2023 GREAT Day Keynote

The Jack '76 and Carol '76 Kramer Endowed Lectureship

In 2008, Jack and Carol Kramer, both graduates of the class of 1976, established the Kramer Lecture endowed lectureship, which serves as the anchor for GREAT Day. The lectureship exemplifies the type of leadership, passion and dedication that permeate the Kramers’ lives. Jack and Carol approach life with a shared intensity and commitment to others, and Geneseo is blessed to count them among our most enthusiastic supporters. They serve as models to our students, our alumni and the Geneseo community as a whole. 

Keynote Speaker: Wendsler Nosie Sr., Educator and Director, Apache Stronghold

"The Rumbling of Holy Places: Protecting the Sacred/Ecological"

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Time and Location: Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 1:45 p.m. in the Wadsworth Auditorium

About Wendsler Nosie Sr.

Wendsler Nosie Sr., PhD, is a former Peridot District Councilman and Tribal Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which consists of nearly 17,000 tribal members on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in southeastern Arizona.

He is a Professor in the Practice of Indigenous Knowledge at the American University of Sovereign Nations, where he teaches a range of master’s and doctoral program courses to students from around the world.

Nosie was born on the San Carlos Apache Reservation and raised in the traditional Apache way of life. He attended Merritt College in Oakland, CA, and Phoenix College in Phoenix, AZ, and completed the State of Arizona Banking Academy. Nosie earned a doctorate in bioethics, sustainability, and global public health from the American University of Sovereign Nations. Following college, he returned to San Carlos and began his employment as the Tribal Work Experience program director in 1982. In 1988, he was elected to Tribal Council, which governs the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Nosie is dedicated to working on behalf of tribal citizens and for the preservation and protection of Native American culture, artifacts, history, religion, and tradition in many ways.

He founded Rural Opportunities of Arizona (ROA), owned, and operated by a tribal member, which provided opportunities for tribal citizens to become skilled in trades and trained for jobs throughout Arizona. In 1995, he established Apaches for Cultural Preservation.

A long-distance runner, Nosie has participated in numerous marathons and half marathons over the years. He founded the Spirit of the Mountain Runners in 2000, which is a traditional runners’ organization.

Nosie was re-elected as the Tribal Council representative for the Peridot District in 2004 to serve another four-year term. In 2006, he was elected by the San Carlos Apache People as their Tribal Chairman. In 2010 and again in 2012, he was re-elected to the Tribal Council. He has also been appointed as the San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife director and has marketed and expanded the hunting and recreational area of the tribe.