The Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE) celebrates its 20th anniversary on December 6. The celebration will take place at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the Chaco I and Chaco II rooms. Snacks and non-alcoholic drinks are served.
IAIE was founded in 2004 within the College of Education by Native Education faculty in response to calls for an increased number of Native American teachers. The institute was first funded by the Indian Education Division of the New Mexico Public Education Department from 2004 to 2010. In 2017, the work expanded to collaborate with other faculty in the Department of Native American Studies (NAS) of the College of Arts and Sciences as planning. attempt to revive the institute.
IAIE includes Native faculty in the College of Education and Human Sciences and the Department of Native American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Collectively, the IAIE faculty recognize the critical nature of preparing pre-service teachers, administrators (primary and higher education), non-teaching education professionals, researchers and policy makers to work with Indigenous people in the state.
In its two decades of operation, IAIE has helped address the teacher and administrator shortage within New Mexico’s 23 federally recognized indigenous nations. IAIE’s mission is to support the intergenerational well-being and educational outcomes of Indigenous peoples by cultivating the quality of education professionals through community engagement with Indigenous nations and collaborative partnerships with education stakeholders.
“The Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE) has been such a foundational center for our college. The IAIE affiliated faculty has been a great collaboration with a strong foundation in community-based research and service,” said Kristopher Goodrich, dean of the UNM College of Education and Human Sciences. “The voices and vision of the Indigenous communities they work with, and from which many of these faculty call home, have grounded their activities and inspired lasting and fundamental changes in the way the College thinks about its engagement with these important communities. Twenty years is a testament to the impact and importance of their work, and I am confident that this institution will be a leading voice in the college for a long time to come.”
Over the past 20 years, IAIE has achieved several successes, from increasing the number of Native American teachers and administrators through tuition assistance to revitalizing and preserving indigenous languages. The Institute was also able to support the full teaching degrees of more than 80 Native American students and provide more than 130 scholarships to education leaders seeking to teach in Native schools.
“In particular, I greatly appreciate the leadership of Dr. Glenabah Martinez, who has led IAIE for the past several years and has been a visionary in the way IAIE has traveled and engaged with communities throughout New Mexico and added their voice to major white papers and reports that have influenced policy and practice ” said Goodrich. “She has also been a strong leader in informing our faculty about the Yazzie-Martinez Consolidated Decision and the ways in which the College could support the remedies through education, scholarship and practice for the protected groups named in the lawsuit named.”
The University of New Mexico’s College of Education and Human Sciences leads the nation in the number of indigenous faculty representing diverse indigenous peoples. Individually, each faculty member is involved in research on behalf of indigenous peoples and nations. Collectively, Indigenous faculty engage in critical dialogue on issues of scholarship/research, education, and service.
Visit the Institute for American Indian Education for more information.
About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded the Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print category\/ online by the Native American Journalists Association. He is a member of the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net.
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