LHA Staff and Partners
Jessica Yaquinto, M.A., Founder/
Principal Investigator
Jessica Yaquinto (formerly Medwied-Savage) has an MA with distinction from Northern Arizona University in Applied Socio-Cultural Anthropology and a B.A. with honors from the University of Arizona in Anthropology and Spanish (Portuguese emphasis). Her Master’s thesis focused on improving federal-tribal consultation using Grand Canyon National Park’s tribal and cultural resource programs as a case study. In addition to her role at LHA, Jessica is also a Co-Founder and a Research Associate with the 501c3 non-profit, Living Heritage Research Council.
Jessica has worked in the field of Applied Cultural Anthropology since 2006 and meets the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Cultural Anthropology. During this time she conducted ethnographic and tribal consultation work through the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park, Northern Arizona University, St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, Dominguez Anthropological Research Group, and LHA. She has worked with over 55 tribes across the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. She has also worked with Hispanic communities in Arizona, Colorado, Panama, Uruguay, Spain, and Mexico in both English and Spanish. The majority of her projects were federally funded and revolved around NHPA, NAGPRA, and NEPA compliance. The remaining studies focused on health disparities and community development. Jessica currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Cultural Resources Association.
Jessica is also a NOLS WMI certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR). She believes the safety of all fieldwork participants needs to be the top priority.
Erica Walters, Ethnographer
Erica Walters is a cultural and linguistic anthropologist. She attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Anthropology; along with minors in linguistics, ethnic studies, and Latin American language studies. She has completed research concerning marginalized communities all over the world, and has worked with indigenous communities in North, Central, and South America since 2015, doing ethnographic fieldwork. She focuses on applied anthropology; using research to make tangible improvements to the rights indigenous peoples have to lands, food, worldview, and objects. In addition to her role at LHA, she is currently working on grant-funded research in the Tribal Historic Preservation Office for The Delaware Tribe of Indians, in partnership with the National Parks Service, to produce an ethnographic survey.
Erica is a member of the American Anthropological Association and the Association for Indigenous Anthropologists. Her research interests include cultural resource management, indigenous stewardship and management models, worldview-aligned research and policy, cultural foodways, language revitalization, and actionable anthropology. She currently resides in the Philadelphia area.
Reshawn Edison, Ethnographer
Human Being, He/Him/His, Navajo (Diné), Indigenous Anthropologist and Affairs Strategist at GlobalMindED, Vice President of Recruitment at Young Professional Inclusive Leadership Council, President and Co-Founder of Héská Makoche Tiyospiye Native American Church of Colorado, and Jewelry Craftsman.
Reshawn Edison comes from Diné Bikéyah (Navajo Nation) In New Mexico and Arizona. As a first-generation Indigenous Scholar, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Anthropology, Critical Race, and Ethnic Studies from the University of Denver in the summer of 2022. He served as a member of the Native Student Alliance, an undergraduate representative of the Native American Indigenous Leadership Council, and a Paleo Diet Lab Assistant at DU. He also created the podcast Cultivated Space which highlights Native Student histories. He serves as an Indigenous affairs strategist and Vice president of the Young Professionals Inclusive Leadership Council at GlobalMindED.
Reshawn is frequently called upon to provide ceremonial and practical services for the Diné Navajo people and broader Native communities. In the Denver area, he is connected with the Indigenous community, including relationships with various chapters of the Native American Church and nonprofit organizations that support indigenous initiatives for healing, growth, and social justice. He has been a lifelong member of traditional Diné teachings and an avid practitioner of the Peyote way of life, which allows him to volunteer through cultural presentations and workshops.
His experiences at predominantly white institutions in higher education have encouraged him to continue Native American advocacy, serving his communities and POC allies.
Reshawn is also a third-generation southwest jewelry artist who works with precious stones, shells, and metals.
Research Partners
Kathleen Van Vlack, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Dr. Van Vlack is an applied cultural anthropologist specializing in Native North America and the Caribbean. She received her PhD from the University of Arizona in 2012 where she remained for four years following as a Post-doctoral Research Associate. Over the past fourteen years she has worked with 32 tribes across the U.S. Southwest, Great Basin, Midwest, and California, as well as people of the Caribbean.
She is currently the Past President of the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology and the Editor in Chief of The Applied Anthropologist. She has received numerous research and travel grants, including the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund for Dissertation Research. In 2009, she was awarded The Friedl and Martha Lang Student Award by the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology.
Her research interests include: Climate Change and Impacts on Indigenous Communities, Heritage Management, Cultural Landscapes, Resilience, Community Based Resource Management with Native Americans and people of the Caribbean, the Social Impacts of Environmental Policy in North America, and Cultural Resource Management.