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This month we are celebrating Native Americans and the Indigenous community in our college.

As noted by the , this is a time “to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.”

We would like to bring attention to some of the efforts on campus to foster continued learning and reflection this month and throughout the year. 

• The Division of Student Affairs created this that we encourage you to explore.
• Featured in the collection is one of our : the . AISES is a national organization that nurtures the building of community by bridging science and technology with traditional Native values. 
• AISES  this month in which our community was led by social media and marketing manager, Evie Clarke, a member of the Muskogee Nation (Creek) along with president, Reign Pagaran, a member of the Tlingit Nation. Clarke and Pagaran engaged students in creating and sharing the significance behind a long-standing Native tradition of medicine pouches.
• Mechanical engineering senior Annalise Hildebrand, a member of the Menominee Nation, as an engineering student and leader in the AISES community. Annalise shared that AISES brings people together that may otherwise not have met and has been pivotal in “wanting to help people and change the world.”
• This year, that grants in-state tuition to Native American Students who are members of a tribe that is historically linked to Colorado. from this important advancement in our state.
• In October 2020, the CU Office of the President issued the first . The Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS) is working with CU Boulder’s Idea Council to establish a . Chantal Baca, Senior Professional of the BOLD Student Success Center Tutoring Program and Navajo (Dinè) and Lakota descendant, wrote an article as Vice Chair for campus Staff Council about the land acknowledgment enabling healing from invisibility “to resurface Native American history, traditional storytelling, and ancestral knowledge of those most sacred to the land and bloodlines of Indigenous Peoples.” 

As we approach the 157th anniversary of the on Nov. 29, we encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the contributions of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute, Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pueblo and Shoshone Nations, original and continued inhabitants and caretakers of the land we live and work upon in Colorado. For Native American communities it is a time of mourning and time to come together as a community for healing. 

Let us seek “” with one another, and respect the value of Indigenous science, engineering, and traditional knowledge this month and every month.

Keith Molenaar
Acting Dean

Terri Wright
Assistant Dean for Access, Inclusion and Student Programs

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