A native Dakota speaker from childhood, Dr. Canku has been teaching courses in Dakota language and culture at the college level for many years, not only at Sisseton-Wahpeton College but also at the University of Minnesota�Morris and Southwest Minnesota State University. With Nicolette Knudson and Jody Snow, he is the co-author of Beginning Dakota/Tokaheya Dakota Iyapi Kin: 24 Langauge and Grammar Lessons with Glossaries, published by Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2010. Dr. Canku is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (Dakota Nation).