Director: Alice Nash
Office: 4 Thompson Lowrise
Email: cpnais@anthro.umass.edu
Website: www.umass.edu/nativestudies/

The Certificate Program in Native American & Indigenous Studies provides an opportunity to learn about and become more sensitized to the development, growth, and interactions of Native American and Indigenous peoples in the U.S., the Western Hemisphere, and around the world. The program emphasizes both historical topics and contemporary life.  The interdisciplinary and interdepartmental approach is intended to foster an understanding of the many facets of lifeways, including cultural forms, institutions, political economies, and modes of self-expression.

Faculty include: John Bracey (Afro-American Studies), Sonya Atalay, Emiliana Cruz, Jean Forward, and Ventura Perez (Anthropology), Kathleen Brown-Perez (Commonwealth College), Donal Carbaugh (Communication), N.C. Christopher Couch (Comparative Literature),  Laura Furlan (English), Paul K. Barten (Environmental Conservation), Stan Stevens (Geography), Alice Nash (History), Joyce W. Vincent (Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center, Cultural Enrichment, CMASS), Seth Cable and Peggy Speas (Linguistics), Angelica Bernal (Political Science), Lisa Wexler (School of Public Health and Health Sciences), and Carlos Molina-Vital (Spanish and Portuguese). Courses relevant to the program are offered at the University, and at the other colleges in the Five College Consortium. On-campus roles for Native American visitors are encouraged, as is student outreach to regional tribal communities and certain museum and research facilities.