The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM is celebrating 50 years! IAIA is an institution of excellence in Indian Country. With a fascinating history (checkout the timeline), IAIA’s influence on Native American art cannot be underestimated.
Personally, while never a student of the school, I have written and published about IAIA, co-authored a curriculum taught there, and been a part of teaching that curriculum there, but mostly I’m inspired by the art and artists that have come out of the various programs over the years. Please take a minute to view their site and check out the legacy of IAIA.
The story of the Institute of American Indian Arts is a rich continuum of those who believed in and developed what became the nation’s first and only higher educational institution dedicated to promoting the indigenous arts and cultures of North America. Here we share the milestones from its visionary beginnings to its inception, to its leaders to national recognition, and expansion of the institution it is today. We invite alumni, students, faculty and friends on October 13 to share in these milestones and bountiful history as we celebrate and evolve in the next 50 years. Click here for more information about the October celebration.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Published by Traci L. Morris
Dr. Morris, the Director of the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Under her leadership, the AIPI has grown and diversified its service to Indian Country via an MOU formalizing a long-standing partnership with the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) and forming the Tribal Economic Leadership Program offering training in Tribal Economic Governance and Tribal Financial Management; access to Entrepreneurship training and tribal business support through Inno-Nations; and Economic Development Consulting; and, the formalization of the Institute via by-laws and an advisory board comprised of both internal ASU leadership and external tribal and non-tribal leadership.
In her work at both ASU and prior, Morris has worked with Native American tribes; Tribal businesses; Native American non-profits; Native media makers, artists, and galleries; written a college-accredited curriculum in Native American new media; and has advocated for digital inclusion at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill.
Morris’s research and publications on Native American media and the digital divide is focused on Internet use, digital inclusion, network neutrality, digital and new media curriculums, digital inclusion and development of broadband networks in Indian Country. Her book, Native American Voices: A Reader, continues to be a primary teaching tool in colleges throughout the country.
Dr. Morris is Affiliated Faculty at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, an Affiliate of ASU's Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology, a Senior Sustainability Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, President of the Board of the Phoenix Indian Center, Board member of the Arizona American Indian Chamber of Commerce, and on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums. Formerly, Morris served member of the Advisory Board for the Department of Labor's Native American Employment and Training Council and served a two-year appointment (2014-2016 and 2010-2012) on the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer Advisory Committee.
As an entrepreneur prior to her ASU appointment, Morris founded Homahota Consulting LLC, a national Native American woman-owned professional services firm working in policy analysis, telecommunications, education, and research assisting tribes in their nation-building efforts and working with Native Nations, tribal businesses and those businesses working with tribes.
Morris has an M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona’s American Indian Studies, in addition to a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Colorado State University.
View more posts
Traci L. Morris 