The Office of Native American Initiatives at Northern Arizona University is offering annual executive education sessions to tribal nations. This training, part of the Tribal Leadership Initiatives, will be taken directly to indigenous communities to meet the specific needs of individual nations.
The annual seminars will address how effective leadership can influence strategic thinking, the challenges facing indigenous leaders, federal Indian policy in the United States and Canada, tribal assets management, intergovernmental relationships and several other topics related to leadership.
A similar two-day educational session, Tribal Leadership Essentials: Leadership, Management, Governance, Law & Strategy, was held in July in the 1899 ballroom at NAU, where more than 25 tribal chiefs, chairmen and councilors engaged in problem-solving exercises dealing with situations tribes are currently facing.
Participants at the training in July said they learned more about their roles and responsibilities as Indigenous leaders and meet with leaders from other tribes to discuss how others responded to policies, the development of laws and politics. The event was sponsored in part by Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project, Resolution Copper, the NAU President’s Office and the dean’s office of the NAU College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
“We were delighted to preview one of the key leadership programs of the Tribal Leadership Initiative,” Chad Hamill said. “Our staff assembled a truly impressive group of scholars and subject matter experts, including several ONAI faculty members.”
Northern Arizona University’s mission is to become the nation’s leading university serving Native Americans and established ONAI to make that mission a reality. The Tribal Leadership Initiative’s goal is to strengthen political, economic and educational structures during a time of unprecedented self-determination across Native nations and to develop and support leaders.
The next executive education session is scheduled for the summer of 2018.
Native nations may request separate seminars by contacting Manley Begay at (928) 523-6437.