Institute for American Indian Education
Originally created in 2004, the Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE) was created by Native education faculty in the College of Education in response to the overwhelming need to increase the number of Native American teachers and improve American Indian Education. In 2017, the work expanded to collaborate with other faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Native American Studies (NAS) as a planning effort to revitalize the institute.
The mission of the Institute for American Indian Education is to support community intergenerational well-being and educational outcomes of Indigenous Peoples by cultivating the quality of educational professionals through community engagement with Native Nations and collaborative partnerships with educational stakeholders.
News and Upcoming Events
Brown Bag Series: Daniel Wildcat, April 18, 2024
Dr. Daniel R. Wildcat is aYuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma. His service as teacher and administrator at Haskell spans 38 years. In 2013 he was the Gordon Russell visiting professor of Native American Studies at Darmouth College. Dr. Wilcat received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. In 1994 he partnered with the Hazardous Substance Research CEnter at Kansas State University to create the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Center and subsequently started the HERS summer undergraduate internship program with KU Professor Dr. Joane Nagel. Dr. Wildcat is currently the principal investigator of a 20M, 5 year, NSF-funded project to develop the Rising Voices, Changing Coasts Research Hub at Haskell. His books include: Power and Place: Indian Education In America, with Steve Pavlik. His book, Red Alert: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge, suggests Indigenous ingenuity - Indigenuity - is required to reduce the environmental damage in the Anthropocene. He is a co-author of the Southern Great Plains chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. Dr. Wildcat's new book is entitle, Indigenuity: Learning the Lessons of Mother Earth.
Summer 2024 | NATPP Scholarship
Native American Teacher Preparation Program 2024 Summer Funding!
If you are a UNM Native American student who is pursuing a teacher preparation program and working toward licensure, the deadline to apply to the Native American Teacher Preparation Program for Summer 2024 is April 24, 2024.
NATPP is IAIE's signature scholarship program and works to support UNM Native American students who are working toward completion of teacher preparation programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. NATPP funds a limited number of graduate programs.
April 25 - 26, 2024 | IAIE Indigenous Education Research Conference
7th Annual Indigenous Education Research Conference. The conference will be hosted by the Institute for American Indian Education at the University of New Mexico. The theme is Defending Indigenous Educational Sovereignty: Putting education back in the hands of community people. The theme acknowledges the ways in which sovereign Indigenous communities and nations have advocated for the wellbeing of their youth in contentious times. Indigenous educators, community leaders and organizers, researchers and policy makers must work together to assert local control of their education systems by honoring Indigenous languages, core values and ways of knowing. In doing so, we draw upon our cultural strengths to overcome challenges and re-imagine possibilities for the benefit of future generations. We must ask ourselves, "Are we prepared for what the future holds for our children?"
*NOTE: Registration is currently closed. If you would like to be placed on a waiting list, please contact Gina Tafoya at gtafoya@unm.edu
Last Updated | March 21, 2024
Community Job Board
Visit our Community Job Board page to see employment listings for educators committed to supporting community intergenerational well-being and educational outcomes of Indigenous Peoples.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 | 09:00 am
2023 Summit
In light of the 5 year anniversary of the landmark Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico ruling, the 2023 7th Annual Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE) Summit will focus on changes that have occurred to provide a sufficient education to Native American students, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners, and children with disabilities. The summit will recap what happened, what is currently happening, and what lies in the future of the case.
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Our Curriculum Fair were we host a variety of sessions featuring curriculum development workshops, presentations on the Indigenous Wisdom project with opportunities to speak with the authors, and panels.
The College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of New Mexico leads the nation in the number of Native faculty that represent a diversity of Indigenous Peoples. Individually each faculty member is engaged in research that serves Indigenous Peoples and Nations. Collectively, Native faculty engage in critical dialogue on issues of scholarship/research, teaching, and service.
The Institute host monthly brown bag series, indigenous research conferences, annual summits, curriculum fairs, and many more event. To keep up with the IAIE’s events, head to our website at iaie.unm.edu to subscribe to our ListServ.
IAIE’s mission is to support community intergenerational well-being and educational outcomes of Indigenous Peoples by cultivating the quality of educational professionals through community engagement with Native Nations and collaborative partnerships with educational stakeholders.
Our monthly series of the Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE) at University of New Mexico where our members talk about their research and current work related to educator preparation, language and culture, leadership, and other topics related to Indigenous education.
The Institute for American Indian Education consists of Native Faculty in the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Native American Studies. Collectively, IAIE faculty recognize the critical nature of preparing pre-service educators, administrators (K-12 and higher education), non-teaching educational professionals, researchers, and policy makers to work with Native People in the state.