Indigenous Pathways Program
Summer Program for Native High School Students
July 9 – July 12, 2023
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to offer the Indigenous Pathways program to Native high school sophomores and juniors. This program presents an opportunity to visit the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for an introduction to college studies, including cancer research, Native American history, Navajo water studies, and the performing arts. Indigenous Pathways is part of the Chancellor’s initiative to create a university in which Native students can pursue studies that enrich their lives and the lives of their communities. Students from any Native nation may apply.
During the program, students will stay overnight on campus in a university residence hall with a University of Illinois student staff member on site. Transportation, housing, and accommodations costs are covered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Register online or complete the print registration forms and mail to Dr. Jacki Thompson Rand, Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, 614 E. Daniel Street, Suite 302, Champaign, IL 61820.
The registration deadline is April 5, 2023.
Please contact Alina Jackson or Dr. Jacki Thompson Rand for assistance with the registration process at diversity@illinois.edu or 217-300-9580.
Program Schedule
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Arrive at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Welcome Event at Native American House
Monday, July 10, 2023
Program Kick-off and Breakfast
- Meet the Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs, the Director of the American Indian Studies Program, and other university staff members and students.
Water is Life: Building Indigenous Infrastructure
- Hear about the Navajo Water Project and the importance of Indigenous knowledge in engineering design solutions with Dr. Ann-Perry Witmer in the Grainger College of Engineering.
Welcome to College. Now What?
- Learn about student life at the University of Illinois and what to expect from college.
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Preparing for College
- Meet with a representative from the Undergraduate Admissions office at the University of Illinois and Lisa Micele, Director of College Counseling, University Laboratory High School.
We Are the Stories We Tell
- Participate in a storytelling workshop with director Latrelle Bright, Teaching Assistant Professor in Theatre Studies.
Tour the Cancer Institute at Illinois
- Learn about the cutting-edge cancer research that is happening at the University of Illinois.
Campus Recreation Center (ARC) and other activities
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Native Histories of the Midwest
- A workshop with Professors Bob Morrissey from the Department of History and Professor Jacki Thompson Rand, Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs and professor in the American Indian Studies Program.
Program Wrap-Up and Departure
Every society needs educated people, but the primary responsibility of educated people is to bring wisdom back to the community and make it available to others so that the lives they are leading make sense.
Vine Deloria, Jr.
About the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sits on the traditional lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations and was founded in 1867 under the first Morrill Land-Grant Act. Since that time, the University of Illinois has grown into a world-class research institution and contains 16 schools and colleges and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 100 graduate and professional programs. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers scholarships for members of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, connected historically with the state of Illinois, as well as students who are not residents of the state of Illinois and are members of any of the Tribal Nations federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
About the Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs
Jacki Rand (citizen, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) joined the University of Illinois in 2021 to serve as the first Associate Vice Chancellor for Native Affairs at the University of Illinois.
Professor Rand sits on the editorial board of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Journal. She was one of the co-founders of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (the academic version of the Big Ten) American Indian Studies Consortium (CIC AIS) and served on the Executive Committee from 2000-2006. She organized the first CIC AIS graduate research conference in 1999 at the University of Iowa.
Prior to entering graduate school, Professor Rand worked for the Smithsonian Institution from 1983 to 1994. From 1990 to 1994 she organized numerous consultations between senior staff members of the National Museum of the American Indian and Native community members throughout the United States. She graduated with a doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1998.
Rand has a joint appointment as an associate professor in the American Indian Studies Program, where she is teaching courses and focusing her research on the Indigenous Midwest.