Stephanie Fryberg is a Tulalip psychologist who received her Master's and Doctorate degrees from Stanford University, where in 2011 she was inducted into the Multicultural Hall of Fame.

[1] She currently teaches American Indian Studies and Psychology at the Northwestern University in Chicago,[2] and is a member of the Tulalip Tribes.

[4] That year, another study was published in which Fryberg investigated how academic underperformance among Native American students can be attributed to the standardized model of education more fit for white students that emphasizes assertive and independence, in opposition to the Native American culture of interdependency and intergroup connections.

Having a strengthened identity in terms of culture and racial identification can help Aboriginal students perform better academically.

However, the second study's results found that showing Native American High School students these images decreased their self-esteem.

[7] In 2011, Fryberg testified before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the effects of stereotypical mascots on Native American students.

[8] In 2019, Fryberg - along with authors Arianne Eason, Laura Brady, Nadia Jessop, and Julisa Lopez at the University of Michigan and The University of California, Berkeley - published a study to the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science aiming to gain insight into Native Americans attitudes towards Native mascots.

"When you use a person’s identity in a sports domain,” she said, “and you allow people to dress in red face and put on headdresses and dance and chant a Hollywood made-up song that mocks Native tradition and culture, there is no way to call that honoring.”[11]