Two individuals with ties to the UW–Madison School of Education were among the 11 Badgers named on Madison365’s annual list of “Wisconsin’s Most Influential Native American Leaders” for 2024.
Nicole Bowman, an associate scientist and evaluator with the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC), housed in the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), was recognized by Madison365, an independent news organization covering Black, Latino, Indigenous and Asian American communities in Madison and across Wisconsin since 2015.
Within WEC, Bowman is a subject matter expert in culturally responsive research, policy, and evaluation. Bowman also is an affiliate researcher for the Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) center at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Through these appointments, she provides state, national, and international leadership on creating educational and career pathways for new academics; builds capacity, infrastructure, and resource supports through strategic, business, and operational planning; and develops culturally responsive skills, knowledge, and competencies through training, technical assistance, and scholarship in the form of publications and presentations.
Madison 365 notes Bowman in 2018 became the first Indigenous and youngest awardee of the American Evaluation Association’s Robert Ingle Service Award. Learn more about Bowman in this recent story from WCER.
An alumnus of the School of Education, Ashley Hesse, was also recognized on the list of influential leaders. Hesse, who earned his BFA from the School of Education’s Art Department in 1996, is vice president of policy for Indigenous Pact, an organization that works for health equity for Indigenous people. Madison 365 notes that as a Comanche descendant, he joined Indigenous Pact in 2018 with years of experience in health equity, which included managing the “Money Follows the Person” Tribal Initiative at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and directing programs for Arc-Winnebago County Disability Association. He also serves on the board of Casa Esther and previously chaired the City of Oshkosh’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.
Read more about the 11 individuals from across UW–Madison who were recognized on this year’s list, here.