Applications and Registration Open for Native Nations Institute Tribal Professionals Cohort, January in Tucson Courses
Each fall, the Native Nations Institute selects a small group of Tribal professionals for a year-long professional development program called the NNI Tribal Professionals Cohort which kicks off with the accelerated education event, January in Tucson.
The Native Nations Institute (NNI) at the University of Arizona (U of A) Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy is now accepting applications for its 2025 NNI Tribal Professionals Cohort (NNI TPC).
The NNI TPC is a professional development program for Indigenous individuals who serve Native communities that was created in 2016 to respond to the realities and challenges facing Tribal professionals today.
The Indigenous professionals selected to participate in the 2025 NNI TPC will strengthen their leadership skills, build their advocacy skills, and cultivate a network of Tribal professionals who support each other's career growth while learning proven Native Nation Building skills from scholars who “literally wrote the book on Indigenous governance,” according to U of A Indigenous Governance Program (IGP) Manager Torivio Fodder (Taos Pueblo).
NNI TPC members will take three masters-level courses on Native Nation Building from the world-class faculty at January in Tucson (JIT) – the flagship accelerated educational event for the IGP – with a full waiver for the standard $2250 in associated course fees. NNI TPC members will continue their nation-building education throughout 2025 via quarterly online seminars with cohort peers.
Building Community
“The education that the NNI TPC receives at JIT and through our quarterly seminars has been pivotal in the careers of the more than 60 Indigenous professionals who have participated in the program since it started,” says NNI Executive Director Joan Timeche (Hopi). “Over the years, we’ve found the relationships our NNI TPC members form with their peers are perhaps just as valuable as the information they learn from our expert scholars.”
2024 NNI TPC Member Crystal Cavalier-Keck (Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation) echoed this sentiment following her participation in JIT 2024. “Coming together and having fellowship is what community building is all about,” says Cavalier-Keck, who is also the Founder and Co-Director of the non-profit organization Seven Directions of Service. “So, not only is the NNI TPC educating us about how we can work in this legal framework, they’re building relationships in other communities that we can always have.”
After participating in the program, NNI TPC members have gone on to careers in Native nations; state and federal governments; the private and non-profit sectors. Many have also used their JIT experience as a springboard for furthering their education in law and Indigenous governance at the Masters’, JD and PhD levels before returning home to serve their communities.
A limited number of Supplemental Travel Scholarships are available for those selected as 2025 TPC Members. NNI strongly encourages cost-sharing with member employers and/or tribes to cover costs associated with travel, lodging, and meals.
TPC applications are open through October 28, 2024.
January in Tucson 2025
The three-week JIT experience will run between January 6 - January 25, 2025. Each of the 11 courses offered will take place as four-hour sessions delivered over the course of three consecutive days.
IGP Manager Torivio Fodder says that JIT attracts a diverse array of students with varying levels of education and experience. “Our participants are elected Tribal leaders, working Tribal professionals, folks from the non-profit and private sectors, individuals from government at every level, and U of A Graduate students,” says Fodder.
The IGP offers a Continuing Education Certificate to anyone who completes at least six JIT courses. U of A graduate students can also earn one graduate academic credit for each course taken with the opportunity to earn as many as 10 graduate credits during the month.
Plus, Fodder explains, there is nothing quite like learning Native nation building skills alongside peers who are personally dedicated to strengthening their own Indigenous communities. “There is no substitute for having conversations with another individual who is dealing with or who has dealt with a problem that might be very similar to the challenges being faced in one’s home community,” he says, adding, “JIT creates the space for these meaningful conversations to happen.”
The 2025 JIT program comes on the heels of the most well-attended iteration of the event in IGP history. The full course schedule and faculty lineup for JIT 2025 are available to view online and registration is now open through December 24, 2024.
Learn more and apply to the 2025 Tribal Professionals Cohort here.