Gwen Westerman is a Dakota educator, writer and artist. She is the Director of the Native American Literature Symposium.
Life and career
Westerman is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate and speaker of the Dakota language. She is Professor of English and Director of the Humanities Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Westerman received a BA and MA in English from Oklahoma State University. She received a PhD in English from the University of Kansas.
1999 - Native American Inroads. The Loft, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mentor: Diane Glancy.1999 - Native American Inroads. The Loft, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mentor: Susan Power.2004 - Fellowship. The Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History. American Indian Programs. Research project: Traditional Dakota beadwork, under the direction of JoAllyn Archambault, PhD.2012 - Douglas R. Moore Research Award Fellow. Minnesota State University, Mankato.2012 - Presidential Teaching Scholar. Minnesota State, Mankato.2013 - Minnesota Book Award—Minnesota Category.2013 - Leadership in History Award. American Association for State and Local History.2014 - Hognander Minnesota History Award2014 - Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Minnesota State University, Mankato.2015 - Native American Artist in Residence at the Minnesota Historical SocietyWesterman, Gwen; White, Bruce (2012). Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0873518697. Westerman, Gwen Neil (2013). Follow the Blackbirds. American Indian Studies. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. ISBN 978-1611860924. Articles and chapters
Westerman, Gwen (2009). "Generosity in Continuance: The Gifts of Simon J. Ortiz". In Brill de Ramirez, Susan Berry; Lucero, Evelina. Simon J. Ortiz: A Poetic Legacy of Indigenous Continuance. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 177–182. ISBN 978-0826339881. Westerman, Gwen (2009). "George Shiras, III". In Cevasco, George A.; Harmond, Richard P. Modern American Environmentalists: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 470–472. ISBN 978-0801891526. Westerman, Gwen (September 14, 2009). "Going Back". A View from the Loft. The Loft Literary Center. Retrieved 2015-04-13. Westerman, Gwen (2012). "Sister Lost, Sister Found: Redemption in Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Drum and Shadow Tag". In Hafen, P. Jane. Critical Insights: Louise Erdrich. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press. pp. 245–255. ISBN 978-1429837231. Westerman, Gwen (2013). "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". In Howe, LeAnne; Markowitz, Harvey; Cummings, Denise. Seeing Red—Hollywood's Pixeled Skins: American Indians and Film. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. pp. 25–29. ISBN 978-1611860818. "Dakota Odowaŋ". Yellow Medicine Review. 1 (1): 133–134. Spring 2007. "He keya Wo’okiye". Yellow Medicine Review. 1 (1): 135. Spring 2007. "Dakota Odowaŋ". Water-Stone Review. 13: 141–142. 2010. "Wowicak’u/Feed Them". Water-Stone Review. 13: 143. 2010. "Root Words". Natural Bridge. 26: 1. Fall 2011. "Where the Buffalo Roam". Natural Bridge. 26: 2–3. Fall 2011. "Awakening". Natural Bridge. 26: 4. Fall 2011. "Song for the Generations". Water-Stone Review. 15: 148–149. 2012. "Caske's Pardon 2012". Ded Uŋk’uŋpi—We Are Here (Exhibit Catalog). All My Relations Gallery and James J. Hill House Gallery. 2012. "Mitakuye Owas (All My Relations)". Hena Uŋkiksuyapi: In Commemoration of the Dakota Mass Execution of 1862 (Exhibit Catalog). Hillstrom Museum of Art. 2012. 
