Title with Advance at UNM:

Leadership team member

Your background in academia:

Leola Tsinnajinnie Paquin (Filipina/Diné), PhD, is an Associate Professor in Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She grew up in Na’ Neelzhiin (Torreon), the Navajo community where she received her foundation in education. She belongs to one of the final graduating classes of St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe. She received her BA in Sociology and MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona. Her PhD is in Educational Thought and Sociocultural Studies from UNM. She centers her work in Indigenous educational sovereignty in relation to community wellbeing. She has been a longtime member of the UNM Alza Curriculum Subcommittee and the Institute for American Indian Education.

Beyond UNM, she has also served as President of the American Indian Studies Association Council and on the New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union Board of Directors. She enjoys being an active faculty mentor across undergraduate and graduate initiatives. She is the 2024-2026 UNM Presidential Teaching Fellow with a focus on
faculty wellbeing as pedagogy. During the 2025-2026 school year, she served as the Graduate Studies Faculty Fellow for Student Success. She centers her efforts through the core values of her families, communities, academic studies and collaborations. She is a joyful mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and relative.