Undergraduate Major

Native American & Indigenous Studies Program

The curriculum for the 30 credit hour Bachelor of Arts degree in Native American and Indigenous Studies will encourage students to understand and appreciate the roles of history, culture, and politics in the development of tribal world views, world views that relate to modern life and contemporary issues of concern for Native peoples. Students will be given opportunities to identify historical, cultural, and political diversity and significance in Native oral traditions and written literatures and to understand historical experiences and contemporary issues from the perspective of Native American peoples.  Central to all these classes is tribal sovereignty and the shaping of that sovereignty by tribal self-determination as well as by relationships with the federal government and with the states.  Students will have the chance to become familiar with at least one tribal language and inherent in this degree's curriculum and related activities is the expectation that students and faculty will assume an active role in working with and for Indigenous communities.

See also:
University Catalog (NAIS)
Semester Class Schedules

NAIS Undergraduate Major Requirements
Foundation Classes 9 hours required

NAIS 1001     Foundations in Native American & Indigenous Studies

NAIS 1350     American Indians in Contemporary Society

NAIS 2210     North American Indians

NAIS 2290     History of North American Indians

21 hours required in NAIS courses/ or courses crosslisted with NAIS:

NAIS 1010 and NAIS 1020, First and second semester Northern Arapaho, first and second semester Eastern Shoshone, or 8 hours of another American Indian or Alaskan Native language.

NAIS 2340 Native American Literature and Culture

NAIS 2345 American Indians in Hollywood Film

NAIS 3000 Plains History and Culture

NAIS 3100 Tribal Literatures of the Great Plains

NAIS 3200 Indigenous Peoples and their Environments

NAIS 3300 Federal Indian Law

NAIS 3400 Traditional Ecological Knowledge

NAIS 4000 Indians of Wyoming

NAIS 4100 Tribal Governments

NAIS 4020 Capstone Internship

NAIS 4110 Foundations in American Indian Education

NAIS 4200 Indigenous Communities Abroad: International Travel

NAIS 4340 Natural Resource Mgt on Western Reservations

NAIS 4460 American Indian Literature

NAIS 4466 American Indian Ethnohistory

NAIS 4740 Native American Languages and Cultures

Topics and Cross-Listed Courses:

In order to provide a broader range of relevant and enriching courses, in any given year, the program in Native American and Indigenous Studies offers topics courses (NAIS 2060 or NAIS 4990) and/or courses cross-listed with other majors and departments. Any such courses may be counted towards a student's 21 hours of required courses beyond the foundational courses.

If a student chooses to take more than one topics course in the same semester, it may require an override within the registration system. If you seek to enroll in a topics course and have trouble doing so, please contact scgsj@uwyo.edu.

Declaring an NAIS Undergraduate Major

Please complete and submit the "Change of Advisor, Major, Minor, Option/Concentration, College, and or Graduate Status" form available on the Office of the Registrar's website.

Grade Requirements

NAIS classes applied to NAIS degrees must be passed with a grade of C or better.  This policy applies to NAIS classes completed fall semester 2012 and beyond.