The jingle dress dance is a spiritual healing practice dating back to 1918. Guided by the research efforts of Brenda Child—professor and current chair of the Department of American Studies—an exhibit featuring the evolution of the dress will launch in April 2019. How did this tradition emerge from a story, a dream, and the worst pandemic that the modern world has seen?

The Department of American Studies will offer a new program next year that will allow doctoral students to pursue indigenous studies. Karen Ho, associate professor of anthropology, says the American Indian Studies Department hopes to create its own graduate program in the future. “We want to solidify long-standing work that the University has done in this field," Ho says.

A new online program from the University of Minnesota Language Center began this fall. It provides a way for University of Minnesota-Morris students to enroll in language courses taught by Twin Cities instructors that were not previously offered. The program currently offers an intermediate Latin course and a first-year Dakota course.

We call upon our neighbors in the University community and the good people of the state of Minnesota to acknowledge and reflect upon the fact that the University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. We call upon our neighbors to acknowledge that the river that winds through campus links us to the sacred site of the Dakhóta people’s origin at Bdote, where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi.