Student Organizations

The Indigenous Student Center serves Indigenous students by providing academic, professional, and social opportunities focusing on collaborative partnerships, programming, and community building at UW-Madison and beyond. The ISC is one of four identity centers within the Multicultural Student Center.

The ISC centers the voices, experiences, and dynamic lives of Indigenous students. The center serves as a space to study, hold programming, and to hang out. The center is home to six student organizations – Wunk Sheek, American Indian Science & Engineering Society, Alpha Pi Omega Sorority Inc. – Lambda Chapter, MadTown Singers, Indigenous Law Student Association, Indigenous Graduate Students, and Tribal Libraries, Archives, & Museums.

The ISC was established in 2009 under the management of the American Indian Studies Program. In September 2021, stewardship was passed to the Multicultural Student Center and the first ISC professional staff position was created.

Wunk Sheek pro­vides edu­ca­tional and sup­port­ive ser­vices to the UW cam­pus and com­mu­nity. Its pri­mary goal is to expose, edu­cate, and enlighten the cam­pus com­mu­nity about the unique cul­tural iden­ti­ties of its Indige­nous stu­dents. The orga­ni­za­tion is open to all stu­dents, Native and non-Native, grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate, fac­ulty, staff, and community.

Wunk Sheek orga­nizes two annual Pow-Wows as well as many events in cel­e­bra­tion of Novem­ber, Amer­i­can Indian Her­itage Month. These pro­grams include speak­ers, work­shops, films, and a tra­di­tional Native feast. Through these pro­grams Wunk Sheek brings Indige­nous issues and cul­ture to stu­dents on cam­pus. Thus, Wunk Sheek helps bal­ance stu­dents social and spir­i­tual well-being.

The Twin Tails Drum is an oppor­tu­nity for young singers to learn to sing on a Native inter-Tribal drum. They meet bi-weekly to sing and drum and include stu­dents, fac­ulty, staff, and com­mu­nity members.

The Indige­nous Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion (ILSA) exists to pro­vide an orga­ni­za­tion and forum for Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin law stu­dents while con­tribut­ing to the advance­ment of indige­nous peo­ples. ILSA fos­ters com­mu­ni­ca­tion between all law stu­dents, the UW law fac­ulty and staff, and the com­mu­nity at large. Addi­tion­ally, ILSA pro­vides sup­port to its mem­bers by main­tain­ing study groups, assist­ing with job searches, and host­ing monthly social activities.

AISES is a national orga­ni­za­tion that was founded in 1977 by Amer­i­can Indian sci­en­tists, engi­neers and edu­ca­tors. In view of the high dropout rates and low col­lege enroll­ment and grad­u­a­tion rates of Amer­i­can Indi­ans and the severe under-representation of Amer­i­can Indi­ans in the sci­ence and engi­neer­ing fields, these Native pro­fes­sion­als resolved to cre­ate an orga­ni­za­tion that would iden­tify and remove bar­ri­ers for the aca­d­e­mic suc­cess of Native students.

The UW-Madison chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Indian Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing Soci­ety (AISES) is a stu­dent run orga­ni­za­tion on cam­pus. We have Under­grad­u­ate and Grad­u­ate Stu­dents, as well as com­mu­nity mem­bers and staff. We have stu­dents major­ing in var­i­ous fields from Graphic Design to Bio­chem­istry to Mechan­i­cal Engineering.

Alpha Pi Omega Soror­ity, Inc., is the country’s old­est Native Amer­i­can Greek let­ter orga­ni­za­tion. Founded at the Uni­ver­sity of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on Sept. 1, 1994, the soror­ity has more than 400 sis­ters rep­re­sent­ing more than 70 tribes nation­wide and 13 char­tered chapters.

The Indigenous Language Table Program is developed in partnership with ENWEJIG Indigenous Language Advocates and the Illuminating Discovery Hub at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) to encourage an ongoing commitment of fostering collaborative efforts. Those who want to practice their skills beyond a classroom setting can attend one of the many language tables that will take place weekly.

Explore more resources, opportunities, and events at UW-Madison through the Wisconsin Involvement Network.