Resources & Education

Education:

Click here for UCSB’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies Minor.

 

Campus Organizations:

American Indian Student Association (AISA): which was founded in the early ‘70s to promote cultural awareness to the University’s general population and to provide a cultural connection and sense of community for UCSB’s American Indian Students. These goals are accomplished through weekly meetings, monthly socials, and cultural/social get-togethers throughout the year

UCSB Chapter of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES): a national organization that seeks to substantially increase the representation of Native & Indigenous peoples in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) careers. Our UCSB chapter seeks to provide peer support, leadership opportunities, professional development workshops, financial support, and career guidance for it’s members. AISES also oversees the garden project and our newest organization

American Indian Graduate Student Alliance (AIGSA): whose purpose is to promote and support American Indian & Indigenous Graduate students and causes at UCSB.

American Indian & Indigenous Collective (AIIC): which we refer to as the umbrella group of all the American Indian student groups.AIIC was created by graduate students, faculty members, and community members who wanted to build research relationships between different disciplines as well as conduct and support research pertaining to issues within Indigenous communities nationally and internationally.

Research Focus Group (RFG): a sub-group of the American Indian & Indigenous Collective (AIIC); the long-term purpose of this research focus group is to develop frameworks for research that reflect Indigenous conceptualizations of ontology, epistemology, methodology, and axiology. This group envisions working toward establishing a graduate emphasis as well as an American Indian and Indigenous Peoples Research Center on campus, in addition to the regular and frequent  programming and guest lectures.

The Native Authors Reading group: a sub-group of the AIIC, in which graduate, undergraduate, staff, faculty, and community alike get together every other week to discuss a Native Novel of the 20th or  21st centuries. The group reads on average 5 novels per quarter.

 

Resources:

*All of these resources have hyperlinks to external websites. Be sure to check them out!

American Indian Health and Services (AIHS): A great clinic and support for indigenous and non-indigenous health care!

Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER): An educational resources about native plants and ecology, you can get involved in their volunteer work and internships!

UCSB’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP): Helps underrepresented students navigate life in college, and if you want to visit the Chumash Garden located near the Student Resource Building or just hang out in the American Indian Cultural Resource Center, here is a link to their website!

Conferences:

In November 2015, our co-founders Jessica Foster (far left) and Margaret McMurtrey (far right) presented at the Native American Culinary Arts (NACA) Conference about “Revitalizing and Restoring Community Through Student Initiated Native Gardens”. It was a wonderful conference where they shared and enjoyed ideas. Look on this website to see when the next conference is!