Dr. Yolanda Teran is from the Indigenous Kichwa Nation of Ecuador. She was born in San Gabriel City in the north of Ecuador, South America. Since 1994 she has been an Indigenous representative for Latin America and the Caribbean before the United Nations. She got her B. A. in Museology at the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, “UNI-RIO” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and her Master of Arts at the University of Leicester, Leicester-England. She obtained her doctorate degree at the College of Education, concentration in Language, Literacy and Socio-Cultural Studies at the University of New Mexico. Her doctoral dissertation study focused on: “The Cultural Foundations for the Development of a Kichwa Language Program at El Centro Infantil Alejo Saes in Quito City, Ecuador”. This study was carried out with and for the Puesitus Indigenous community, that in 1950’s migrated from a rural area from the South of Ecuador to Quito City, the capital.

As a recognition of her educational work done for Indigenous Education at local, national and international levels, from 2014 to 2016 she achieved two postdoctoral fellowships under the sponsorship of the Division of Equity and Inclusion and the Native American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico. During this time she was dedicated to doing research on Indigenous Child, Indigenous Education, Indigenous Research, Indigenous Peoples Human Rights and Bio-piracy, Indigenous Peoples, Business and Policies and Bio-cultural Community Protocols. She also co-taught the class NATV 450 on Community Engagement, Leadership and Global Education: An Indigenous Perspective.

She joined UNM’s NAS Program as an Adjunct Professor of NATV 423.001- Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and Self-determination during the Fall semester 2007, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 and presently as Research Scientist Faculty. Currently she is doing research on Indigenous Peoples, Languages and Biodiversity. Her goal is to create awareness on students, teachers and Indigenous communities about international issues that are affecting Indigenous Peoples life and rights and to build up a bridge between the community and the academia based on mutual respect and understanding.