AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES FACT SHEET

American Indian Studies approaches its teaching and research from a decolonized, community-based, and global perspective. American Indian Studies faculty and students strive to develop innovative theories and methodologies that increase knowledge about Indigenous Peoples and support the needs of Indigenous communities. The department promotes faculty and student exchange programs with institutions that are committed to a deeper understanding of Indigenous communities and Peoples throughout the world. The American Indian Studies Department offers a major in American Indian Studies, a minor in American Indian Studies, a minor in Oceania and Pacific Islander Studies, and a graduate certificate in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. The department is also the home of a newly created research center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies. The Center aims to support research being done in American Indian and Indigenous Studies across all three UW campuses, as well as collaborations with the surrounding Native Community.

TRIBAL GAMING AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE

The department offers a certificate in Tribal Gaming and Hospitality Management, taught in collaboration with faculty from the Foster School of Business. The program teaches students the essentials of accounting, finance, business management, and marketing, with a specific focus on the tribal gaming and hospitality industry. The certificate was created in response to community requests for continuing education opportunities and development of professional skills. The certificate is designed with experiential learning in mind and the majority of class sessions are held on site at various partner casinos throughout the state of Washington.

Students

Winter 2023

• 20 Undergraduate majors
• 21 Undergraduate minors
• 14 Graduate students
• 1,092 students taught in 2022

Degrees Awarded

2021 - 2022

• 10 Bachelor of Arts degrees 

A Sample of Courses Offered

• AIS 103 The Indigenous Pacific Northwest
• AIS 170: American Indian Art and Aesthetics
• AIS 209: The Unsettling of the Red Continent: American Indian History to 1815
• AIS 314/315/316: Southern Lushootseed Language and Culture
• AIS 335: American Indians and the Law
• AIS 377: Contemporary American Indian Literature
• AIS 379: Powwow: Traditions and Innovation
• AIS 380 Indigenous Food Sovereignty
• AIS 385: Indigenous Ecologies and Climate Change
• AIS 480: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence Movements in the United States, Canada, and Mexico

Winter 2023

2 Professors

• Charlotte Coté (Nuu-chah-nulth)
• Christopher B. Teuton (Cherokee Nation)

3 Associate Professors

• Jean Dennison (Osage)
• Dian Million (Tanana Athabascan)
• Joshua L. Reid (Snohomish)

1 Assistant Professor

• Joshua P. Griffin

1 Assistant Teaching Professor

• Tami Hohn (Puyallup)

3 Lecturers

• Iisaaksiichaa Braine (Apsalooke Nation)
• Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha Klallam)
• Scott Pinkham (Nez Perce)

9 Adjunct Faculty

• Chadwick Allen (Chickasaw)
• Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse
• María Elena García
• Sara L. Gonzalez
• Sven Haakanson (Aluutiq)
• Clarita Lefthand-Begay (Navajo)
• Tony Lucero
• Cynthia R. Pearson
• Megan Ybarra

5 Emeritus Faculty

• Alexandra Harmon
• Daniel Hart
• Cheryl Metoyer (Cherokee)
• Luana Ross (Salish)
• Gary Witherspoon

American Indian Studies faculty, whose scholarship represents a range of academic disciplines, are nationally and internationally known for their work. Published works by our faculty include:

• Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World
• A Drum in one Hand, A Sockeye in the Other. Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the Northwest Coast 
• Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation
• The Sea is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs
• Deep Waters: The Textual Continuum in American Indian Literature
• Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club
• Therapeutic Nations: Healing in an Age of Indigenous Human Rights
• Indians in the Making
• Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions

When Native American students are in the process of selecting a university, they consistently ask two questions:

1. Does the university have a Native Studies program?
2. How many Native professors are at the university?

The American Indian Studies Department at the University of Washington allows for positive answers to both questions. Moreover, since cultural support is so crucial to the retention and graduation of Native students, American Indian Studies also plays a vital role in the process from recruitment to graduation for the University’s 500+ Native students.

Yearly, American Indian Studies supports the following through advising, staffing, and direct financial contributions:

• The Native American Student Graduation Ceremony. Held on campus at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House, Raven’s Feast celebrates the achievement of all University of Washington Native American graduates: bachelor, masters, doctorate and professional degrees. American Indian faculty and staff at the University host a salmon feast for 500-600 participants, including graduates and their families.
• Sacred Breath: Writing and Storytelling Series. This series features Indigenous writers and storytellers at wәtәb?altxw Intellectual House.
• The Living Breath of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ: Indigenous Foods and Ecological Knowledge Symposium. This annual event brings together individuals to share their knowledge on topics such as tribal food justice and security, traditional foods, health, community, place, responsibility, climate change, and treaty rights.
• The Annual University of Washington Powwow. For nearly 35 years, in support of the First Nations student organization, American Indian Studies has helped create and support a two-day competitive powwow, the second largest in the Northwest. The powwow draws between 10,000 to 15,000 participants and spectators.
• Internship with Pyramid Communications Indian Country Division. In partnership with Pyramid Communications’ Indian Country team, students have the opportunity to complete a paid 5-credit internship that allows students to build valuable work experience while getting the chance to work on Native causes with Native people. Students gain experience working with tribes, corporations, universities, environmental groups, and more, while applying the Indigenous systems of thought taught in American Indian Studies in the workforce.
• Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies. American Indian Studies has a close partnership with CAIIS including the AIS Department Chair serving on the CAIIS board and overseeing the Native New UW Scholars program.

Department of American Indian Studies
Box 354305
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
phone: (206) 543-9082
email: native@uw.edu
web: ais.washington.edu

last update: January 2023