About Me

Dr. de Silva is an Assistant Professor, a published author, and the Director of Indigenous Teacher Education at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of North Dakota. She recently completed a three-year term as the Chair for the College’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Advocacy (DEIA) Committee. She is a DEIA Pathways Fellow, and in 2023, she received the prestigious Elnora Hopper Danly Faculty Fellowship. This endowed fellowship recognizes a faculty member who continues to exemplify community work that positively impacts youth in underserved communities and shows commitment to developing equitable educational possibilities through teaching and leadership.

As the former DEIA Chair, Dr. de Silva advocated for fair and justice-oriented work to support communities of Black, Indian, and Peoples of Color (BIPOC) was unparalleled. She initiated discussions with the Leadership Council of CEHD (2020-2024) and faculty for syllabi reviews to encourage embedding equitable teaching practices reflecting social justice frameworks. As a colleague, Dr. Azizova (2024) noted, “Dr. de Silva created events, rich in content and open to personal reflections, advocated for and supported diverse life experiences, visibility of historically marginalized identities, and professional growth of our community.” Dr. de Silva shared insights from events with the Leadership Council for future policy change considerations in creating equitable and inclusive environments for all stakeholders.

Years of Education & Human Rights Advocacy

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Years of K-8 Experiential Learning & Pedagogy

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Years of Native & Indigenous Teacher Education & Student Mentoring

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Years of Social Justice Embedded Art Education

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My Research

Dr. de Silva is a field-based teacher-educator; her best practices center on Native and Indigenous pedagogies where land-based cultural practices such as Indigenous agricultural methods and the arts are critical components of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) syllabi. At the Tate Topa Middle School in North Dakota, where her Native American preservice teachers students-teach, Dr. de Silva initiated the creation of the Dusti GoodBird Healing Gardens [planning graphic] by partnering with the school’s Leadership Council, teachers, students, and parents in 2021. [link] The focus of this garden was to reconnect Indigenous students and teachers to land [link video 125442], language, and cultural practices marginalized due to settler colonialism. This reconnection is critical to creating sustainable, decolonized food systems for Indigenous communities where it impacts students most [link video 134613 and images]. Her other critical pathway in teaching, research, and community involvement centers on supporting South Asian diasporic communities in transnational spaces in higher education to support research and learning to take empowered action by students toward self-efficacy and transformative learning.

Background Teaching Experience

Before her university appointment, Dr. de Silva was a full-time elementary teacher with the York Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada, for thirteen years. She developed and delivered culturally responsive lessons reflecting student communities. Dr. de Silva mentored and worked with students by harnessing their strengths and interests, encouraging them to self-advocacy. In recognition of her student mentoring efforts, the City of Vaughan recognized her with the prestigious Educator Mentor Award in 2011. During her tenure, she opened a school, created interactive cultural nights in the cities of Vaughan and Markham to promote student arts and literacy through multiliteracies, and created student initiatives to showcase student learning and applications through social justice frameworks. One such initiative was the Emigration and Human Experiences: Developing Critical Perspectives through Student Voices, Critical Inquiry, and Global Perspectives on Marginalized Children and Silenced Voices–a presentation at the 10th Annual Youth for Human Rights International Symposium in Markham, Ontario, 2016. In honor and recognition of Dr. de Silva’s dedication to teaching Human Rights over many years, she was invited to speak as a panelist at the 18^th International Human Rights Summit on July 18^th, 2024, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.