Roni Jo Draper

Roni Jo Draper Ph.D. (she|her) is a member of the Yurok tribe from the village of Weispus at the fork of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in what is now known as California. She currently resides in Utah preparing teachers at Brigham Young University, and returns to Yurok lands often to gather materials needed to weave baskets. In addition to her scholarship on literacy and culture in the classrooms, Roni Jo has turned to directing and producing films that center the lives and stories of Indigenous people. Roni Jo produced the film, Scenes from the Glittering World (Directed by Jared Jakins), which focuses on the lives of three Navajo teenagers. Meanwhile, Roni Jo has served the 2SLGBTQIA+ community on the boards of PFLAG Provo/Utah County and Provo Pride. Currently, she serves as the faculty advisor of USGA (Understanding Sexuality, Gender, and Allyship) at BYU and as the President of the Board of the ACLU of Utah.