Revisiting the origins of the American Indian studies department at UCLA

Even before it was a full-fledged department, scholars involved in the community worked tirelessly toward increasing Native student, faculty and staff populations while deepening UCLA’s commitment to research into Indigenous studies.

Read more about the department’s impact from UCLA Newsroom


Grant of $2.2 million will sustain UCLA Law clinic’s impactful work with Native Nations

The funding is the latest contribution to the program from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

Read more about how this grant will support the legal clinic for five years from UCLA Newsroom


Genius x 2: Alumni Juan Felipe Herrera and Wendy Red Star win MacArthur Fellowships

Wendy Red Star’s multidisciplinary work challenges colonial narratives by highlighting the strength and resilience of her Apsáalooke/Crow heritage. She was honored with a fellowship this year alongside fellow alum Juan Felipe Herrera, a California and United States poet laureate.

Read more about the 2024 “genius grant” recipients and their work from UCLA Newsroom


UCLA’s workshop in Oaxaca immerses L.A. teachers in Indigenous Mexican culture

The program prepares K–12 instructors to bring new knowledge into classrooms.

Read more on how Bruins will learn about Oaxaca’s history and thriving Indigenous culture from UCLA Newsroom


Behind the Scenes with the Fowler Museum Archaeology Collections Facility: Actualizing Land Acknowledgments 

The Fowler Museum Archaeology Collections Facility has worked with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act since 1990, which has resulted in collaboration between local Indigenous tribes, Fowler staff and the UCLA American Indian Studies Center.

Read about the Fowler Museum’s history of promoting Native American artwork on their website 


Native American ‘deaths of despair’ are overlooked in health policy discussion

A new analysis led by UCLA researchers shows that Native American people aged 45 to 54 have had the biggest increases in mortality in recent decades and are now dying at twice the rate of white people of the same age. The study highlights the misconception that white people have been most affected by premature mortality.

Read about Native American mortality research from UCLA Newsroom


Zrinka Stahuljak and Shannon Speed receive Mellon grant

The professors’ project, called Race in the Global Past through Native Lenses, aims in part to support Indigenous scholarship, recruit and retain Indigenous faculty at UCLA, and bring together community scholars-in-residence and programming through the respective interdisciplinary research centers they direct: the UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies and the UCLA American Indian Studies Center.

Read more about how the grant supports Native American, Pacific Islander and other Indigenous scholarship from UCLA Newsroom


UCLA to lead heat safety program in collaboration with the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians

The campaign aims to improve public understanding about and response to the risks of extreme heat with recommendations from UCLA research and guidance from health and community experts, including local tribes.

Read more about how the campaign is reaching vulnerable communities from UCLA Newsroom


The Wow of Pow Wow

Each year, Native and Indigenous communities come from everywhere to celebrate their heritage — and meaningfully share it — at UCLA.

Read about the UCLA Pow Wow and its existence as a healing space from UCLA Newsroom


Ary Amaya is 27 acres into an Indigenous-led reforestation of L.A. She’s far from done

The UCLA graduate student is helping ensure that Native ecology drives the region’s land management for centuries to come.

Read about Amaya’s efforts to integrate ecological restoration that’s rooted in Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination from UCLA Newsroom