Honoring Native American Heritage Month

Dear campus community, 

This November, we recognize Native American Heritage Month, which explores and celebrates the significant contributions of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, First Nations, and those who otherwise identify as Indigenous. We honor these communities and acknowledge that the campus sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band. Below find highlights on academic, social, and cultural opportunities supporting this month and these communities:

Campus Events

• November 3, 2025: American Indian Graduate Program (AIGP) Indigenous Peoples’ Month Celebration

• NFEWS (Native Food, Energy, and Water Systems Alliance) Indigenous Research Methods Speaker Series Fridays noon-1pm at Blum Hall B100A/B or via Zoom

• November 7, 2025: Professor Peter A. Nelson: Community-Based Participatory Research Methodologies 

• November 14, 2025: Dr. Melanie Y. White: Archives of Sovereignty: Black Indigenous Research Methods in Caribbean Central America

• November 12, 2025: ‘Where Our Nansipu Remains’: Tewa Pueblo Maps and Meanings

Units and Departments

• Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues

• Native American Student Development and American Indian Graduate Program (Graduate Division and Office for Graduate Diversity)

Native American Studies program, Department of Linguistics California Language Archive

Organizations and Resources

• Student organizations: American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Indigenous Graduate Student Association, Indigenous Native Coalition (INC-RRC), Native American Law Students Association

• Native and Indigenous Council: A community of staff, faculty, and postdocs

• UC Berkeley Native FEWS Initiative

• Native American Thriving Initiatives and 2024-25 Thriving Report

Media to Read/Watch

• Navajo Nation Supreme Court Visit and Inaugural Roundtable Give Students Prime Insights Into Tribal Law

• Indigenous knowledge helps biotech find new drugs. This grad student wants those companies to give back

• Initiative aims to create a ‘rightful presence’ for the Ohlone community at UC Berkeley

To learn more and/or submit additional events and resources, visit Native American Heritage Month webpage

Thank you,

Fabrizio Mejia
he/him
Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion 

Victoria Plaut
she/ella
Vice Provost for the Faculty

Stephen C. Sutton
he/him/his
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Eugene Whitlock 
he/him/his
Chief People and Culture Officer

To help create an environment that lives up to our seven Principles of Community, we will send regular messages to acknowledge various heritage/history months and holidays. While we won't include every month or holiday, we will make an effort to ensure members of our community feel represented. Additionally, Berkeley News and the Berkeley Life Blog will often post articles highlighting people, programs, and research that align with these heritage/history months and holidays. Learn more about our updated approach to heritage/history/prevention messaging. 

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