New minor offered for doctoral students

A new minor for doctoral students in Native American and Indigenous Studies will be offered after graduate students, faculty members and the College of Arts and Sciences collaborated together in its creation.\nMatthew Guterl, director of the American Studies Program, said the new minor was created last spring.\n“(The minor) is important because it’s unique,” Guterl said. “Its ethically and morally important.” \nThe new minor will officially be introduced to the American Studies Program this fall, said David Shorter, faculty member of the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. The minor’s Web site states that 12 credit hours are required. \nA student must turn in a “program of study” to the American Studies department in order to officially declare Native American and Indigenous Studies as a minor, according to the \nminor’s Web site. \nFaculty members from departments such as anthropology, communication and culture, history, folklore and ethnomusicology, criminal justice, education and american studies are all contributing to the new PhD minor. \nShorter said in an e-mail that the very first class offered for the minor is G605: Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies. The class will focus on an introduction of indigenous peoples in North America and their history. \n“The minor’s curriculum will remain focused not simply on the scholarship about native people,” Shorter said in an e-mail. “but on the scholarship and the intellectual work contributed by native and indigenous peoples.” \nGuterl is not sure how many Ph.D. students will declare their minor as Native American and Indigenous Studies, but he said he thinks it will be popular. \nThe minor is expected to produce many new books and articles about the topic, Guterl said. \nCurrently, the minor is only offered to Ph.D. students, but Guterl said he would like to see it offered to undergraduate students in the future.