SUBJECT:

California Native American Day Celebration at UC San Diego

It gives me great pleasure to announce this year’s California Native American Day Celebration at UC San Diego. This is the third year UC San Diego is participating in the celebration and it is designed to promote events that enhance the relationship between the San Diego tribal communities and the UC San Diego community.

A sample of this year’s celebration includes:

· The Native American Day Kickoff will begin at 11:30 a.m. on September 26 in The Loft of the UCSD Price Center East. It will include an opening blessing by Kumeyaay elder Stan Rodriquez.

· Following the kickoff at 1:30 p.m. in the Price Center’s Gallery A, Mike Connolly from the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Nation, Laguna Resources Services, Inc. will lead a workshop entitled, “ON SACRED GROUND: Environmental Sustainability on San Diego Reservations.”

· Grave Injustice: UCSD Repatriation Teach-In will be presented from 5 to 7 p.m. on October 13 in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Student Services Center. Four panelists will discuss issues surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

· The Native American Film Festival will run from noon to 6 p.m. on October 17 at the Cross-Cultural Center. Films to be screened are In the Light of Reverence, Doe Boy, and The Business of Fancy Dancing. Hosting the three films will be Natchee Blu Barnd, a lecturer in American Indian Studies at Sacramento State University and the author of U.S. Colonialism and Indigenous Geographies.

· Pathways to Life Experience From a Tribal Doctor, Dan Calac, M.D., and Medical Director of the Indian Health Council, Inc., (IHC) will speak at 6 p.m. on November 7 in the Comunidad Room of the Cross-Cultural Center. IHC is a consortium of nine tribes – Inaja-Cosmit, La Jolla, Los Coyotes, Mesa Grande, Pala, Pauma, Rincon, San Pasqual, and Santa Ysabel – dedicated to the continual betterment of Indian health, wholeness, and well-being.

For further information visit the website:

http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/nativeamerican

In recognition of this annual event, I am approving two hours of administrative leave with pay so that employees may apply towards their attendance at a California Native American Day Celebration activity. Supervisors are asked to allow employees two hours of administrative leave with pay to attend one or more of the planned celebratory events, when the absence does not infringe upon the performance of required job duties or patient care.

At this time I would like to thank the members of the California Native American Day Celebration Planning Committee for their time and effort to coordinate these educational and celebratory campus events and activities.

Join me in honoring the heritage, culture, and traditions of our Native American tribes and thank you for supporting California Native American Day at UC San Diego.

Marye Anne Fox Chancellor