Board Members

Joelle LeMer MA, MAST is the Director for the Center for Science Teaching & Learning, Northern Arizona University. She is a science educator and applied anthropologist who has designed, written, and implemented STEM curricula and professional development programs for K-12 educators, informal educators, out-of-school time educators, and indigenous communities. She has led numerous grant-funded STEM projects. She is currently Principal Investigator for Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science (PLANETS), a NASA cooperative agreement to develop national out of school time materials and professional development. Her areas of expertise are transformational / transdisciplinary learning, grant writing and management, project leadership / management, educational consulting, design and facilitation of STEM professional learning, anthropology education, heritage education, instructional design, and qualitative educational research and evaluation.

Darrell Marks, an indigenous Dine'/Navajo and the Native American Academic Advisor for Flagstaff High School, advocates for the rights and works to meet the unmet needs of the Navajo and Hopi tribal communities. Marks, a single parent raising two teenage sons, has coordinated deliveries of food and supplies to Navajo and Hopi families struggling during the pandemic; advocated for voting rights in the face of efforts to disenfranchise Native Americans; worked to provide access to remote learning opportunities in tribal areas made even more isolated by COVID-19; and served as a personal counselor and resource to students struggling with loss and depression.

Darrell Marks was one of seven recipients of the Profiles in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in 2021. Read more...

George Joe, Navajo, was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Dilkon, AZ., but attended schools in Winslow, Ariz. He brings over 25 years of experience in media and marketing. George joined the SWCEJ board in July 2021. “I am privileged and honored to be asked to join an organization committed to standing up for those wronged by the system,” Joe said. “All my life, I have seen minorities wrongfully charged and sometimes beaten by authorities, yet nothing ever becomes of it.” Joe has master’s degrees in English and educational leadership and is currently the Director of Marketing and Communications at Dine College. He has served on several boards, which includes a Navajo grant school and Northland Pioneer College. He was one of seven national finalist for a 2020 national finalist for communicator of the year by the NCMPR, a national.

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