Christine Sims, PhD, is from Acoma Pueblo and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education & Human Sciences at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She is also Director of the American Indian Language Policy Research & Teacher Training Center which she established in 2008. She completed her doctoral work at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on issues of heritage language maintenance and revitalization among American Indian tribes. Her scholarly work includes numerous publications regarding the critical socio-cultural foundations for oral-based Indigenous languages, the implications for teaching Indigenous languages in community and school-based contexts, teaching Pueblo Indian languages, and most recently . She has testified before U.S. Congressional Committees, including twice before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, on efforts to maintain and revitalize Native Languages and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce during field hearings conducted in New Mexico. She has served as an expert witness and advocate during many state legislative sessions where critical issues of Native language teacher certification, Native language teacher salary parity and other bilingual issues affecting New Mexico’s Indigenous languages have been discussed and legislated. She has given numerous keynote presentations about Indigenous language issues at national, state and regional conferences as well as internationally in Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico.