Shawna Woody

Northern arizona university - School of earth and sustainability

Shawna Woody is a member of the Navajo Nation Tribe. Her traditional clans are Red Running into Water, Honey Combed People, Bitterwater, and Coyote Pass People. This is how she identifies herself as a Dine (Navajo) woman. Growing up on the Ramah Navajo Reservation in New Mexico was a blessing to her, as this was where her passion for the natural world developed. Shawna earned an associate degree in rangelands management at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute and a bachelor’s in biology at Fort Lewis College. Shawna completed the Research Assistance Mentoring Program at Northern Arizona University, where she focused on identifying culturally significant medicinal plants within the Emory oak ecosystem. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree with the School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University; her research explores the effects pollinators and flowering plants are experiencing in response to the grazing of bison on the north rim of the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab Plateau in Arizona.