Personal Summary

I am a proud mother and grandmother --and that's very important to me -- but below is a summary of my professional life.

Dr. Susan Penfield received her Ph.D. in Linguistic Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1980. After teaching briefly for the English Language Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she returned to join the English department at the University of Arizona in 1991. In 2005, she helped to establish the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy where she served as Associate Director in 2006-7.  Since the 1990s, she has also taught for the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI). In 2008, she accepted an appointment at the National Science Foundation where she directs the Documenting Endangered Language Program drawing on her many years of research experience working with Indigenous languages.

For over thirty years, Penfield has been actively involved in research on language documentation, language revitalization, Indigenous languages and technology and community-based language/linguistic training. She began her field work with Mohave on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in 1969 and has continued to be involved with this community ever since as a linguist and educator.  Her recent work in language documentation has been with Mohave and Chemehuevi,. This work has been fully supported by both the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and is a collaborative project which engages and trains community members in all aspects of the documentation process, from data collection to database construction. Penfield has worked with members of many other tribes who are actively involved in language documentation including the NSF-supported fellows from the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana, the Oneida nation of Wisconsin, the Tohono O’odaham and Akimel O’odham, Southern Ute, Northern Cheyenne, Yakima, Okanagan, Ho-chunk, Blackfeet, and Laguna who attended AILDI in 2006.

In 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported Penfield’s project to train tribal members to work on their own languages using technology. This project resulted in a publication, Technology-enhanced Language Revitalization (2005) with Philip Cash Cash and a listserv titled “Indigenous Languages and Technology (ILAT)” which now has nearly 300 members world-wide. Other recent publications include, “Community Collaborations: Best practices for North American Indigenous language documentation.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language, (2008); “Grant Writing for Indigenous Languages” (Arizona Board of Regents, 2008); and “Preservation strategies: A Translation Paradigm” in One Voice, Many Voices: Recreating Indigenous Language Communities (Arizona State University Center for Indian Education, 2006) 

Education

Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1980 (Anthropology / Linguistics)

M.A. University of Arizona, 1972 (Archaeology)

B.A. University of Arizona 1968 (Anthropology)

Courses Taught

Linguistics 570, Fall 2019, 

Linguistics 570 :  

Title:  Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages:

This course addresses issues of language policy, language planning for revitalization, language use, ethics and attitudes in various socio-cultural contexts and the sustainability of Indigenous languages in different types of home, community, and school contexts. Special attention is given to Indigenous language advocacy at the family, community, and international levels. Training in effective project development, strategic planning and proposal writing is central to this course.

Teaching Experience

Factulty, University of Arizona 1990-2013  (Department of English)

Instructor, American Indian Language Development Institute, University of Arizona 1999-2008

Instructor, Canadian Indigenous Language and Literacy Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton

Projects

Pai Ethnobotany and Language Project (recently funded for a one year pilot the NSF).

Publications

2017        Penfield, Susan. (forthcoming) “Finding Funding for Endangered Language Documentationand Revitalization. Lyle Campbell and Kenneth Rehg, eds. Handbook of Endangered

Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2016        Hermes, Mary, Cash Cash, P. ,Donaghy, K, Erb, J. and Penfield,S. 2016.  "Conceptualizingthe Capacity of Technologies: United States and Canada" in McCarty and Colonel, 

Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas. Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

2012          Combs, Mary Carol and Susan D. Penfield. "Language Activism and Language Poliicy" In Bernard Spolsky, ed. Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy. Cambridge University

                  Press.

2010        Penfield, Susan “Innovative Training Opportunities: The NSF/AILDI Collaboration for  Indigenous Language Documentation” The American Indian Language                                                    Development Institute: Thirty Years of Speaking From Our Hearts. Spectrum Publishing:  Tucson, AZ. ISBN 978-0-578-05081-2

2008          Penfield, Susan, et al. "Community Language Collaborations: Best Practices for North American Indigenous language documentation." International Journal of Sociology of

                  Language 191. Mouton de Gruyter publisher. 187–202.

Affiliations

Faculty Affiliate in Linguistics

Specialized Skills

Grant Writing

Consulting: Language documentation and revitalization

Professional Experience

Director, Documenting Endangered Languages Program, National Science Foundation 2008-2011.

Invited Instructor. CoLang (Collaborative Linguistics institute) 2008, 2010, 2014. 

Panelist for the National Endowment of the Humanities grant review in Collaborative Research and Landmarks Program.

Frequent Reviewer for NEH and NEF research grants.

Consultiant in endangered languages with tribal communities including: Tonoho O'odham, Coushatta, Laguna, HoChunk, San Carlos Apache, Navajo, Akmiel O'odham, Southern Ute, Yakima and more. 

International Experience

Panelist, Endangered Language Documentation Program. SOAS, University of London, England (2007-2011)

Hobbies

I currently live on a small Montana ranch where I raise horses, chickens, llamas and fiber animals (sheep and goat)s. I enjoy spinning, weaving, and a variety of other arts and crafts.