UAS Faculty & Staff: Commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day - October 9, 2023

Good Morning Everyone!

Today, we commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day. I want to begin with our land acknowledgement:

We work and reside on the unceded territories of the Áakʼw Ḵwáan, Taantʼá Ḵwáan, and Sheet’ká Ḵwáan on Lingít Aaní, also known as Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka Alaska, adjacent to the ancestral home of the X̱aadas and Ts’msyen peoples.

This day is an important one for the United States and particularly significant for our university. We are a university where one in every five students has Alaska Native heritage. We are proud to be a center for Indigenous Studies, where the history, languages, culture, art, and wisdom of the native peoples of Southeast Alaska and beyond can be passed on to current and future generations of Alaska Natives and to the world at large.

While there is much to be proud of, especially at UAS, more work needs to be done at our university, in our country, and in the world to recognize the deeply painful histories of how our Native Peoples have been treated, address those injustices in meaningful ways, and move towards healing. These are the complexities associated with this day.

Whether you commemorate today through quiet reflection, passionate expression, or joyful celebration, I hope that it is a memorable one for you. I hope that you will participate in the activities associated with this day on each of our campuses and in our communities.

Activities on the Juneau campus are listed in the Campus Calendar and on UAS Connect. Activities in Sitka and in Ketchikan are happening as well.  I will be in Sitka today but I'll be thinking of all of you in Juneau and Ketchikan as well.

Thank you for everything that you do! Because of all of you, we are making a difference in making this world a better place.

Cheers,
Dr. Aparna Palmer
Chancellor