MSU American Indian and Indigenous Studies

09/05/2026

A GA meeting means it's not just the elected executive board (e-board), but for the general (assembly? audience? I forget what it's called!) In other words, if you're interested in NAISO MSU, you should stop by! Share with students and friends.

First GA Meeting!
NAISO room @5:30

09/05/2026

more great events happening this fall!

09/03/2026

Join us for the MSU Indigenous Welcome on September 16 from 6-8pm in the Multicultural Center! This annual event celebrates the start of the semester with food, community, and introductions from campus programs that support your work. This year the event will also help kick off our first-ever jiimaan (canoe) build led by artist-in-residence Ron Paquin and apprentices Adam Avery, Josh Homminga, and Rob Rudd. Stop by the Multicultural Center and lend a hand. You can come for as short or long a time as you'd like!! September 17-19 10am-4pm, September 20 10am-1pm.

09/02/2026

POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. stay tuned for new dates.

Our 4 Sisters Garden is ready for harvest, and we would love for you to join us! We are gathering to harvest our Four Sisters crops: corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. This ancient, sustainable planting method relies on the plants supporting each other, and now it is time to celebrate their growth together.

When: September 3rd at 5:00pm
Where: Beal Botanical Garden [330 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824]

Please bring a water bottle. Gardening supplies will be provided by Beal. We will celebrate, swap stories, and enjoy a beautiful evening outside.

07/08/2026

We're really excited about this development! And grateful to our alum Kaylin Casper for all her work getting it off the ground. Please note that any student interested in American Indian and Indigenous Studies can apply! if the QR code gives you trouble, use this link: https://msu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6zdNf2Cuyr8nC4u?Q_CHL=qr

Incredibly excited about this, use the QR Code to apply!!!! Miigwetch 🩵

05/06/2026

Kaylin is amazing!

Graduating senior Kaylin Casper received the Richard Lee Featherstone Endowed Prize, MSU's top honor for a graduating senior, and the College of Arts & Letters' Outstanding Senior Achievement Award. Both awards recognize Casper's creative thinking, intellectual ingenuity, service and leadership, and exceptional character.

Casper graduated this May with a B.A. in Sociology and a B.A. in Humanities-Prelaw. She also has an additional major in Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies

03/18/2026

The Native American Institute at Michigan State University, in collaboration with the RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, and the Lansing Poetry Club, is honored to present “Emerging Indigenous Voices: an evening of poetry by Native American poets” on Saturday, March 21, at 7 PM, at the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center, 5153 Marsh Rd., in Okemos. The event is open to the public and free of charge.

03/18/2026

Applications are now open for the 2026-2027 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in American Indian and Indigenous Studies at Michigan State University. The fellowship provides access to facilities, connections with AIIS faculty and community, benefits for the year, a $49,909 salary, and the opportunity to teach one AIIS special-topics course in Spring 2026. Applicants must be finished with all doctoral or MFA work, except the dissertation/thesis; actively working in American Indian and Indigenous Studies; and committed to a career in Indigenous Studies. The Fellowship period runs August 16, 2026 through August 15, 2027 with candidates expected to be on campus from late-August 2026 through mid-May 2027. Application review begins March 25, 2026.

To learn more and apply, visit:
https://careers.msu.edu/jobs/fellow-fixed-term-east-lansing-michigan-united-states-99a1a52d-db3a-4dcd-b9ec-3f06a7d07a25

For more information, contact AIIS Director, Kristin Arola at [email protected]

03/16/2026

Congratulations to the newly minted Dr. Sarah Wellman who this morning successfully defended her brilliant dissertation "Online Course Design Quality in Indigenous Contexts: A Case Study of a Tribal College." We are so proud of all of your accomplishments and know you're going to keep doing amazing things.

03/12/2026

We really enjoyed being part of this project, and while we're sad it's over we hope to continue the work in meaningful ways moving forward.

After nearly a decade of transformative language revitalization work, Michigan State University’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) in the College of Arts & Letters has completed a…