The GIC provides student support services to Native students at Penn. In collaboration with faculty, alumni and community members, the center helps identify and create resources to support and enrich the lives of Native students at Penn. In addition, the center works to increase understanding of Native issues on campus and beyond.
Natives at Penn (NAP), formerly known as Six Directions, was founded in 1994 by alumni Brian Brayboy and Desiree Martinez. NAP is a student organization dedicated to increasing awareness of Native & Indigenous culture, history, and contemporary issues, while enhancing the visibility of Native & Indigenous students at Penn. NAP members continue to host various activities on campus, including an intertribal powwow every spring semester.
For more information, visit Natives at Penn website.
The field of Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) focuses on the cultures and histories of Indigenous peoples, locally and globally. In the northern and southern hemispheres of the Americas, there are more than 600 Indigenous nations (also called Indians, American Indians, and First Nations), each with distinct tribal identities, forms of kinship relations, and social and political alliances with other groups. Globally, NAIS scholarship includes research with and among other Indigenous communities in diverse worldwide locales (e.g., Australian Aboriginals, New Zealand Maoris, Caribbean peoples, etc.). Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a wide variety of course offerings and exciting opportunities for research projects that engage with Indigenous people from multiple disciplinary perspectives.
Native American and Indigenous Studies courses often offer cultural, political, epistemological, and methodological insights that can help students better understand cross-cultural and trans-national histories. Many NAIS courses are cross-listed in more than one department (e.g., Anthropology, History, Religion). Students and faculty are thus encouraged to approach case studies of Native American nations or Indigenous communities in different world settings using methods and theories drawn among and between different disciplines.
For more information, visit the Native American & Indigenous Studies website!
Penn was proud to have been one of the 2012 hosts of College Horizons, a non-profit organization that supports the higher education of Native American students by providing college and graduate admissions workshops to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students/participants from across the nation. Penn has been a partner university with College Horizons for many years and we look forward to future opportunities to support their increased recruitment efforts in Indian Country.
For more information, visit College Horizons website.
The Association of Native Alumni (ANA) promotes the interests and welfare of Native American alumni, strengthens and deepens friendships, encourages active recruitment and retention of Native faculty and students and furthers Penn’s commitment to the advancement of Native American higher education. For more information, contact Alumni Relations or call 215-898-6168.
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We are committed to working closely with the Lenape Nation and other Indigenous communities here on Lenapehoking. Community leaders often come to Penn to knowledge share, host workshops, and speak on issues important to Native and Indigenous peoples.
For more information, visit the following websites: