- Details
- By Aminah Syed
- Higher Education
Arizona State University has renamed its American Indian Policy Institute the Tribal Nations Policy Institute, a change its leaders say better reflects its work with tribal governments and their citizens.
“For 20 years, this institute has worked at the direction of Tribal Nations and communities and that work taught us that words carry legal weight,” Dr. Traci Morris, the institute’s executive director and research professor, said in an Aug 17 statement. “‘American Indian’ names a people; ‘Tribal Nations’ names governments. Our new name reflects what our work has always supported, sovereign Tribes and governments that exercise jurisdiction, hold treaty and trust relationships and meet the United States on a nation-to-nation basis.”
The institute, founded in 2006, is expanding its programs alongside the name change, a spokesperson said. Its Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty is developing tools on broadband, data sovereignty and digital policy to help tribal governments evaluate emerging technologies.
The institute recently launched a dashboard to track federal policy developments and is expanding its Indigenous Leadership Academy with cohorts focused on specific issues. A tribal water sovereignty cohort has been announced; the institute plans additional cohorts on education, healthcare and technology, the spokesperson said.
ASU also named five new advisory board members: Larry Wright Jr., executive director of the National Congress of American Indians; Felix McGowan, director of AMERIND Critical Infrastructure; Mac Quig, director at Microsoft; Dawson Her Many Horses, managing director at Wells Fargo; and Chris Shilling, undersecretary of the Chickasaw Nation.
