Academic departments & research programs
NAU is committed to Native students and culture
Applied Indigenous Studies
- Learn about indigenous histories and cultures, federal policies, and contemporary reservation conditions while preparing to work within and among tribal communities.
Archaeology Research Projects
- Connect culture and education through a variety of research projects:
- Hopi Footprints
- Colorado Plateau Agricultural Origins
- Hopi Iconography
- Southwest Pottery Traditions
Center for American Indian Economic Development
- The CAIED collaborates with tribal communities to provide training and education that support the growth of Native American-owned businesses.
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
- The Institute provides resources about local environmental issues and environmental careers through the Environmental Education Outreach Program, internships, and partnerships with tribal schools.
Multicultural Engineering Program
- This program provides support for engineering students, including making connections to industry workforce professionals.
Navajo Minor
- Earn a minor as you build a proficiency in the Navajo language.
Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention
- Through this partnership, Native American student researchers work with health care professionals to address the high rates of cancer in tribal communities.
Research, Training and Outreach Programs
- Focusing on training Native students for careers in cancer-related research and health care, and builds cancer-related research capacity at NAU.
Southwest Native Lands Semester
- This learning collaboration brings together students from NAU and Coconino Community College to participate in a 13-credit semester that incorporates math, science, and social sciences with an eye toward issues affecting tribal nations in the Southwest.
Traditional Knowledge Scholars
- Through Traditional Knowledge Scholars, tribal elders provide mentoring and support for Native American students, as well as presentations, lectures, and field trips to culturally significant destinations.
Office of Native American Initiatives
- The Office of Native American Initiatives offers a significant expansion of NAU’s capacity to support Native American students and their communities.
Did you know?
NAU offers majors, minors and emphases in such diverse topic areas as:
- Applied Indigenous Studies
- Comparative Cultural Studies
- Ethnic Studies
- Indigenous Health Studies
- Native American Studies
- Navajo
- Navajo Secondary Education
- Tribal Public Administration
Whether it’s part of a designed path of study or fulfilling liberal arts requirements, students can take part in a wide variety of classes centering around Native history, culture, politics and current issues, such as:
- AIS 450 American Indian Health Care, Promotion and Policy
- ANT 406 Contemporary Native American Issues
- NAV 405 Navajo Culture and Civilization
- MUS 365 Native American Music
- REL 380 Native American Religion
- SOC 315 American Society and the American Indian