Educator By 1975, Albers was associate professor of anthropology at
University of Utah. She received a superior teaching award at the University of Utah in 1989. In 1995, Albers became the director of the American West Center at the university that advocates for Native American rights, documents the histories of native tribes, and conducts research, employing students who gain first-hand experience. Each year, the Center offers one scholarship to an undergraduate and another to a graduate student. The recipients use the $1,000 stipend to complete a project about society in the American West. The Center has also held weekly Twighlight Talks about Native Americans. Albers was the speaker for the first talk, "Symbol, Sight, and Stereotype: A Century Changing Images of Plains Indian Nations on the Picture Postcard". Albers was the director of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis by 2002.
Anthropologist In 1975, Albers advocated for an autonomous Indian Bureau that would not be subject to the agendas of political parties. Being independent, they could focus on solving ongoing problems—hunger, unemployment, high rate of tuberculosis and diabetes deaths, and welfare dependency—experienced by Native Americans. Albers contributed an essay for the book ''Women's West
(1987), edited by Susan Armitage and Elizabeth Jameson. It is a collection of essays about how women of European, Native American, Hispanic, and Mexican descent played a role in the making of the Western United States. She also contributed to the book History, Power, and Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Americas, 1492-1992'' (1996), edited by Jonathan D. Hill. The book explores how Indigenous and African American people managed exploitation, enslavement, and displacement by whites in the Americas. Her research of the history of Native Americans of the Black Hills was published in Peter Nabokov's book
Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places (2006).
Presentations Albers says that "a powwow is the most important expression of the content of American Indian life", because they reinforce relationships, values, and cultural practices. Powwows range from private events within communities to large powwows open to all Native Americans. During the summer, there are powwows held every weekend across the United States. Events can include traditional dances, contests, feasts, crafts, and musical entertainment. Dancers wear elaborate garments that can take hundreds of hours to make. In 1986, she was a participating scholar in a workshop about the spiritual and cultural significance of powwow celebrations. It was funded by a grant from the Utah Endowment for the Humanities and was held by the Multi-Cultural Center of the
Southern Utah State College (now Southern Utah University). In 1993, she was a keynote speaker at the
University of Maine's
Look at Us as a celebration for Native American month. In 1996, Albers was the speaker, along with Michael Terry who depicted the role of a man, in a replica Native American village set up at the
Museum of the Mountain Man. The Pinedale Fine Arts Council sponsored the "19th Century Plains Indian" presentation to show what life was like on the Plains many years ago. Albers was the keynote speaker for the conference about Blackfeet women entitled "Aakiiksi: Women" in 2002. It was sponsored by the Piegan Institute. ==Publications==