Language Advisory Council

Salomé Hangartner, M.E., M.B.A., is an interpreter, translator and educator born in Spain, who now lives in Switzerland. She was a teacher of Indigenous peoples in Peru. She works for the UN, the EC, the European Parliament and leading corporations. She has translated numerous books and served on the ILI’s Board from 1992 to 1998.

Alexandra Hess

Phillip Tuwaletstiwa (Hopi) is an Engineer and Geodetic Scientist with degrees from Ohio State and Cornell Universities. For 22 years, he was an Officer in the National Oceanographic and Atmosphere Administration. He developed the Hopi Tribe’s first Comprehensive Land Information System to assist in management of cultural and natural resources. He is writing a book on the prehistory of the American Southwest that merges Western science and Native American views, under a Lannan Foundation grant. He is also President of the Hopi Foundation.

Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono ’O’odham) is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Director of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) and a community leader in the Tohono ’O’odham language projects. She has served on the Board of Directors of ILI from 1995 to 2001. She is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 1999. She is also an accomplished poet/writer, author of several publications including her book of poetry titled Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert.

In Memoriam

Darrell Robes Kipp (Blackfeet) was a Harvard educated designer of Indigenous Language Revitalization formats. He was one of the two remaining founders of the Piegan Institute, chartered in l987, to research, promote and preserve Native American Languages. The institute’s Cuts Wood School, located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, is acknowledged as one of the premier tribal language immersion programs in Native America. Retired in 2007, Mr. Kipp focused activities to archival and school materials development. He passed away November 2013.

Murray Gell-Mann, was a Nobel Prize winning physicist and co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, was an advocate for cultural and linguistic diversity. His passion for Indigenous languages and their perpetuation and his personal talent in language acquisition are the foundation of his commitment to ILI’s mission. He served on many Boards internationally. He passed away in May of 2019.

Emory Sekaquaptewa (Hopi) was a Senior Research Anthropologist at the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona in Tucson. Born and raised on the Hopi Reservation, he spent 24 years developing a comprehensive Hopi-English dictionary, published in August 1998, which serves as a reference tool to develop literacy materials to help educate Hopi children. He served on ILI’s Board from 1992 to 1998. He passed away December 2007.