Native American House: Welcome
Building a Native-Centered Learning Community
Welcome to the Native American House at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Our Student Affairs program is now under the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations (OIIR).
The Native American House (NAH) serves as a support and resource center for all American Indian and Alaskan Native students and their families. Specifically, the Native American House provides various programs throughout the year that allow students the opportunity to enrich their cultural and academic experiences at the University of Illinois. While fostering a university community that values and actively supports inclusiveness and diversity, the support provided for students ensures a rewarding educational experience.
Come see our location and learn about the various services the Native American House has to offer.
NAH News
56th Annual Native American Powwow
The American Indian Center of Chicago celebrates the 56th Anniversary Powwow at the UIC Pavilion on November 7-8, 2009 to share cultures, performances and arts. All people are encouraged to come and learn from a First Voice, about the people and about their culture. Bring the family. Click here for flier information (pdf).
Click here to see the 55th Annual Powwow slideshow.
Press Release from American Indian Center:
In Washington D.C. on November 5, 2009 an historic first time event was held. A gathering of the Nations Tribal leadership by President O’bama.
As an invited honored Guest, the American Indian Center Executive Director (www.aic-chicago.org <http://www.aic-chicago.org/> ) and President of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition (www.nuifc.org <http://www.nuifc.org/> ) Joseph Podlasek, a citizen of the LCO Tribe in northern Wisconsin living off reservation was amazed at the wonderful first steps of rebuilding our Tribal connections to the US Government. The work must continue to consider the 68% living off reservation in the near future too. Our homelands and government is critical first steps. The President is following through on his words and appointing many Natives to his Administration. Changes takes time but is working.
Above picture: Dr. Joe Medicine Crow who was one of the leadership who spoke on behalf of Native people.
A Call for Art Adoption
American Indian Studies, the Native American House, and other OIIR units are hosting the closing events for Edgar Heap of Birds’ exhibit “Beyond the Chief” this December. This exhibit, installed in Feb '08, is comprised of 12 panels featuring different tribes formerly of this area. The exhibit served as a site of dialogue and a piece of the community. Heap of Birds encouraged the C-U community to engage the art by thinking of them as memorials. Committed members of the community are sought to “adopt” a vandalized panel to generate their own creative response to the installation.
Panels will be on temporary loan the first two weeks of November to facilitate inspiration and will be due back at Native American House on November 30. The exhibit of “adopted” panels will be on display at the YMCA, December 3-4, along with other closing ceremony activities, free of charge and open to the public. Another option is to display an adopted panel in it’s current vandalized state in a secure space to also advertise the closing exhibit and activities. The panels are less than one inch thick and approximately 32 inches by 26 inches.
It is hoped that by “adopting” a panel, community members will feel inspired to honor the efforts of the artist and the exhibit; to help to create a more positive campus climate, and to answer Edgar’s call for engagement with the art panels. Interested parties can be units, organizations, individuals or small groups, and can contact Angie Naquayouma at anaquay2@illinois.edu for more information.
Location and Hours
The Native American House is centrally located on campus about half a block east of the Quad. It shares a conference room with the American Indian Studies Program, and it is near the other cultural centers and ethnic studies programs.
Location:
Native American House
1206 West Nevada Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Hours:
Monday-Friday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
Phone: 217-265-0632
Fax: 217-265-0585
Email: nah@illinois.edu
What Students are Saying
