November is Native American Heritage Month, dedicated to honoring the heritage, cultures and histories of North American Indigenous peoples. 

MSU seeks to support and uplift North American Indigenous perspectives, advancing its dedication to educational equity and inclusivity. This collection of stories highlights recent initiatives in Indigenous leadership, health training, legal advocacy and cultural preservation.

These initiatives, among others, showcase MSU’s ongoing efforts to honor Indigenous heritage and build bridges with Native American communities. As a land-grant university, MSU embraces its responsibility to support educational equity, cultural preservation and respectful partnerships with Indigenous peoples. Through these endeavors, MSU demonstrates its commitment to fostering a campus environment that values inclusivity and creates opportunities for Indigenous students and scholars. 
 
Kristin Arola named director of MSU’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies
Arola served as the interim director of AIIS since spring 2022 and is a first-generation descendant of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians. 

Anishinaabe faculty hired through inaugural 1855 Professorship
College of Arts and Letters hired two 1855 Professors, Blaire Morseau, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, and Elan Pochedley, of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

College of Human Medicine brings Tribal health training to medical students
The College of Human Medicine is one of few nationwide to offer Indigenous health training opportunities during medical school. The Indigenous Pathways program offers an immersion experience in a tribal health setting for students. 

Bahamas Prime Minister remarks on MSU repatriation of Lucayan artifacts
The remains of the Lucayans, resting in a Michigan State University storage facility since 1952, are now reunited with the land and legacy that first gave them life. 

President Guskiewicz is first MSU president to meet with a Tribal chief
Spartan Bus Tour made its first official stop at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways, where President Kevin M. Guskiewicz met with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to offer a Land Acknowledgement.

MSU brings back Indigenous oral history program
Recently, the Native American Institute received a grant from the Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion to reboot the Indigistory program with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. 

MSU introduces Native American Tuition Advantage Program
MSU is enhancing college access and affordability for Native American students by offering in-state tuition rates to out-of-state Native American students. 

Reviving the Annual Dance by the River Pow Wow
This year’s powwow was a major milestone, coinciding with Native American Day. After a pause since 2019, it’s returned with the hopes of establishing it as an annual event to restore the Anishinaabe presence in Lansing. 

Kellogg Bird Sanctuary resident bald eagles renamed in MSU’s Michigan Indian Leadership Program
The two bald eagles that reside at the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary were honored with new names, chosen collaboratively by Native American students participating in the 2024 Michigan Indian Leadership Program. 

Summer science program ‘builds bridges’ with Native American students
Now in its second year, Building Bridges offers Native American students interested in STEM careers a hands-on research experience with a unique focus on professionalization. 
 
MSU’s Indian Law Clinic receives funding to continue supporting Native families and Tribes
$400,000 in NoVo Foundation funding ensures the clinic can increase its capacity, allowing law students to work on Indian Child Welfare Act cases for the next two years. MSU’s clinic is the only law school clinic in the country that regularly represents Tribes in state and federal courts on ICWA cases. 

Kevin Leonard named director of MSU’s Native American Institute 
Leonard, who has helped renew relationships with Michigan’s Tribal communities as interim director of MSU’s Native American Institute, has been named the institute’s permanent director, effective August 1, 2024. 

MSU graduate creates gardens to preserve and protect Indigenous culture
Recent MSU College of Arts and Letters graduate Mikayla Thompson, who is a descendant of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is educating others about Indigenous farming practices and culture through the gardens she helped create and now leads at MSU’s W.J. Beal Botanical Garden and the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center in Okemos, Michigan.

To support American Indian and Indigenous Studies programming at MSU and within the local community, visit givingto.msu.edu.