Meet student leader Autumn Varley

Nipissing students consistently impress as leaders, in the classroom, on campus and in the community.  Recently the university celebrated 25 student leaders at the annual Dave Marshall Leadership Awards. Over the coming months, NU News will introduce each student leader to the wider community with a short article discussing their accomplishments and activities. Today, we are pleased profile Autumn Varley, a Masters of Arts, History student and Dave Marshall Leadership Award winner in the academic category.

Varley has is engaged in oral history research that promises to reshape our understanding of the relationships between indigenous people and major cultural and political institutions.

Her study, titled Selling Ourselves is a critical look at the experiences of indigenous peoples working as costumed interpreters at the heritage site Ste-Marie-among-the-Hurons.

This research has been presented internationally at a conference in Chile, provincially to the Union of Ontario Indians, and written about locally in the Anishinabek News.

She is also a leader in the Office of Aboriginal Initiatives: helping other students with their work, suggesting directions for their research, and helping indigenous students navigate academia. In powerful ways, she builds bridges between people.

The Dave Marshall Leadership Award recognizes full-time students who have made an outstanding extra-curricular contribution to their academic program, to the campus, or to the greater community. Academic recipients are selected in recognition of their significant contributions as leaders in their area of study.