This April we are highlighting Native Bruin Heather Torres, a citizen of the San Ildefonso Pueblo, who also comes from the Diné and Mexican peoples.  A graduate of 2011 with a BA in English and American Indian Studies, cum laude, and a 2017 JD, specialization in Critical Race Studies.

A “Bruin4Life,” Heather Torres Esq. is a citizen of San Ildefonso Pueblo, and also comes from the Diné and Mexican peoples. She is the descendant of boarding school survivors, the daughter of Rose and Greg Torres, and an older sister to Christina Torres. Heather grew up in the Inland Empire of Southern California, in Yuhaaviatam and Cahuilla homelands, dreaming of going to UCLA as a young athlete. Heather currently works as the Program Director for the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, www.Home.TLPI.org, a Native-operated nonprofit with a mission to enhance and strengthen tribal sovereignty and justice while honoring community values, protecting rights, and promoting well-being. She values reciprocity and serves various organizations as a board member, many of which played a part in where she is today, including the National Native American Bar Association, the American Indian Scholarship Fund of Southern California, United American Indian Involvement, and many more. 

Close to Heather’s heart is her belief that higher education is one path to maintaining strong and healthy tribal nations. One of her greatest accomplishments is building Native student programs at the University of Redlands, a Native student-support program made possible by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Today, she serves as one of the tribe’s representatives on the program’s advisory committee. Recently, Heather co-authored a comment on Native recruitment and retention, “Commentary on the Recruitment and Retention of American Indian and Alaska Native Students in California Postsecondary Education Institutions” in UCLA’s American Indian Culture and Research Journal, volume 44, issue 1.

“I credit my time with the American Indian Studies department, and especially the American Indian Student Association and the American Indian Alumni of UCLA, with providing the foundational skillsets, lasting friendships, and strong mentors that guided me to where I am today. In many ways, Campbell Hall remains a home to me —I only stopped carrying an old key to the AISA lounge a few years ago— and I cannot find it in me to throw it away. As my family says, I will be a Bruin4Life.”

UCLA AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES CENTER

The UCLA American Indian Studies Center (AISC) was founded in 1969 as a research institute dedicated to addressing American Indian issues and supporting Native communities. The AISC serves as a hub of activities for Indigenous students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community, as well as serving as a bridge between the academy and indigenous peoples locally, nationally, and internationally. We foster innovative academic research by students and faculty, publish leading scholarship in the field of American Indian Studies, and support events and programming focused on Indigenous issues.

Zoom Events

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021 from 3:30–5 PM PST  

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/more-than-pocahontas-less-than-matoaka-dr-bethany-hughes-tickets-149274777879

Beginning in 1807 with James Nelson Barker and John Bray's The Indian Princess and ending with John Brougham's 1869 burlesque Po-ca-hon-tas, American playwrights and audiences in the "Indian Plays" era were repeatedly drawn to the Powhatan woman, Matoaka.

Thinking Gender 2021: "Care, Mutual Aid, and Reproductive Labor in a Time of Crisis”

APRIL 28-30, 2021 from 8 AM–5 PM PST  

Register: https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oVBrIkq7QEuSwEIvJtpyfg

Join the UCLA Center for the Study of Women on Friday, April 30, 2021 for a special Thinking Gender 2021 webinar featuring keynote presentations and a conversation with Dean Spade and Melanie Yazzie on the subject of mutual aid, abolitionist politics of care, and radical relationality.

 FRIDAY, APRIL 30 from 4 pm PST   

Register: https://stark.eventbrite.com

Join us on Friday, April 30th at 4pm PST/6pm CST/7pm EST in honor of the forthcoming publication of Chris Stark's new novel about missing and murdered Indigenous relations. In addition to a reading by the author, the event features commentary by Indigenous author, human rights lawyer, Julian Aguon. 

About Chris: Chris Stark (Anishinaabe and Cherokee) is a grass roots organizer, author, and researcher focused on violence against Native American women and youth. She has researched and written about white supremacy and misogyny, most notably in "Strategies to Restore Justice for Sex Trafficked Native Women" and (as a co-author) "Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota."

SPECIAL ISSUE ON COVID & INDIGENOUS PEOPLES NOW AVAILABLE

 We are excited to announce that the first of two special issues on COVID-19 and Indigenous peoples is now available! Titled “COVID-19 and Indigenous Peoples: Impact of and Response to the Pandemic,” this first issue was edited by Randall Akee, Chandra Ford, and Stephanie R. Carroll. It covers topics ranging from urban care-giving in Indian country, to risk and resilience factors for Native youth, to stress and coping, to health equity for Indigenous peoples with disabilities, and survivance and sovereignty in Canada. 

Check it out:http://www.books.aisc.ucla.edu/books/aicrjv44n2.aspx

AISC Begins New Partnership with CDLS 

AISC is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Aradhna Tripati, founder of UCLA’s Center for Diverse Leadership in Science.

She is Associate Professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES), the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP), and the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI), as her work is highly interdisciplinary.

She researches and teaches about climate change; the history and dynamics of changing Earth systems including climate, ice sheets, oceans, the water cycle, carbon dioxide levels; tool development; and clumped isotope geochemistry.

The Center's publications unit operates as a small independent press, one of the few that prizes Native voices in works of creative writing, community handbooks, and academic publications. Our flagship publication is the American Indian Culture and Research Journal (AICRJ), which has been recognized as one of the leading serial publications on Native American life and issues. In addition to publishing works on contemporary and historical American Indian issues, law, and politics, the press publishes books of plays, poetry, and fiction. Due to UCLA's closure during the pandemic, book sales have been suspended. You can purchase books from Small Press Distribution, www.spd.org.