This FEBRUARY 2023 we are highlighting Native Bruin Eric Morrison from the Tlingit tribe, the first group of native students to attend UCLA in 1968. Eric (Tlingit name Koon’esh) Morrison has served as executive director of the Salamatof Tribe in Alaska since 2017. He has also served on the National Tribal Water Council for 20 … Read more
After decades as a highly regarded interdepartmental program at UCLA, American Indian Studies has been elevated to a full academic department. This achievement is a tribute to the leadership and advocacy of Native American faculty, staff and students over many years. While American Indian Studies will continue its tradition of collaboration with other disciplines and … Read more
This January 2023 we are highlighting Native Bruin Maya Rose Dittloff (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Blackfeet) class of 2019. Maya Rose Dittloff (ǔkkayǔ”kwīyinnimǎakii/Many Pipes Woman) is a queer Mandan, Hidatsa, and Blackfeet writer, director, and producer. A graduate of the School of Theater, Film, and Television with a concentration in screenwriting and cinematography in 2019. Maya … Read more
Jessica Wolf | November 30, 2022 A new agreement between UCLA and members of the Gabrielino Tongva tribe will ensure that traditional ways of planting, harvesting and gathering are part of campus landscaping and caretaking practices. The memorandum of understanding also establishes guidelines that provide access to the descendants of the original inhabitants of the land … Read more
On the surface, Sequoia Point seems like another lovely spot in a Bay Area park, with gnarled oaks, towering old-growth redwoods and a glorious view of the Bay. But this scenic overlook in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park has now acquired new significance, and a new Chochenyo name—Rinihmu Pulte’irekne, meaning “Above the Red Ochre”—because the city … Read more
This December we are highlighting Native Bruin Ty Coughenour (Lummi) class of 2011. Ty Coughenour is an award-winning writer, producer, and director who resides in Seattle, Washington, and is a member of the Lummi tribe. He graduated from UCLA in 2011 Cum Laude as a Gates Millennium Scholar. While at UCLA, he worked at the … Read more
The Director and Associate Director of the American Indian Studies Center and the Chair of the American Indian Studies Department, along with our respective Faculty Advisory Committee members, call on the University of California to negotiate in good faith to honor the demands of teaching assistants, tutors, readers, student researchers, postdocs, and academic researchers represented by three unions–UAW 2865, … Read more
UCLA community members are joining scholars across the country to help highlight Indigenous architectural knowledge throughout the American continent in an annual program. The Forgotten Canopy – a series of conferences under The Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies’ Core Program – held its first summit from Nov. 4 through Nov. 5 at the William … Read more
Tosa Two Heart is wearing her community’s hearts on her sleeves and is hoping others will too. Alumnus Two Heart is exploring new niches in fashion by incorporating traditional Lakota designs into modern clothes. She said her work amplifies the voices of Native Americans in the exclusionary space of Western fashion through its emphasis on … Read more
Please join UCLA Staff Assembly as we host the 14th Annual Emerging Research Speaker Series. We are honored to have Dr. Shannon Speed (Chickasaw) present her talk on Chickasaw Spring: Resurgent Sovereignty of a Native Nation. Over the last 50 years, the Chickasaw Nation has undergone a remarkable resurgence of tribal sovereignty. Once suppressed almost … Read more