This fall, the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, launched the Ph.D. in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS), an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental program that’s the only one of its kind in the Midwest and the first in the Big Ten.

For 40 years, the Department of American Indian Studies, the oldest in the country and founded in 1969, has been a leader in training graduate students around the country who specialize in Native American and Indigenous Studies.

Along with this historic leadership, the need for the program was validated by the Native-led Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing (TRUTH) Project report, which offered recommendations on how the University of Minnesota community can be in better relation with Indigenous peoples.

Providing much-needed expertise

The AIIS program gives students expertise needed to fill valuable positions both in and outside academia benefitting Minnesota’s communities and economy.

“There are more positions in the Native American and Indigenous studies academic job market than can be filled, which demonstrates the program is helping meet an extremely important need,” says Jean O’Brien, professor in the Department of History and director of graduate studies in the Department of American Indian Studies.

Graduates may also go on to work on natural resource management with the Tribes, in public health, and at museums, among many other areas.

Welcoming the first cohort

Thirty-three students applied to the program and all five students who received offers accepted them.

Members of the first cohort will take classes that may cover everything from Tribal and Indigenous history to natural resource management to federal Indian law. The University’s presence within Dakota territory and proximity to Ojibwe communities also means that cohort members taking classes in Dakota and Ojibwe languages can learn through language immersion techniques and collaboration with first-language speakers.

“This program is important because our incoming cohort comes directly from the region—the Great Lakes and Midwest, but specifically Dakota, Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk communities,” says Nick Estes, associate professor in American Indian Studies, who teaches the two foundational courses of the program. “Our approach to Indigenous studies is region specific while also taking a global approach, which means we’re studying methodologies from around the world.”

Equipped with this local and global perspective, some of the cohort members are planning to expand research on Indigenous language revitalization and Indigenous education; or focus on ways to return Indigenous burning practices to Duluth’s Minnesota Point pine forests to restore sustainable relationships with the land.

“As a department, we strive to meet the self-determination priorities of Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities, while making our fields better and helping the University fulfill vital commitments to Indigenous peoples across the state and elsewhere,” says Department Chair Elizabeth Sumida Huaman. “The fact that this Ph.D. program emerges from the first American Indian Studies department in the U.S. and draws from the interdisciplinary talent of dedicated mentors, is significant in a time when the world is searching for solutions to humanity’s biggest challenges around environment, education and healthy families.”

Learn more about the Ph.D. in American Indian and Indigenous Studies and 2025-2026 American Indian & Indigenous Studies Ph.D. Cohort.