October was a very busy month in Indian Country with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Annual Conference capping off everything. The American Indian Policy Institute (AIPI) participated in this and other events. We hosted our own event, the ever-popular Tribal Financial Managers Certificate (TFMC) Executive Training, which we host twice a year with our partners at the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA). We also played an integral part in the Arizona State University’s (ASU) Indigenous Sustainability Conference, the Affiliated Tribes of the Northwest’s (ATNI) Taking Smoke Signals Digital Conference, and NCAI.
In a very exciting note, Arizona State University’s Spring Graduation included 365 Native American students that completed their degree programs; 17 of those students receiving doctorates! Additionally, we are honored to acknowledge the first cohort from the Pueblo Doctoral Cohort program who graduated 10 Ph.D. students, through a partnership with The Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School and ASU’s School of Social Transformation. We are proud of all our students’ accomplishments!
As the spring semester ends here at Arizona State University for students and faculty, our office works year round and we are currently gearing up for the training that we host with the Native American Finance Officers Association, the Tribal Financial Manager Certificate Program.