Professorship In Indigenous Nations Studies

Professorship In Indigenous Nations Studies

By KJ Fields

Established through generous philanthropic support from Helen and Richard Phillips, the Tilikum Professorship emerged from the need for increased programming and community for Indigenous students at PSU.

"We realized more could—and should—be done for Indigenous students,” said Richard Phillips. “It’s the forward-thinking people of PSU who can make it happen."

Funding comes in the form a five-year matching grant awarded to Theodore Van Alst, Jr., Department Chair and Tenured Professor in the Indigenous Nations and Native American Studies program. The grant supports coalition building with universities in the Pacific Rim who are active in the advancement of Indigenous peoples. These strategic partnerships will help lay the groundwork for future study abroad opportunities for PSU students and faculty.

"Indigenous people are still here and still thriving. There’s a rich history here in the Willamette Valley but those histories don’t get told." - Theodore Van Alst Jr.

“We’re in a transformative post-pandemic moment and these funds will help us build bridges – with our colleagues from other institutions, in relationships across indigenous territories, and from our collective histories into the future,” said Van Alst.

PSU is the only institution in Oregon to offer an Indigenous Nations and Native American Studies undergraduate degree, part of the School of Gender, Race, and Nations. Students study a wide range of issues including critical race theory, decolonizing methodologies, ecological knowledge, community health and development, and self-determination and resilience.

A primary goal of the program is to take advantage of the networking and communication that exists between Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Rim. Program faculty aspire to develop a scholarly exchange with the Māori people of New Zealand through the universities of Canterbury and Waikato. Creating a cultural education with New Zealand in between school terms – by bringing people here or sending people to New Zealand – is one idea in development.

“We want to explore the best opportunities for students,” Van Alst said. “If we can establish the program deeply, we might even be able to do faculty exchanges. Eventually we’d like to offer a regular study abroad.”

The Tilikum Professorship will also fund research for Van Alst’s writing. One project he’s working on is a historical novel that takes place between the War of 1812 and the Civil War when most of the Native American treaties were signed. His other project is a new book combining a novel and stories, which will be released in the fall.

Van Alst holds a Doctorate in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Connecticut. Before joining PSU in 2018, Van Alst chaired University of Montana's Native American Studies department. He previously served as an assistant dean at Yale College and as director of the Yale University Native American Cultural Center. Van Alst is the creative editor for Transmotion (an online journal of postmodern indigenous studies), and his fiction has been widely published.