New Grant Will Expand Access to Native Knowledge
$225,000 from the Mellon Foundation will support American Indian and Indigenous (AII) community-building events, bring more AII voices to campus, and power a summer institute on Indigenous humanities.

UW Tacoma has been awarded $225,000 as part of a larger $2.25 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. The bulk of the Mellon grant will go to support tri-campus programming of UW’s Center for American Indian & Indigenous Studies (CAIIS). CAIIS’s mission is to support American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous communities across all three UW campuses as well in the larger community.
Read a UW College of Arts & Science story about the Mellon Foundation grant to CAIIS.
In 2019, the Mellon Foundation awarded CAIIS a $1.82 million Pathways and Partnerships grant to support undergraduate research, graduate training and teaching in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. UW Tacoma was able to use some of those funds locally to support Indigenous faculty and to host programming including lectures by Indigenous scholars. Those funds were also used to bring Washington State Poet Laureate Arianne True to campus as a guest lecturer. True is a member of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations.
“I think Mellon was impressed by what were able to do with those funds at UW Tacoma and this new grant reflects that and will allow us to expand on what we are doing,” said Associate Professor and CAIIS Co-Director Danica Miller.
Miller sees this funding as a vital step in the process of creating space for Native and Indigenous students on campus. “I want Native students to come to campus knowing that their knowledge is respected and valued,” she said.
One way to do this is by making space – literally. The Family Room opened in the fall of 2022. “We know that Native students thrive in academic spaces where they have their own traditional community space,” she said. “The Family Room is a good first step.”
The next step is to utilize the Mellon grant to host events like community lunches or workshops. “The idea is to bring Native knowledge holders into the Family Room,” she said. “It doesn’t stop there, we also want to bring Native knowledge into the classroom.”
To that end, Mellon grant funds will go towards holding the Summer Institute in Indigenous Humanities at UW Tacoma in August. “This is a week-long, intensive workshop for undergrads that are interested in the Indigenous humanities,” said Miller. She will co-facilitate the Institute alongside former Washington State Poet Laureate and member of the Lummi Nation Rena Priest.
Miller says the portion of this new Mellon grant awarded to UW Tacoma will make it possible to host the summer institute on campus more often. Some of those funds will also go toward supporting a “writing cohort” for graduate students and faculty members to come together on writing projects. “The idea is for faculty members to mentor graduate students and to model how to do research,” said Miller.
Recent news
The Milgard School of Business Celebrates Leaders Making a Difference in the South Sound
The 21st annual Milgard School Business Leadership Awards honored outstanding local business leaders for their contributions to the South Puget Sound region. Folks joined for a gala dinner celebrating excellence in education, finance, real estate, culture, and non-profit support.
The Right Medicine
With Professor Sharon Laing's guidance, UW Tacoma student Lucas Bjorkheim is realizing his dream of becoming a doctor.
Alumni Spotlight: Madilyn Pawlowski
Now working in corporate partnerships at OL Reign, Madilyn Pawlowski aims to increase exposure and access to women's sports while inspiring others to pursue their dreams. Her story is a beacon of hope and encouragement for students beginning their educational journeys.
UW Tacoma in the News
Nashville shooting exploited by right to escalate anti-trans rhetoric
Dr. Eric Madfis, associate professor in UW Tacoma's School of Social Work & Criminal Justice, is quoted on intentional mischaracterization of perpetrators of mass shootings, who are "cisgender male ... by and large. ... This is a cynical, bigoted attack."
Hometown Hero: Federal Way veteran, researcher isn’t deterred by death
Biomedical sciences student and Army veteran Melissa Swain is a Federal Way Mirror Hometown Hero and a Soroptomist Club Live Your Dream scholarship recipient. Tragedy led to her role as a single mother and a research intern with the King County Medical Examiner's office.
UW Tacoma holds business plan competition with $30K prize
The 2023 VIBE Business Plan Competition is open to all Washington college students and those who graduated between 2020 and 2022. Submissions are due Feb. 3.