Judi M. gaiashkibos

Judi M. gaiashkibos (born 1953) is a Ponca-Santee administrator, who has been the executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs since 1995.

According to journalist John Mabry, her surname "is pronounced 'gosh-key-bosh' and spelled without a capital in recognition "that the two-legged are not superior to the four". She is an enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.

Gaiashkibos grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska and won awards as a member of the varsity debating team for Norfolk Senior High School.

Judi Marie Upton was born in 1953, in Norfolk, Nebraska to Eleanor Josephine (née Knudsen) and Harley Randall Upton.

Her mother was enrolled in the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, as were her ten children.

Eleanor's mother was Santee Sioux, was fluent in both the Santee and Ponca languages, and in later life lived with the Upton family off the reservation.

Eleanor's father, Otto Knudsen, was the last "chief of the second rank" of the Ponca tribe before it was terminated in 1962.

He was a descendant of Chief Smokemaker (Shu-de-ga-xe), who was painted by George Catlin.

Eleanor grew up on the Ponca Reservation.

Along with two of her sisters, she attended the Genoa Indian Industrial School, one of the government-sponsored boarding schools, which attempted to assimilate Indigenous children and prevent them from using their native languages and practicing their cultural traditions.

Harley was not Indigenous.

After serving in the US Navy during World War II, he worked as a horticulturist and in construction.

Upton and her siblings were raised in Norfolk, near a salvage yard.

The family were poor and Eleanor strove to protect the children from the widespread discrimination against Native Americans at the time.

It was common for signs to be posted on business establishments that warned "'No Dogs or Indians Allowed'" and for the children to be ridiculed at school.

She attended Norfolk Senior High School and was a member of the varsity debating team.

In 1970, she won the best speaker title at the regional competition hosted by Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa.

After graduating, she enrolled as a speech major at Northeastern Nebraska College.

She was selected as queen of Miss Nebraskaland Days in 1973 and was a finalist in the national College Girl of the Year competition in 1974.

She attended Northeastern Nebraska College and later finished her education earning bachelor's and master's degrees from Doane College.

After marrying and raising two daughters into their teens, she began working at the Ponca Tribal Headquarters in Lincoln, focusing on locating and repatriating remains of Ponca ancestors.

In 1973, Upton was selected as the winner of the Miss Nebraskaland Days queen competition, earning a US$500 1973 scholarship.

She was one of seven finalists out of fifty-one competitors for the College Girl of the Year award in 1974.

The competition was part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and judged finalists on character, creativeness, community involvement and scholastic achievement, but Upton did not win the title or scholarship.

Later that year, she married Thomas George Morgan, with whom she had two daughters, Katie and Jacque.

In the early 1990s when her marriage broke down, Morgan returned to school to complete a bachelor's degree in human relations at Doan College.

She worked during the day at the Ponca Tribal Headquarters in Lincoln and attended school at night.

Her work in the tribal office was focused on locating and repatriating remains of Ponca ancestors.

In 1995, she was appointed as executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, a state agency responsible for liaising between the four Native tribes in the state.

She also works with the governor to give Native perspectives on issues and with the legislature to convey information on tribal law.

She was the first Ponca tribal member to hold the position.

Among other issues, gaiashkibos's work on the commission has included resolving conflicts around Native American gaming, Native children's welfare, and the Indian Health Service.

She served on the Whiteclay Public Health Emergency Task Force to address alcohol sales and the violence associated with its consumption.

They successfully closed down liquor stores in Whiteclay, Nebraska and established networks between local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies to increase reporting of violence and investigations into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

She has been involved in the creation of scholarships for Native students and development of a curriculum in women's studies to foster awareness of Native women's contributions to American history.

She spearheaded a project to erect a sculpture of Standing Bear (Ponca) on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, as well as at the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D. C. With excess funds raised for Standing Bear's sculpture, gaiashkibos had a statue installed of Susan La Flesche Picotte (Omaha) at the university.

She led the drive to restore the National Historic Landmark, Susan La Flesche Picotte Memorial Hospital.

Along with the Nebraska State Archeological Office she has led efforts to locate the burial sites of children who attended the Genoa Indian Industrial School.

Her work has been recognized with numerous awards from many service organizations in Nebraska.

In 1995, she was selected to replace Steven Provost, who had resigned from the position of executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs.