Programs

Native UW Scholars Program (NUW Scholars)

Make life long connections with other Native and Indigenous students

The Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CAIIS) is proud to announce the new NUW Scholars Program for incoming Native students. This is a cohort driven program that will provide a one-week residential experience for incoming students before Autumn 2020 courses begin and continues throughout the year.

The NUW Scholars cohort will also be part of a year-long two-credit seminar that will build community and help students braid their academic and social life on the UW campus and in Coast Salish lands. Activities include: meeting faculty and staff, campus tours, cultural events, off-site field trips, workshops on financial literacy, library tutorials, introduction to various majors, and other introductions to University systems.

Native UW Scholars (NUW scholars)

Native Pathways Program

Partnerships with two-year and tribal colleges to create pathways for Native transfer students

Working i­n partnership with the Simpson Center partnership with Seattle Colleges, we will expand this effort to connect with Wenatchee Valley College (WVC), the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), and other two-year and tribal colleges by hosting a bi-annual regional Indigenous Studies Higher Education Pedagogy Summit and promoting the development of new coursework in AIIS. This initiative will also be supporting our graduate students to teach courses in these institutions. The goals are to create culturally relevant and timely coursework in the region; to increase Native student enrollments; and to facilitate easier transfer pathways to the UW and other four-year colleges in AIIS. This initiative will deepen connections between UW and two-year and tribal colleges through the cross-mentorship instructors and will provide our graduate students with much needed teaching and mentorship experience.  

Knowledge Family Experiences

An undergraduate-level Indigenous Research Academy in the Indigenous humanities

Knowledge Families reflects an intergenerational approach to cohort-building. Each Knowledge Family opportunity is designed to connect undergraduate students with faculty mentors who are engaged in AIIS humanities research. Additionally, through a two-week summer program, students will be introduced to Indigenous research methodologies; have access to workshops on conducting archival, ethnographic, and field work; and develop an independent research project. Subsequent to the completion of the course, students will present their independent research projects at the UW Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium, organized by the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Summer Institute on Global Indigeneities (SIGI)

A week-long intensive graduate seminar focused on professionalization in Indigenous studies

The Summer Institute on Global Indigeneities (SIGI) is a collaboration among scholars from the Universities of Washington (Seattle), British Columbia (Vancouver), California (Los Angeles), Hawai‘i (Mānoa), Minnesota (Twin-Cities), Oregon and Utah. The mission of SIGI is to help graduate students find ways to make their interdisciplinary and decolonial work legible to conventional academic disciplines. Through a series of innovative pedagogies, we generate a set of epistemological, methodological, and professional strategies for the successful completion and dissemination of creative research projects in American Indian and Indigenous Studies.

American Indian & Indigenous Studies (AIIS) Scholars Program

A monthly workshop, with the goal of supporting scholars to complete research projects that are key to their professional advancement.

In support of the professional development of graduate students and faculty (tenure-track, non-tenure-track, research track, etc.), we propose the creation of a year-long research and writing seminar. The primary goal of this seminar is to provide intellectual and financial resources that support scholars’ completion of research projects (e.g., dissertations, articles,  book-length monographs, poetry, and other research products).

AIIS Scholars will be selected annually to participate in monthly seminars that showcase their works-in-progress, but the monthly workshops will be open to the entire campus community. Faculty scholars will receive one course buy-out or equivalent summer salary, and graduate scholars will be supported with research stipends (up to $10,000), designed to support their proposed research initiatives.

Native Knowledge-in-Residence Program

Creating space for forms of knowing that have long histories in the lands where the UW exists, but have not been part of extant curricular offerings.

Central to our goal of fostering Indigenous humanities at the UW is creating a space in which Native knowledge, especially the languages, can thrive. This year-long Native knowledge-in-residence program will hire a coordinator who will supervise research in archives, libraries, and museums, and help arrange possible research projects in tribal communities. They will host regular knowledge tables, supervise research projects, offer lectures and workshops, develop curricula, and build partnerships with Indian Education programs to create pathways for Native students to the UW. Additionally, this program will also fund the UW to invite 10 guest speakers, who would serve similar functions as the Native Knowledge-in-Residence coordinator, but for shorter periods of time (usually 1-3 days). These individuals will include community research partners who are interested in speaking to classes, consulting on research, providing a one-time workshop, consulting with the CAIIS or other Native advisory boards at the UW, and engaging with UW students and mentors. This more short-term visits will also serve to identify Native Knowledge-in-Residence coordinators for future years.  

Summer Institute in Indigenous Humanities (SIIH)

The Summer Institute in Indigenous Humanities (SIIH) provides training and support to undergraduate students and community partners undertaking humanities research in American Indian and Indigenous Studies.

Beginning August 1 and offered three consecutive weeks over the summer at the University of Washington, this program introduces students to Indigenous research methodologies through workshops on archives, ethnographic research, and other field-based research. As part of the program, students will work with the teaching team to develop an independent research project in Indigenous Humanities. Subsequent to the completion of the course, students will present their independent research at a research symposium later in the academic year.

Who is eligible? 

The course is open to the following students:

  • Enrolled UW and non-UW students who have completed their first year at university or college

  • Incoming UW or non-UW transfer students

  • Community partners with research interests in Indigenous Humanities

When does the course run?

The course runs from August 1-19, 2022. 

How do I Apply?

Please submit an application by May 16, 2022 for priority review. You can apply here: https://forms.gle/nbCxxpo8yzUiQVN27. There are 5 sections to the application. It should take you about 30 mins to complete. All applications will be reviewed, even if submitted after the priority deadline.Stipends will be provided to all accepted students. Please see the attached flyer SIIH Flyer