Lorén M. Spears, is an enrolled citizen of the Narragansett Indian Tribal Nation and the Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum. She has been an educator for over 25 years and served as an adjunct faculty at Brown University and at the University of Rhode Island.  Spears earned a B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Rhode Island and her M.S. in Elementary Education from University of New England. She received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from the University of Rhode Island in 2017 and a Doctor of Education, Honoris Causa from Roger Williams University in 2021.

Under Spears’ leadership, Tomaquag Museum received the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ National Medal presented by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2016. Through the museum, she shares her cultural knowledge and traditional arts learned from her family and community. Spears also empowers Indigenous youth and educates the public on Narragansett and other regional Native history, culture, the environment, and the arts. She founded and led Nuweetooun School at Tomaquag Museum from 2003-2010. She also founded the Tomaquag Museum’s Indigenous Empowerment Center to create educational, professional, and arts opportunities for the Native Community. To ensure Indigenous representation, she serves on many boards including the RI 250 Commission, URI Native American Advisory Committee, RI Office of Diversity, Equity, and Opportunity, and the South County Tourism Council.

She has contributed to a variety of publications such as Dawnland Voices, An Anthology of Indigenous Writing of New England; Through Our Eyes: An Indigenous View of Mashapaug Pond; From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1^st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution; and Repair: Sustainable Design Futures. Spears co-edited a new edition of A Key into the Language of America by Roger Williams; and recently co-authored “As We Have Always Done: Decolonizing the Tomaquag Museum’s Collections Management Policy” published in the Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archive Professionals.

Spears has received numerous awards including the Association of Tribal Archives and Museums’ 2022 Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Leadership Award, Mashantucket Pequot Museum’s 2022 Three Sisters Community Meesumôk Neetop Award, YWCA 2019 Women of Achievement Award, Providence Chapter of Chums 2018 Women of Vision Award, the RI Council for the Humanities 2016 Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities, New England Museum Association 2016 Excellence Award, International Woman’s Day  2010 Extraordinary Woman Award, The Indigenous People Organization 2006 Native Heritage Gathering Education Award, Urban League of RI 2006 Woman of Substance Award, National Native American Families Together 2005 Award and the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s 2001 Recognition of Dedication to Tribal Youth.

Spears is a traditional artist. She does basket and finger-weaving, beadwork, and other traditional artforms. She is married to Robin Spears Jr., Narragansett artist, environmental police officer, and mason. She has three grown children, two daughters-in-laws, all cultural artists and 1 grandchild. Everything she does is for her family, community, and the future generations.