ILI Language Advisory Council

Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel Prize winning physicist and co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute, is 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 serves on many Boards internationally.

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.

Darrell Robes Kipp (Blackfeet) is a Harvard educated designer of Indigenous Language Revitalization formats. He is one of the two remaining founders of the Piegan Institute, chartered in l987, to research, promote and preserve Native American Languages. The institute's Real Speak 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 focuses his activities to archival and school materials development.

Emory Sekaquaptewa (Hopi) is 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.

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.

Akira Yamamoto, Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Kansas, is dedicated to the preservation of the indigenous languages of the Americas. He is affiliated with the Endangered Languages and Their Preservation Committee of the Linguistic Society of America, The Linguistic Society of Japan, and many other professional organizations. His is one of the founding members of the American Indian Language Development Institute in Tucson and the Oklahoma Native Language Association.

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.