Haury and Community Celebrate Navajo Nation Water Library Preservation Team with 2026 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Award
The Agnese Nelms Haury Program at the University of Arizona (the Haury Program) has named the team behind the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Library Preservation Project (NNDWRLPP) as recipients of the 2026 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Award. The work of awardees - Maurice Upshaw, Jessica Ugstad, and Teresa Miguel-Stearns (pictured above with the Haury Program team, photo credit: Torran Anderson) - has safeguarded a critical and irreplaceable water resources collection. The awardees were celebrated on April 8 at the James E. Rogers College of Law and Daniel Cracchiolo Law Library.
The event included a land acknowledgment by Daelyn Nez, Miss Native UA, and welcome remarks from College of Law Interim Dean Jason Kreag. The program was conducted by Toni Massaro, Executive Director of the Haury Program, who highlighted how relationships were the foundation for saving this invaluable collection, which became a reality thanks to the dedication and hard work by both the University of Arizona and the Navajo Nation. She thanked in particular Dr. Crystal Tulley-Cordova of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources for alerting Haury to this need.
Haury Program is a University of Arizona-embedded philanthropic program established in 2014 with what was at that time the largest bequest ever received by the University. The Haury Program is governed by an external Donor Advised Fund Board. Since 2020, the Haury Program has been focusing on advancing Indigenous resilience, especially environmental resilience and water work. The Haury Program seeks to model and share best practices in “university-embedded” and respectful “trust-based” philanthropy with Indigenous peoples, programs, and Native Nations. This includes recognizing grantees and partners as knowledge-holders, and listening to their priorities and values. Haury Program builds long-term relationships and trust. In all their funding, they encourage, expect, and model respectful engagement with tribal communities in research and projects, prioritize community-up solutions and co-creation, and request practicing reciprocity with Indigenous peoples and communities.
The Haury Indigenous Resilience Leadership Awards were conceived in 2020, and honor those that make exceptional contributions to Indigenous environmental resilience and respectful tribal engagement. The awards celebrate Indigenous resilience leaders – their stories, their wisdom, and their exceptional work that is mindful of principles of reciprocity, respect, and relationships.
In collaboration with the University of Arizona BioCommunications, the Haury Program produced and showed a video documenting the project, which can be accessed here.
For a full story, please visit Haury Program website.