Keynote Speakers
Cueponcaxochitl D. Moreno Sandoval
Cueponcaxochitl D. Moreno Sandoval, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University, Stanislaus, specializing in Native American and Mexican Indigenous Studies. A former K–12 educator, scholar, community organizer, and cultural worker, her research centers Ancestral Knowledge Systems, co-liberation, relational accountability, and community-sustaining pedagogy. She is co-author of Storying Son Jarocho Fandango: A Culturally Decolonizing Pedagogy in Ethnic Studies (Teachers College Press, 2024), and her scholarship brings education into relationship with land, music, cultural memory, and community. Across her teaching, research, and organizing, she approaches scholarship as a responsibility to build relationships that endure and to create pathways for future generations to carry the work forward.
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Scott Ordway
Scott Ordway (b. 1984) is an American composer, multimedia artist, and Associate Professor and Head of Music Composition at Rutgers University. Praised as “exquisite” (New York Times) and “hypnotic” (BBC), his work spans music, text, photography, and film, with presentations at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Lincoln Center. Rooted in the classical tradition but radically open in form, his compositions explore the relationship between slowness, stillness, and emotional intensity—fusing sound, image, and memory to evoke deep connections to the natural world. Supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, and NewMusicUSA, his artistic practice privileges duration and resonance to build lasting pathways between art, land, and audience.