Sage Phillips (she/her) is a proud Penobscot Nation citizen, 2024 Champion for Change and advocate for prospective Native youth pursuing higher education, specifically at land-grant institutions.
Phillips is originally from Old Town, Maine, where she grew up close to her community and elders. As a 2021 Truman, Udall and Cohen Scholar, Sage has committed herself to a life in public service.
She began working with the Native American Cultural Programs (NACP) at the University of Connecticut (UConn) as an undergrad in 2018, determined to transform and expand the programs. Centering her work in creating good relations between UConn and the land it currently occupies, Sage pursued her Master’s in Human Rights while remaining at NACP as the Graduate Assistant before receiving her Master’s in May 2024. Today, NACP has its first ever Director, cultural space, scholarships for Native students and more. Serving in many roles in her time at UConn, she emerged as a strong advocate for future generations at land-grant institutions and as a result, received the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, The Living Legacy Award, Donald L. McCullough Leadership Award, and Gladys Tantaquidgeon Award.
In 2020, Sage received a grant to begin a research effort surrounding UConn’s history as a land-grant institution (LGI). The project today, known as LandGrabCT, was developed in partnership with the Native American Cultural Programs, the Dodd Center for Human Rights, and Greenhouse Studios. The effort has received resounding support and positive feedback, as it serves to educate the community-at-large about the historical traumas LGIs were permitted to commit against Indigenous peoples and their lands. In 2022, LandGrabCT was named as a 20 for 20 Connecticut Game Changer for Innovation in Connecticut History.
Currently, Sage serves as the Program Coordinator for Native Governance Center’s Community Engagement program and has joined UConn’s Tribal Educational Initiative, working to establish UConn’s Avery Point campus as a Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institution – the first of its kind in the Northeast. Sage believes that education through culture and story-telling will inspire Native youth to be our leaders of tomorrow and as such has dedicated herself to this work. She credits her own inspiration to her grandfather and father, from whom she learned leadership at an early age while watching their work in the historic Penobscot River Restoration Project.