OMAHA -- November is Native American Heritage Month.

NCN talked with Dr. Susana Geliga, UNO professor and co-director of the Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project, a topic that she hopes people will focus on this November. 

Geliga focuses on language preservation, teaching Lakota. At the same time, she's eager to keep the culture itself alive and hear about others are doing so. 

"For some reason, people still think of Native Americans as in the past," Geliga said. 

Geliga said she loves when her students bring her articles about a Native American designer at the Met Gala, or talking about lacrosse as living Native American culture, or reading books by living Native American authors such as Devon Mihesuah, or hearing from the famous poet Joy Harjo. 

Geliga said her main message is that it's important to be inclusive in curriculums: There is always room for more Native American authors and history in other classes. To that end, Geliga encourages other professors to reach out to their university to include Native American heritage in all courses, and keep it alive.