal roots from Apache of Chihuahua, Mexico, mestiza, and Japanese heritage, Dr. de Mesa focuses her research within Indigenous science and technology—crafting digital storytelling, archiving, and countermapping methods that center Tribal community voices and agency for Indigenous Knowledge Sovereignty.
While completing her doctorate in Human & Social Dimensions of Science and Technology through ASU College of Global Futures, she led the Chi’chil Countermapping Project: an interactive, living map in English, Spanish, and Western Apache focused on chi’chil (Emory oak acorn) traditions and stories from Apaches in Arizona and Northern Mexico.
From 2015–2023, she taught storytelling, communications, and sustainability at ASU School of Sustainability for graduate and undergraduate students. She is a UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab expert and Senior Global Futures Scholar. She has over twenty years of business experience in brand development, integrated marketing, and communications and is the author of two business books from McGraw Hill (New York) and Palgrave Macmillan (London).