Mutsun Speaker Series

Introduction
The name Amah literally means “The People”, this is the case with most tribal names. To continue to develop the presence of Amah or “The People” of Santa Cruz we have developed the Mutsun Speaker Series. The lecture series provides a format to address issues that affect the tribe as well as the larger American Indian Community. This lecture series will be collaboration between the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band that addresses issues that affect the tribe as well as the native campus community, and issues in the larger American Indian population.

Mutsun Speaker Series Board Composition and Responsibilities
The Mutsun Speaker Series Board will govern the Speaker Series. This Board will be composed of three tribal members, that will include the Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair, three students from the University, a faculty member, a senior administrator, the Director of the American Indian Resource Center, and a member at-large. The Board will identify topics to be presented. When we begun the work of the Speaker Series we wanted to start a collaborative effort with the University’s American Indian Resource Center that focused on Native American Mental Health. As a Board we simultaneously begin working on a series of lectures, panels, and programs that will focus on American Indian mental health. In addition to a focus on individual mental health, we hope to include working in the mental health professions, the presentations on current research in the field, and panel discussions that will directly relate to American Indian university students.

Mutsun Speaker Series Purpose
“The purpose of Amah Mutsun Speaker Series is to present issues of importance for Native Americans, particularly those relevant to Native American Students at UC Santa Cruz. The speaker series board is comprised of Amah Mutsun tribal members, AIRC staff, UCSC students, staff and faculty. The Amah Mutsun Speaker series began in 2009, conceived by American Indian Resource Center Director, Dr. Dennis Tibbetts and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Chairman, Val Lopez. A goal of the Amah Mutsun speaker series is to continue the decades long effort to strengthen the Indigenous presence at UC Santa Cruz. This is a collaborative effort between the American Indian Resource Center and the Amah Mutsun speaker series board. It is critical that this effort include the Indigenous peoples of the land as partners. The Amah Mutsun Speaker Series has brought to campus leading researchers, such as Maria Brave Heart, Joseph Gone, Sarah Deer, Jennifer Dennetdale, Deborah Miranda, Delores BigFoot and California Indian cultural experts, Ron Christman, Ron Alec, Caleen Sisk and Hawk Rosales, and most recently language revitalization expert, and MacArthur fellow, Jessie Little Doe Baird.” (See: Amah Mutsun Speaker Series.)

Previous Mutsun Speaker Series Fliers
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