Manahuu! and welcome to the 2025-2026 academic year! My name is Paul Kroskrity and I am a Professor in the Departments of American Indian Studies and Anthropology. I also serve as the Chair of American Indian Studies, a position I served in when we first became a Department and for many years before that while AIS was still an Interdepartmental Program. Becoming a Department (we were approved in Fall 2022) followed many years of planning and coordinating efforts undertaken by all  our previous chairs, especially Dr. Randall Akee and Dr. Mishuana Goeman. We appreciate the achievement of our Departmental status and are excited  to write another chapter  in this new era for our department, students, faculty, staff, and community members.

Our curriculum is designed and taught by a distinguished and interdisciplinary faculty who collaborate with more than 20 different Native communities and countless community organizations. As much as the UCLA Department of American Indian Studies is devoted to the study of Indigenous peoples and as a land grant institution we are committed to directly engaging with and working for the Indigenous peoples of California and beyond. Among them, we have a particular commitment to the Tongva as the Taraaxatom (Indigenous peoples) of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands).

While the year ahead offers many challenges, we are encouraged by the continuing support for our students via the Native American Opportunity Plan which covers all in-state systemwide tuition and student services fees for students residing in California who are also enrolled in federally recognized Native American, American Indian, and Alaskan Native tribes. (This plan applies to undergraduate and non-self-supported graduate students). To complement this initiative, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria will provide scholarship support to members of California Indian Tribes that are not federally recognized. These exciting opportunities help to increase the access and affordability of higher education in the University of California system and provide hope as we attempt to grow and expand our Department.  This year, like many Departments, we will be participating in an 8-year review to help us chart a future course for our students and faculty.  Our faculty will begin discussions and conversations about adding a Ph.D. in American Indian Studies to the B.A., M.A., and Joint Degree in Law and American Indian Studies that we already offer.

We embark on this academic year with a renewed sense of the power and importance of scholarship in shaping research, teaching and giving voice to and strengthening Indigenous communities.. Our investments in AIS’s undergraduate Major and Minor programs and our MA program are more important than ever. I am happy to welcome you all to our Department and our wide array of courses and activities and I invite you to join us to continue to build upon the strong and distinctive legacy of UCLA American Indian Studies that began more than 50 years ago.