OHMA VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE
Information session
Virtually meet OHMA students and alums
Presentation by OHMA Alum: Francine D. Spang-Willis
Mini-interviewing workshop, taught by OHMA Director Amy Starecheski
OHMA is the first program of its kind: a one-year interdisciplinary Master of Arts degree training students in oral history method and theory. Our graduates work in museums, historical societies, advocacy organizations, media, the arts, education, human rights, and development. OHMA is also excellent preparation for doctoral work in fields like anthropology, history, journalism, and American studies or professional degrees in law, education, or social work.
Jointly run by the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, one of the preeminent oral history centers in the world, and INCITE, a lively hub for interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, OHMA connects students with the intellectual resources of a major research university, and with the intimate society of a small cohort of talented students.
During a year at OHMA, students learn the skills of digital audio and video production and editing, digital archiving, oral history project design and interviewing, and both historical and social science analysis. Working with an OHMA faculty member, each student is guided through the process of creating a thesis. Past projects have taken the form of academic and creative essays, film and audio documentaries, performances, exhibits, and multimedia websites. OHMA students also have access to elective courses taught anywhere within the University and exclusive oral history internship opportunities.
OHMA ALUM PRESENTATION:
Francine D. Spang-Willis is an oral historian and educator based in Bozeman, Montana. She is of Cheyenne, Pawnee, and settler descent.
Spang-Willis graduated from OHMA in 2021. She also holds a Master of Arts in Native American Studies from Montana State University. Her thesis, Becoming Wild Again in America: The Restoration and Resurgence of the Pablo-Allard Bison Herd, was cited as a thesis of exceptional distinction in the OHMA program's 2021 Jeffrey H. Brodsky Oral History competition.
As the owner of Appearing Flying Woman Consulting, LLC, she collaborates with diverse organizations, communities, and individuals on oral history and community-centered projects. Diverse organizations have invited her to share her knowledge and expertise on oral tradition, oral history, project design, settler colonialism processes, Cheyenne leadership, and bison and land recovery and restoration. She also has had diverse roles in higher education, the US federal government, and the nonprofit sector.
Spang-Willis was the American Indian Tribal Histories Project (AITHP) Director at the Western Heritage Center in Billings, Montana, from 2003 to 2009. She and the AITHP team collaborated with Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and Chippewa Cree narrators to amplify, share, and preserve Indigenous history and culture through storytelling as an oral history tradition and oral history method.
In 2021, Spang-Willis was elected to serve on the Oral History Association's (OHA) Nominating Committee. She also serves as a co-chair on the OHA's Diversity Committee and a member of the OHMA program's Anti-Oppression and Oral History Workshop Series Advisory Board. Furthermore, she is part of the Leadership Advisory Council for the Indigenous Chicago Project at the Newberry Library. She also serves on the Humanities Montana, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation, and the WildEarth Guardians Board of Directors.
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