Expanding the Circle: Native American and Indigenous Studies

FAIN: AC-290031-23

Texas Tech University System (Lubbock, TX 79409-0006)
Suzanne Sawyer Tapp (Project Director: May 2022 to present)
Allison Patricia Whitney (Co Project Director: February 2023 to present)

Faculty and curriculum development for a newly created Native American and Indigenous Studies certificate program, in collaboration with Tribal historians in the region.  

This project will support the expansion of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Texas Tech University. The three-year project will include workshops for faculty to develop courses on Native American and Indigenous themes in direct collaboration with local Native communities, specifically the Comanche Nation, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe. Project funds will support visiting speakers from these communities to visit classrooms at Texas Tech. Project participants will hold a symposium at the end of the process to reflect on this collaboration and ensure continued support for faculty training, community engagement, and curriculum development. The project will coordinate teaching initiatives with the Humanities Center at Texas Tech, and support integration of new courses in the Certificate Program in Native American and Indigenous Studies.