2025-2026 American Indian & Indigenous Studies PhD Cohort

Winnie Debwe is an Anishinaabe and Black woman from the White Earth Reservation. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Minnesota, Morris, a Master of Public Health, specializing in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health, from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and a terminal Master of Science in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Winnie is interested in using comparative methodologies to chronicle histories of colonial violence, particularly sexual violence against women, and Indigenous resistance, emphasizing the Indigenous perspective. She plans to use her voice and research to combat harmful narratives and colonial ideals within the United States, Western empires, and other settler-colonial states.

Past research topics include: learned helplessness and hopelessness in Native youth, the positive impacts of language immersion on Indigenous youth and adolescents, sexual and intimate partner violence against American Indian and Alaska Native Women in the United States, and an opioid fatality review for the White Earth Nation. 

Outside of school and work, Winnie is dedicated to her community, friends, family, and especially to being an auntie. Winnie likes to swim (in lakes), color, read for fun, and binge TV shows.  She also loves to share a meal and a good visit

First-year advisor: Dr. Jean O'Brien

Bazile is a tribal member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He was born and raised on the tribe’s reservation where he was deeply involved in culture and ceremony. During his childhood, he enjoyed exploring the ravines and streams near his childhood home with his sister Sophie.

Before attending the University of Minnesota, Bazile received his Bachelor of Science in Native American Studies from Northern Michigan University. At Northern Michigan University, he was instrumental in the university’s official recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He went on to start a consulting company called Good Sky Guidance which helps environmental organizations to integrate Indigenous knowledge, culture, and peoples into their work.

Bazile has authored many published papers focused on Manoomin (wild rice), climate change, youth experiences, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Anishinaabe Ecological Knowledge, and Indigenous ways of knowing. One of his more recent publications is published within the special issue AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples and is titled, “Plants as partners: honoring the personhood of Manoomin in research, restoration, and education.” He is also a well known speaker on the above topics across the country for conferences, keynotes, panel discussions, and invited presentations all across the United States.

Bazile is now enrolled in both the American Indian and Indigenous Studies PhD program and the master’s program in Natural Resources Science and Management at UMN. His research focuses on a project that is returning Indigenous cultural fire to Minnesota Point pine forests to restore sustainable relationships with the land.

First-year advisor: Dr. Mike Dockry

Chase Warren is Hunkpapa Lakota and Ihanktuwanna Dakota and enrolled in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He is also White Earth Ojibwe on his dad’s side. As an Education Studies scholar at Yale University, he earned his B.A. in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. He worked for three years as a peer liaison at Yale mentoring first-year Native students and was heavily involved in various student groups at the Native American Cultural Center. During the summers of his undergraduate years, he interned with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Education Department at the Dakota/Lakota Summer Institute hosted at Sitting Bull College. He took language classes while helping run the Dakota/Lakota Summer Institute programming. Eventually, in June of 2019, he co-taught a beginner level Lakota language class. After undergrad, he taught high school social studies and beginner Lakota language for three years at his old school, Standing Rock Community School. While teaching, he earned his M. Ed. online at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. His capstone project focused on the history of Lakota language decline and Indigenous language revitalization. In his thesis, he argued that American assimilation policies, rather than off-reservation boarding schools, contributed more to the decline of the Lakota language due to ruptured community relationships. He called for funded adult learner language programming to nurture a cohort of future immersion teachers. In the American Indian and Indigenous Studies PhD program, he plans to expand his research on Indigenous language revitalization and Indigenous education. He hopes to learn from Indigenous Peoples around the world to enhance Lakota language and culture education.

First-year advisor: Dr. Nick Estes