American Indian & Indigenous Studies

AIIS Certificate

Certificate in American Indian & Indigenous Studies

A Cer­tifi­cate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies is a way of giv­ing recog­ni­tion to stu­dents who have made a sig­nif­i­cant effort to learn about Native cul­ture and the role of Amer­i­can Indi­ans and Indigenous peoples in soci­ety. Stu­dents receiv­ing a cer­tifi­cate will have the achievement officially recorded via tran­script nota­tion.

What can I do with a certificate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies?

Students of Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies go on to suc­cess­ful careers in admin­is­tra­tion, advis­ing, aca­d­e­mics, advo­cacy, the arts, busi­ness, com­mu­nity out­reach, con­sult­ing, edu­ca­tion, gov­ern­ment, health or health edu­ca­tion, jour­nal­ism, library sci­ence, lit­er­acy pro­gram­ming, lob­by­ing, man­age­ment, pol­i­tics, pub­lish­ing, school coun­sel­ing, social work, research, and many more.

Requirements

  1. To receive a cer­tifi­cate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies, you must officially declare the AIIS Certificate and have it noted in your student record. Please submit the online application form linked below to begin the Certificate declaration process.
  2. Com­plete a total of fifteen (15) class­room credit hours of AIIS/cross-listed courses approved by the Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies Advisor. Among the fifteen (15) credits must be AIIS 100 Introduction to Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies.
  3. Students must receive a minimum GPA of 2.0 in each course to be counted toward a Cer­tifi­cate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies. In some spe­cial cir­cum­stances stu­dents may have courses not listed on the AIIS list of courses count toward the cred­its required for the Certificate.
  4. Addi­tional Require­ments: At least eight (8) of the total classroom cred­it hours (15) must be taken at the Uni­ver­sity of Wisconsin-Madison. Of the total class­room credit hours required, only six (6) cred­its may be taken as Pass/Fail. All other cred­its must be taken for a let­ter grade. The Cer­tifi­cate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies at the Uni­ver­sity of Wisconsin-Madison is open to spe­cial stu­dents and under­grad­u­ate stu­dents regard­less of the col­lege of enrollment.

“I recommend this certificate because it’s important that people learn about these topics and truly understand the issues and struggles that Indigenous communities face in society. I would use this certificate to work with Indigenous communities, my own and others, and then potentially go to law school.”

Kayla Maki
Certificate Student Alum

“I want to show people who say nothing can be done in this society that it just isn’t so. You don’t have to collapse just because there’s a federal law in your way. Change it!”

Ada Deer (1935 – 2023)
Emerita Faculty

Apply to the Certificate Program

Cer­tifi­cate Pro­gram Appli­ca­tion Form:
Submit this online form to begin the Certificate declaration process.

Spe­cial Cir­cum­stances Form:
Some courses not affiliated with AIIS may count towards your Certificate requirements if they contain at least 1/3 Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies content. Submit the Special Circumstances form with class details and the AIIS Advisor will determine course eligibility toward your Cer­tifi­cate in Amer­i­can Indian & Indigenous Stud­ies.

AIIS Cer­tifi­cate Advi­sor: Denise Wiyaka
(e) denise.wiyaka@wisc.edu
(p) (608) 263-5501

To learn more about the AIIS Cer­tifi­cate, con­tact AIIS at aiis@letsci.wisc.edu or visit our office at 316 Ingra­ham Hall to speak with a staff member.