Annual Events at UMass Amherst

The Certificate Program for Native American and Indigenous Studies (Formerly known as the Certificate Program for Native American Indian Studies.) was formally recognized by the University of Massachusetts as a Certificate Program in February 1992, when Associate Provost Norman Aitken offered his support for the development of a certificate program in this field, the University's procedure being that a minor cannot be established without an academic major for a discipline, and therefore a certificate program would become the developmental stage before a major can be established. The program was created by a small staff. Professor Robert Paynter (Anthropology) and Associate Professor Ron Welburn (English) constituted the steering committee for the Certificate Program proposal, which the Faculty Senate approved in May 1997. During the period of study, graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and staff contributed valuable observations and ideas to the Proposal; and in 1994 Joyce Vincent, the recently appointed Director of the Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center, joined the Steering Committee as a regular member. Because of the accomplishments of the certificate- Umass has been able to congratulate a number of it’s students on learning more about the history of the United States.