University of New Mexico, Department of Native American Studies

Native American Studies at UNM

Mission

Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary unit within the University College committed to Native academic scholarship and research excellence. Our mission is to educate and inform all students and the pubic about the strong cultural heritage of Native American peoples in New Mexico and throughout the United States. The goals of Native American Studies are to explore and transmit respect for the sovereignty of Native Nations, preserve cultural traditions, and support Native communities self-determination.

Background

Native American Studies was founded in 1970 as an ethnic studies center. Initially, it was established as a support program for Native American students. In September 1998, NAS became an interdisciplinary academic program housed in University College. In 1999, a minor Degree in Native American Studies was approved. The NAS minor is applicable to all undergraduate majors offered by the University of New Mexico.

UNM-NAS provides a range of academic resources for the student, the university community, and Native American communities at-large. In keeping with a Memorandum of Understanding with New Mexico Indian Tribes, UNM-NAS is organized into three major components: Academic, Research and Community Outreach.

The Academic Component includes extensive array of innovative courses, internships, independent study and summer institutes.

The Research Component is integral to every NAS course and provides training and experience in doing research in a Native American context. The Research component also provides research opportunities and teaching assistantships to Native students currently in graduate degree programs. The Research Component encompasses the Native American Studies library. The NAS collection houses 2,800 titles by and about Native Americans (books, journals, articles, research papers, video and audiotapes) including the highly prized Reno Collection is available to students, the university community, scholars, and the larger Native community. The family of economics scholar Philip Reno donated his papers to NAS that consists of research materials collected by Reno for his book, Navajo Resources and Economic Development (1988 ) University of New Mexico Press.

The Community Outreach component is the Institute for Native American Development (INAD), which through it's research focus on issues pertaining to tribal leadership, self determination and economic development offers specialized courses, workshops and research opportunities via NAS programming and activities based on Main campus and the UNM Extended University system.