Department of Native American Studies
"One of a few free-standing Native American Studies departments in the United States."
Link to: NAS Website
- A total of $122,647 was awarded in scholarships for 2006-07. The academic major was established in 1996. Currently, fundraising to build a Native American Center that will house Native American Studies and American Indian Student Services.
- Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary major offering courses from literature to anthropology.
- Native American Studies offers student support services, as well as hosts social gatherings, visiting speakers, and cultural events.
Undergraduate Student Kathryn Ramsey
Kathryn Ramsey
Research Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Shanley, Dr. David Beck, Dr. Richmond Clow, Dr. Wade Davies and most notably her father.
Research Project: 1) A comparative study of the northern Dene and southern Dine oral traditions regarding migration and origin. (2) Analysis of the non-Indian groups, especially women, who advocated for Native Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Kathryn exemplifies what we think of when we think of a committed, serious student. Her research examines topics that are underrepresented in historical literature. Introducing oral tradition along with other methods of analysis, she may provide new insights into cultural history. Kathryn is an excellent role model for Native American students and as she continues on to graduate school, she will impact Native American Studies positively.
Undergraduate Student Ryan Sherburne
Ryan Sherburne
Research Mentor: Dave Beck, Wade Davies, Stephen Greymorning and William Farr
Research Project: The “Ceded Strip” which is land bordering the Blackfeet Reservation on the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains. The tribe lost this land to the federal government in an 1895/1896 agreement when the federal government hoped to establish mining there. When this did not work out, some of the land became the Badger-Two Medicine region of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, while Glacier National Park was established in the northern portion of the land. Ryan’s research encompasses issues from the short-lived, now-submerged mining town of Altyn and also explores the corruption behind the transfer of ownership from the Blackfeet Nation.
The Sherburne family came to Blackfeet country long ago and established themselves there. Ryan is in a unique situation as he is working with source documents owned by his family and rare archival materials, some of which his family donated to the archives in the Mansfield Library at University of Montana, to obtain historical information that has been rarely examined.
