Luana Ross facts for kids

Luana K. Ross (born 1949) is a Native American sociologist. She is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana. A sociologist is someone who studies how people live and behave in groups.

Ross has a long and successful career in education. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Montana in 1979. She later received a master's degree from Portland State University and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Oregon in 1992.

After finishing her studies, she taught at the University of California at Davis and UC Berkeley. Since 1999, she has been a professor at the University of Washington. .....

Academic Career and Research

Dr. Ross is a well-known author and researcher. Her work often focuses on the experiences of Native American people, especially women.

Important Writings

Ross wrote an award-winning book called Inventing the Savage: The Social Construction of American Criminality. This book explores the experiences of people in prison. It looks at how a person's race and gender can affect how they are treated by the justice system. The book won the Best Book Award in 1998 from the American Political Science Association.

She has also written many articles and book chapters. Her writings often discuss the challenges faced by Native American women and explore topics like social justice and history.

Teaching and Mentoring

Dr. Ross's work has been inspired by the scholar and activist Angela Davis. Davis was her mentor, or trusted guide, when Ross was studying at the University of California Santa Cruz.

Today, Dr. Ross continues to teach and advise students at the University of Washington. Her main areas of interest include:

• The lives of Native American women
• Using photos and films in research (Visual Sociology)
• How society defines and deals with crime
• Relationships between different racial and ethnic groups

Leadership and Service

Besides teaching and writing, Luana K. Ross has held important leadership roles. She has worked to support Native American students and communities.

Native Voices Film Program

Dr. Ross is the co-director of a special program at the University of Washington called Native Voices. This program teaches Native American students how to create documentary films. These films tell important stories from their own perspectives. Many films made by students in this program have won awards.

Ross has also produced her own award-winning films, including:

• The Place of the Falling Waters (1991)
• White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men (1996)
• A Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience (2002)

College President

From 2010 to 2012, Ross was the president of Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana. This college primarily serves the Flathead Reservation community. As president, she started new projects to improve the college. She created groups to study environmental issues and to make sure everyone was treated fairly. She also started a special lecture series with honored professors.

Ross left the position in 2012 because she and the college's leaders had different ideas for the college's future. After her time as president, she returned to her work as a professor and researcher at the University of Washington.