SDSU's Native American and Indigenous Scholars Projects

SDSU has been home to Native American and Indigenous Scholars Projects supported via federal funding for some 30 years. The projects have grown considerably over the years in the breadth and depth with which we support our scholars, and in our support of our Kumeyaay communities. We are able to pay the majority of our scholars’ graduate school expenses, and equally important, we provide them with culturally responsive contexts for their learning so they may return to their home communities prepared to serve their communities.

We create a community of scholars with a safe space to connect, explore, and learn, and with a strong component to apply our work and give back to our local Native communities. Understanding and honoring cultural difference vs. disability has always been important part of the learning, as well as the impacts of historical and intergenerational trauma, decolonization, and the inherent and powerful resilience of the communities.

Key components of the projects include our summer and winter institutes, weekly seminars, clinical practicum at a school site serving Native youth, participation in professional conferences, and our community mentors. These augment rigorous nationally approved programs in school counseling or school psychology, culminating in the M.S. or Ed.S. degrees and professional certification. Our current project, SHPA (meaning eagle in the Kumeyaay language) focuses on developing expertise in serving Native and Indigenous youth and schools who serve them with a focus on wellness or mental health needs.

Click on this link (coming soon!) to our Native American and Indigenous Scholars Projects for details about the projects, including a deeper dive into the components, and information on how to apply.

To learn more about individual Mentors and Scholars, click on their profiles below.

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