American Indian Studies

Mission

Established in 1965, the American Indian Studies Program (AISP) services the needs of Native American students interested in obtaining an undergraduate or graduate degree from Eastern Washington University. Through the support of the AISP, EWU has educated many of today's educators, healthcare providers, social workers, business executives, tribal leaders, planners, writers, artists, etc., who have chosen to return to their Indian communities to practice their professions. Services offered by the AISP focus on three areas: recruitment, retention and academic studies.

Recruitment

Each year as many as 40 tribes are represented in the program. Students attending EWU come primarily from the seven major tribes of the region: Spokane, Colville, Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Nez Perce and Coeur d'Alene confederations. Native Americans from Alaska, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta also comprise the American Indian student community.

Recruitment activities for the American Indian Studies Program include visits to regional public and reservation high schools, tribal offices of education, community colleges, four-year colleges and attendance at National Native American related conferences. If you would like our program to be part of your event, or to visit your school, please contact Nicole De Von for more infomation, call 509.359.6665 or send an email to ndevon@ewu.edu.

A major goal of this program is to expand the knowledge students have concerning contributions of research and knowledge by American Indians to American society. The EWU American Indian Studies Program believes that the American Indian on this continent - past and present - should be of vital concern to students and faculties within the higher education system of America, and that the contributions of Indian societies to scholarly bodies of knowledge is infinitely valuable.

Refer to required courses and course descriptions segment for additional information about EWU's Indian studies curriculum offering.

For more info send email to dalmeida@ewu.edu.

Directed Studies - Internships

Independent study or directive study is academic work chosen or designed by the student with the approval of the department concerned, under an instructor's supervision, and usually undertaken outside of the regular classroom structure.

Registering for a directed study course with the American Indian Studies Program is done by contacting the director of the program.

AISP Internships give students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge to an actual work setting and to experence their choosen career field.

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