Last Updated: June 2024

The World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) has an accreditation process that occurs in five phases, as seen below, in which the MSU Native American Studies (NAS) Department follows the Higher Education path of these phases. The following sections of drop-down content illustrate what the WINHEC accreditation process looks like and the progress the NAS Department has made, complete with some of our official WINHEC documentation and extra resources.

In this Letter of Intent, we asked and answered key questions:  

  • Who are you as an Indigenous/Native education organization?  
  • Whom do you serve? 
  • Why are you seeking WINHEC Accreditation? How will accreditation advance your institution/organization/school/program’s purpose?

WINHEC Eligibility Application Approved!  

In July 2019, The NAS Department's Eligibility Application was presented and approved at the WINHEC Annual General Meeting in National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan. This completed phase two of the WINHEC Accreditation process. In this application, we articulated: 

In early 2020, the NAS Department submitted its Higher Education Self-Study for WINHEC Accreditation. This 83-page document lays out the NAS Department’s structure according to WINHEC's requirements (see WINHEC's Accreditation Handbook, Chapter 4):  

  • Authority to Operate
  • Oversight Board
  • Leadership
  • Institutional/Program Integrity
  • Educational Programming
  • Indigenous Curriculum & Pedagogy
  • Indigenous Language & Culture
  • Indigenous Assessment and Achievement
  • Community & Institutional Support & Integration
  • Indigenous Intellectual & Cultural Property Rights
  • Faculty
  • Administrative Support
  • Financial Resources & Accountability
  • Operational Status
  • Institutional Effectiveness
  • Future Directions

The NAS Department hosted a hybrid online and on-site visit of WINHEC accreditation review committee members just prior to the grand opening of the new American Indian Hall. Members of that Site Team were:

  • Dr. Roxanne DeLille (on-site): WINHEC Co-Chair, Anishinaabe, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College.
  • Dr. Mary Therese Hattori (online): Chamoru of Guåhan, Director of the Pacific Islands Development Program.
  • Dr. Leanne Holt (online): Worimi/Biripi , current Deputy Co-Chair of WINHEC, previously at the University of Newcastle as co-Director of the Wollotuka Institute, where she led Wollotuka to be the first in Australia to achieve WINHEC accreditation.
  • Dr. Adam Hopkins (online), Senior Vice-President Academic at First Nations Technical Institute.

After their visit, the WINHEC review committee submitted its MSU-NAS Site Visit Final Report to the WINHEC Board of Accreditation in October 2021. In the report, the review team studied the following areas, and gave commendations and recommendations for the Department’s:

  • Program Philosophy
  • Organizational Authority and Structure
  • Educational Arena
  • General Operations
  • Overall Performance
  • High Level Acknowledgment

Concluding the site visit, the WINHEC accreditation visitation committee recommended that the Department of Native American Studies at MSU be granted full accreditation for the term of 5 years. During the 5-year term, annual reports are due detailing the accomplishments of benchmarks which ensure continued development and progress toward full compliance with WINHEC accreditation standards.

In August 2022, the Department received accreditation from WINHEC. This accreditation acknowledges the Department’s “commitment to elevating the high standards of Indigenous education." We join Tribal Colleges and Indigenous organizations across the globe in affirming and championing “the sovereign right to an education that upholds indigenous language, knowledge, ways of knowing and being, practices, and other aspects of Native life.”