United Lutheran Seminary is pleased to announce that Adam DJ Brett, Visiting Professor and longtime collaborator with the Alliance, has been named the 2026 inaugural recipient of the AAR Public Scholarship Grant.
Dr. Brett received the award for Healing the Sacred: Restoring Onondaga Lake through Story, Ceremony, and Public Scholarship, a forthcoming collaborative podcast project developed with the American Indian Law Alliance. The series will center on Haudenosaunee voices, histories, and ceremonial life while examining the ongoing work to restore Onondaga Lake—one of the most polluted lakes in the United States and a site of deep spiritual, legal, and ecological importance. Brett and his podcast collaborators at AILA, such as Betty Hill, will be attending and speaking at the seminary's upcoming conference, A Vision for Liberating Our Democracy.
The AAR Public Scholarship Grants support scholars of religion whose work reaches public audiences in creative and accessible ways. Funded projects emphasize public-facing formats and engagement beyond the academy, including digital media and community-based scholarship.
Healing the Sacred will blend narrative storytelling, interviews, and public history to connect law, religion, and environmental justice. The podcast builds on the #LakeBack movement and the broader work to return, protect, and heal sacred lands and waters. More information about this effort is available at lakeback.org.
“This project brings together story, ceremony, and public scholarship,” Brett said. “It reflects a shared commitment to Indigenous sovereignty, truth-telling, and the repair of relationships to land and water.”
ULS congratulates Dr. Brett on this honor and looks forward to sharing the podcast with listeners later in 2026.
