Registration is now open for the 2015 Great Plains Symposium, an event that will bring several important figures in the current Native American economic and cultural renewal.

The Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs have teamed up to bring this exceptional gathering of Native American talent to Lincoln, Neb., on May 14-15. The 2015 Great Plains Symposium “Standing Bear and the Trail Ahead” will explore the status, challenges, and especially the opportunities and prospects that Native Americans and First Peoples face going forward.

The Symposium will look broadly at the current status and future prospects of Native peoples. There has been considerable attention (as there should be) on reservation bad news, such as high diabetes rates, joblessness, alcoholism, domestic violence, and suicide. But good news deserves telling too, and our Symposium will showcase growing economic progress among Indians and the emerging Native cultural renaissance.

Individuals contributing to the Symposium include:

-Author Sherman Alexie

-National TV correspondent Hattie Kauffman

-Entrepreneur Lance Morgan

-Attorney Wilson Pipestem

-Kansas State House Representive Ponka-We Victors

-Buffalo Council president Jim Stone

-Scholar-advocates Winona LaDuke, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, James Riding In, and Robert Miller

Register: 2015 Great Plains Symposium