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Director: Jean S. Forward
Office: 4 Thompson Lowrise
Phone: (413) 577-1607
Fax: (413) 545-9494
Email: cpnais@anthro.umass.edu
Website: www.umass.edu/nativestudies/

The Certificate Program in Native American Indian Studies provides an opportunity to learn about and become more sensitized to the development, growth, and interactions of the hundreds of indigenous nations of the Western Hemisphere. The program emphasizes the long history of Native American Indians in the Western Hemisphere, and their many positions in contemporary life. Its interdisciplinary and interdepartmental approach is intended to foster an understanding of the many facets of the indigenous nations’ lifeways, including cultural forms, institutions, political economies, and modes of self-expression.

Departments which formally participate in the program are Afro-American Studies, Anthropology, English, Geosciences, History, Legal Studies, and Social Thought and Political Economy. The program’s advisory board includes: John Bracey (Afro-American Studies), Marta Carlson, Jean Forward and Robert Paynter (Anthropology), Kathleen Brown-Perez (Commonwealth College), Ron Welburn (English), Alice Nash (History), Joyce Vincent (Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center and Native American Student Support Services), and Lisa Wexler (School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and three undergraduate and graduate students. 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.