Dr. Hassimi Maiga holds a Presidential appointment as Distinguished Research Professor of Education at the University of Bamako, Mali (by Presidential Decree, June 2001). Dr. Maiga is also Professor of Education (on leave) at L'ISFRA, the national higher education institute at the University of Bamako where MA and Ph.D. students are trained. At L'ISFRA he has taught graduate courses in the "History of Education from Antiquity to the Present," "Curriculum Design" and "Research Methods."

His scholarly publications include numerous articles and research reports. Other publications include: From Whole to Part: The Gao School Museum (SF: Aspire Books, 1993); "Our Africana Heritage" (Murehm Books, New Orleans, 1997); Notes on Classical Songhoy Education and Socialization: The World of Women and Child Rearing Practices (Murehm Books, Atlanta, GA 3rd Edition, 2005) and a socio-cultural history of the Songhoy people entitled La Contribution Socio-culturelle du Peuple Songhoy en Afrique (in French, 2007). Dr. Maiga also received a grant and led the team of scholars and religious leaders in Gao who translated the Holy Qur'an into the Songhoy language. He serves as Editor of this project.

Alan Parker, J.D. is the Director of the Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute at The Evergreen State College where he also has served as a member of the faculty since September of 1997. A citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribal Nation, Parker lived for many years with his family on the Rocky Boy's Reservation in Northern Montana. Alan graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 1972 and practiced law in Washington, DC for over twenty years before joining the Evergreen College faculty in 1997. While in Washington, DC, he directed research on tribal governments for the American Indian Policy Review Commission and was the first Native American to serve as Chief Counsel to the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. (1977-81, 1987-91).

Professor Parker recently organized and is now teaching in the nation's first graduate school program in tribal management, the Master in Public Administration: Tribal Government. His research interests are currently focused on integrating cultural revitalization, governance and sustainability through implementing tribal self-determination. (see: Epistomology of Native Studies) He has also been engaged in comparative studies of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Rim and coordinated the first International Forum of Indigenous Nations that took place in New Zealand in April 2005.