Applications open for new Native American Studies Ph.D. Program

Posted: October 10, 2022

By the time it begins, the inaugural cohort of a first-of-its-kind program will be a part of something five years in the making in the department of Native American Studies (NAS) at The University of New Mexico.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) an NAS degree offers a focus in Critical Indigenous Thought, Sustainable Community Building, and Comparative Studies in Indigenous Government, Policy, Identity, and Sustainability.

The goal is to create the necessary foundations critical to becoming a leader in a tribal community within these enrolled students.

The Ph.D. program was jump started in 2018, but was put on hold because of the pandemic as well as faculty and resource issues.

Yet, after many obstacles, and the addition of bachelor’s degrees in person and online, as well as a Masters program, the Ph.D. was approved in the last calendar year. The dream in NAS had become a reality.

“It is wonderful to share this news on Indigenous People's Day, a day NAS celebrates every day,” NAS Director Tiffany Lee said.

This will mark just the fourth Ph.D of his kind within an established university-based NAS program.

Read the full story at UNM Newsroom.