Breadcrumb
The Oliner Altruism Institute
Upcoming Conversation on Altruism
Please join Maral Attallah and Ronnie Swartz for this year’s public conversation with guest Dr. Joseph Giovannetti
Tuesday, October 14 • 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Cal Poly Humboldt Native American Forum (BSS 162)

The purpose of the Oliner Altruism Institute is to seek out ways to enhance altruism and prosocial behavior in society.

The Oliner Altruism Institute's Conversations on Altruism
Maral Attallah (Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) and Ronnie Swartz (Director of the Oliner Altruism Institute) host public conversations with seasoned academics, researchers, practitioners, and educators who join a new generation of those interested in possibilities for doing good.

Conversations on Altruism
Dr. Joseph Giovannetti is a citizen of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation (located in Northwestern California) and he is a seven-term councilman for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation (2007-present). He earned his Ph.D. from Sierra University. He is an Emeritus Associate Professor of Native American Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt (1994-2018) where he also served as Department Chair. He is a recognized expert on the Tolowa genocide. During his time at Humboldt Dr. Giovannetti taught 25 different course titles, including Native American Psychology and Native American Genocide. He has presented at two International Genocide Conferences and is currently a member of both the United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC) and the National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committees (TAC). Dr. Giovannetti has represented the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation Tribal Council as their Delegate to the United Indian Health Services, Inc. (UIHS) Board of Directors, based at the Potawot Health Village in Arcata. UIHS operates 12 health facilities in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties serving 12,600 Native Americans. He is also a member of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame (NAIAHF) in Green Bay, Wisconsin for his running at Cal Poly Humboldt (1969-72), (800M/4x400MR runner). He received his A.B. in Journalism from Cal Poly Humboldt ('72) and an M.A. in Educational Administration from Cal Poly Humboldt in 1978. He and his wife, Carla (Cal Poly Humboldt, Social Work, ‘74), have been married 50 years and have two children and 12 grandchildren.
Nezzie Wade grew up in the San Joaquin Valley as Jannez Marie O’Hare and moved to the bay area to attend San Jose State University on the journey to becoming a sociology professor. She earned her Master’s Degree and Community College Teaching Credential in 1972 and taught in a variety of educational environments, including West Valley College, San Jose City College, Foothill College, and St. Patrick’s College. Nezzie has lived on the North Coast of California since 1978. She taught Sociology, Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Social Work at the College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt for over 30 years. For almost 15 years, Nezzie worked at Cal Poly Humboldt in the Learning Center and Educational Opportunity Program. She has been involved in some of the areas most rooted non-profit organizations, including the Redwood Community Action Agency, Democracy Unlimited, and Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation. Nezzie has engaged in community activism with the Humboldt Bay Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Communities for Peace and many other groups and organizations working for economic and social justice. Nezzie is co-founder and President of Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives (AHHA), the leading local non-governmental organization assisting in implementing a variety of affordable housing solutions for people dealing with homelessness in Humboldt County.
Cheryl A. Seidner’s passionate work on behalf of indigenous communities has enriched the lives of people throughout our nations. She is recognized for her ability to foster cooperative activism among American Indians at the regional, state and national level. Ms. Seidner has taken leadership roles with a number of organizations and on a number of issues. Her work has included serving on the Executive Committee for the National Congress of American Indians and the Northern California Indian Development Council. As the Tribal Chair for the Wiyot Tribe, Ms. Seidner dedicated herself to numerous efforts to honor Wiyot worldviews and cultural practices. She oversaw the repatriation of Tuluwat, a sacred site for her people, and was instrumental in bringing back the Wiyot young woman’s coming-of-age ceremony. Ms. Seidner helped organize an annual candlelight vigil as a memorial to those who died in the massacres of 1860, and drove revitalization of the world renewal ceremony that was held once again in 2014. Ms. Seidner is a published writer and poet whose work has appeared in the Humboldt Historian and News from Native California, as well as books including California Fault and Gold, Greed, and Genocide. She has given lectures about the Wiyot people throughout California and worked in the Educational Opportunity Program at Cal Poly Humboldt for 30 years. She is a visionary, a leader, and a community-builder.
Me’-lash-ne was born in 1956 at Taa-‘at-dvn, California in Crescent City. He was reared at Nii~-lii~-chvn-dvn on the Smith River near Fort Dick, California. He was born into Federal Termination that ravaged the Dee-ni’ social fabric and stalled their cultural cognition heightened by spiritual interference. He partook in the linguistic and cultural revitalization, and the Federal Restoration of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. In his youth Me’-lash-ne was recruited by the Spiritual Knowledge Keepers to hold Tolowa Ceremony and carry the responsibility of Ghii Lhee-wi, The Equilibrium. The Tolowa Language project began in the 1950s. Language instruction began in 1969 by Eminence Credential Licensure. Me’-lash-ne developed fluency and an author of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ language. His generation was the first to attend the university and permeate the Cultural Glass Ceiling. He completed his teaching credential in 1980 and became the first credentialed Indian Language teacher in California. He returned home to teach Tolowa, Art, Biology and Social Studies in the public school system. He attended the University of Oregon to earn his master’s degree in Linguistics in 1997. He retired from 34 years of teaching in 2014 and from 25 years with the Nation’s Council in 2017. His lifelong intention is to assist in the restoration of the Dee-ni’ Race to thrive as Lhaa-‘i’ Xvsh, A Humankind Member of Mother Earth.
Shaunna Oteka McCovey is currently the Director of Governmental Affairs at Resighini Rancheria. Shaunna has worked for Tribal Governments, environmental non-profits and the Federal Government, where she negotiated compacts with Tribal nations. She has also been an associate professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. Her poems and essays have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online journals. Her poem “I Still Eat All of My Meals with a Mussel Shell” appears in the 2020 anthology, When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. McCovey is Yurok and Karuk and a member of the Yurok Tribe.
Lois Risling is a community leader, elder, Medicine Woman, and educator. She spent more than 20 years at Cal Poly Humboldt, first as the Director of the Indian Teacher Education Personnel Program, and then as the Director for the Center for Indian Community Development. She was an instructor working with future educators on best practices for classroom teaching and is a well-known advocate for Native American sovereignty. She is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and is also Karuk and Yurok.
Conversations on Altruism Trailer 2022-23

Sam Oliner's Last Book: Rescue of Memory (2025)
What motivates people to help, to care, to risk their own lives for others? What differentiates rescuers, helpers, carers, and bystanders?

Contact
Oliner Altruism Institute
Cal Poly Humboldt
1 Harpst Street
Arcata, CA 95521
707.826.4553 (p)
altruism@humboldt.edu
Ronnie Swartz, Director
Brenna Killoran, Program Assistant