Donna M. Loring Lecture Series

The Donna M. Loring Lecture Series is a space for education, dialogue, and reflection on issues that matter. Through lectures, book readings, and plays, the series explores Indigenous rights, civil rights, social justice, environmental issues, and human rights—bringing both historical insight and fresh perspective to today’s challenges.

2025 Lecture

Truth in the Present Tense: Wabanaki Voices, Museums, and the Struggle against Erasure

This event will explore how museums can serve as critical spaces for truth-telling, cultural continuity, and Indigenous sovereignty in an era where historical erasure and political backlash threaten to silence marginalized voices. Wabanaki speakers will discuss how museums can shift from colonial institutions to living sites of collaboration, accountability, and cultural futurism. How do we ensure that Wabanaki perspectives shape the narratives—not as artifacts of the past, but as powerful voices in the present and future?

Tuesday, October 28, 2025
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. 
St. Francis Room, Ketchum Library, UNE Biddeford Campus
Free and open to the public.

Speakers

Jennifer Neptune (Penobscot Nation) is the Director of the Penobscot Nation Museum on Indian Island, Maine, dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich cultural heritage of the Penobscot Indian Nation and the Wabanaki people. She is also a master basketmaker, beadworker, and Maine guide, who recently served as the exhibit writer for the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station at the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The recipient of many national awards and grants for her basketmaking, she has worked to preserve and adapt traditions of ash and sweetgrass basketry and to mentor other artists. She holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Maine.

Betsy Richards (Cherokee Nation) is the Executive Director of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine, dedicated to illuminating and advancing greater understanding and support for Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands. She has over 25 years of experience in the arts, museums, philanthropy, and social impact including roles at the Ford Foundation, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, and The Opportunity Agenda. She is also Board Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, a Commissioner for the U.S. Interior Department’s Indian Arts & Crafts Board, and serves on the Maine Arts Commission. Betsy holds degrees from NYU and Yale University.

Support the Work

Your support helps keep these vital conversations going.

The Donna M. Loring Lecture is made possible by the Donna Loring Endowed Fund, which was started with generous gifts from Cpt. Joanne Murphy, Donna’s commanding officer during the Vietnam War; the Maine Community Foundation; and other committed donors. With your help, we can continue to grow the reach and impact of this important work.

How to Donate

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About Donna M. Loring

The Honorable Donna M. Loring is an elder and former council member of the Penobscot Indian Nation. She grew up on Indian Island and earned her B.A. in political science from the University of Maine at Orono. A graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, she pursued a career in law enforcement, serving as Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990. (She is the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the State of Maine). In 1992, she became the first woman Director of Security at Bowdoin College, a position she held until 1997. In 1999, Loring was appointed Aide-de-Camp to then-governor Angus King with the rank of Honorary Colonel and was his advisor on women veterans’ affairs. She has also served as a Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Janet Mills.

Donna Loring is a Vietnam veteran. A member of the Women’s Army Corps from 1966-1969, she was called to serve in the Vietnam 1^st Signal Brigade from 1967 to 1968, during the TET Offensive.

From 1999-2007, Loring served as the Penobscot Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature. Among her contributions during her legislative career, she authored and sponsored LD 291 An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools, which was signed into law in 2001. The law is changing the way Maine teaches and views its history. In this position, she addressed the Maine State Legislature scores of times to represent the Penobscot Nation and advocate for public policy reform.

In addition to her work in law enforcement and public service, Loring is a widely published author who continues to explore new ways to share Wabanaki culture and history with diverse audiences. Her 2008 book, In the Shadow of the Eagle (Tilbury House 2008, reissued by DownEast Books 2023) chronicles her experiences as the tribal representative to the State Legislature. She is also author of the preamble poem in Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest (Littoral Books 2021; winner of the Maine Literary Award for anthologies), the plays The Glooskape Chronicles Creation and the Venetian Basket (2012) and Mary and Molly (2017), and many editorials and op-eds in a variety of Maine media. Mary and Molly also premiered in 2023 as an animated film written and co-directed by Loring, made in concert with a creative team and produced by Speedwell Contemporary. Loring hosts her own radio show, Wabanaki Windows, at WERU Community Radio in Orland in partnership with WMPG Radio Portland.

Loring is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Among others, these include the Deborah Morton Award from the University of New England (2011), granted to women for exceptional leadership in civic, cultural or social causes; an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Maine (2017); the Maine School of Law Courage is Contagious Award as part of its Justice for Women annual lecture (2021); and an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters from Thomas College (2022). In May of 2022, she was recommended by the Wabanaki Chiefs and appointed by Governor Janet T. Mills to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.

In 2009, Loring donated her personal and literary papers to the Maine Women Writers Collection. This acquisition was the first given by an Indigenous woman to the University’s collections, helping the MWWC move toward a fuller accounting of the lives and creative work of women in the region, enhancing the representation of Native people in the piece of the historical record that is preserved in the archives, and making this story more accessible to students and researchers.