Haury and Community Celebrate Navajo Nation Water Library Preservation Team with 2026 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Award
The Agnese Nelms Haury Program at the University of Arizona (the Haury Program) has named the team behind the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Library Preservation Project (NNDWRLPP) as recipients of the 2026 Indigenous Resilience Leadership Award. The work of awardees - Maurice Upshaw, Jessica Ugstad, and Teresa Miguel-Stearns (pictured above with the Haury Program team, photo credit: Torran Anderson) - has safeguarded a critical and irreplaceable water resources collection. The awardees were celebrated on April 8 at the James E. Rogers College of Law and Daniel Cracchiolo Law Library.
The event included a land acknowledgment by Daelyn Nez, Miss Native UA, and welcome remarks from College of Law Interim Dean Jason Kreag. The program was conducted by Toni Massaro, Executive Director of the Haury Program, who highlighted how relationships were the foundation for saving this invaluable collection, which became a reality thanks to the dedication and hard work by both the University of Arizona and the Navajo Nation. She thanked in particular Dr. Crystal Tulley-Cordova of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources for alerting Haury to this need.
Haury Program is a University of Arizona-embedded philanthropic program established in 2014 with what was at that time the largest bequest ever received by the University. The Haury Program is governed by an external Donor Advised Fund Board. Since 2020, the Haury Program has been focusing on advancing Indigenous resilience, especially environmental resilience and water work. The Haury Program seeks to model and share best practices in “university-embedded” and respectful “trust-based” philanthropy with Indigenous peoples, programs, and Native Nations. This includes recognizing grantees and partners as knowledge-holders, and listening to their priorities and values. Haury Program builds long-term relationships and trust. In all their funding, they encourage, expect, and model respectful engagement with tribal communities in research and projects, prioritize community-up solutions and co-creation, and request practicing reciprocity with Indigenous peoples and communities.
The Haury Indigenous Resilience Leadership Awards were conceived in 2020, and honor those that make exceptional contributions to Indigenous environmental resilience and respectful tribal engagement. The awards celebrate Indigenous resilience leaders – their stories, their wisdom, and their exceptional work that is mindful of principles of reciprocity, respect, and relationships.
Recognizing Leadership in Preservation and Access
The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Library collection includes maps, technical studies, legal documents, and thousands of pages of research related to water location, quality, and governance. These materials are essential not only for their cultural significance, but also for ongoing and future work related to tribal water rights, infrastructure development, and community well-being.
Facing significant risk at its original location, the collection was relocated through a formal agreement between the Navajo Nation and the University of Arizona. It is now housed at the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library at the James E. Rogers College of Law, where it is being preserved and gradually digitized in accordance with Navajo Nation authorization. Sensitive materials remain protected under agreements with the Nation.
“This is one of the most important projects we have been honored to support,” said Toni Massaro, Executive Director of the Haury Program, Regents Professor, and Dean Emerita of the College of Law. “The preservation of this collection ensures that invaluable knowledge will remain accessible to the Navajo Nation and future generations.”
In collaboration with the University of Arizona BioCommunications, the Haury Program produced and showed a video documenting the project, which can be accessed here.
The Haury Program thanks all the University partners and members for participating in the event, and helping spread the story of this resource. They also express gratitude to the College of Law team - Bernadette Wilkinson, Michael Wagenheim, Ricardo Ruiz, and the rest of the events team - for beautiful collaboration to host this event, as well as Gilberto Villega from BioCommunicaitons for filming the event.
About the awardees
Maurice Upshaw serves as project manager and GIS supervisor for the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources. With more than three decades of service to the Navajo Nation, he has played a central role in guiding the preservation effort, ensuring that the collection is handled and maintained according to appropriate cultural and technical standards.
Teresa Miguel-Stearns is Associate Dean of Legal Information Innovation, Director of the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library, and Professor of Law at the University of Arizona. She quickly recognized the urgency of the project and mobilized institutional resources, professional networks, and expert staff to support the preservation and long-term stewardship of the collection.
Jessica Ugstad, head of collections at the Cracchiolo Law Library, serves as the University of Arizona project manager for NNDWRLPP. She has overseen the physical preservation, cataloging, and ongoing digitization efforts, working closely with Upshaw and coordinating funding and project development.
Accessing the Collection
After the awards ceremony, participants toured the collection stored at the Daniel Cracchiolo Law Library, and learned more about the documents it contains and how to access them. To access the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Library Preservation Project Digital Collection, visit LLMC collections website, and then filter by item, or select from the list of items. Please note that this online collection is only a small fraction of the total library and more documents are being added as they are digitized. Paper documents can also be accessed upon approval. All inquiries can be sent to Jessica Ugstad: jugstad@arizona.edu.
(Photo credit: Nina Sajovec)
Past Haury Indigenous Resilience Leadership Awardees
Upshaw, Miguel-Stearns and Ugstad are joining the past recipients of this award:
2020-2021
Mr. James Adakai, Division of Community Development, Navajo Nation
David Harvey, PE, MPH, Deputy Director, Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction, Indian Health Service
2021-2022
Dr. Crystal Tulley-Cordova, Principal Hydrologist, Water Management Branch, Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources
Dr. Karletta Chief, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, University of Arizona
Nikki Tulley, PhD candidate, University of Arizona
2022-2023
Dr. Karen Francis-Begay, NAI Assistant Vice Provost, University of Arizona
Katherine Jacobs, CCASS Director, University of Arizona
Claudia Nelson, NPTAO Director, University of Arizona
2024-2025
DigDeep
Honorable Levi Esquerra, Sr VP, Native American Advancement and Tribal Engagement, University of Arizona
For more information on the Haury Indigenous Resilience Leadership awards, please visit Haury Program's website.