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Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) Initiative

Mni is the Dakota word for water. The three letters are also the acronym for the college’s groundbreaking new project called the Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) Initiative that has been awarded a $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Combined with a financial commitment from the college, the generous grant from the nation’s largest supporter of arts and humanities will enable Macalester to create a multi-faceted initiative dedicated to engagement with and scholarship around Indigenous people, culture and history. 

Andrew Mellon Foundation logo

Macalester Native and Indigenous Initiative receives $1 million grant from Mellon Foundation

Read the grant announcement from the Macalester News site.

MNI Committee Members

  • Katrina Phillips, (Chair), Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Faculty, History
  • Ebony Aya, Program Manager, Jan Serie Center for Scholarship & Teaching
  • Cait Bergeon, Menominee, Faculty Engagement Associate
  • Mads Clark, Mdewakanton Dakota, Associate Director of the Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice
  • Heather Everhart, Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation lineal descendant, Director and Curator, Law Warschaw Gallery
  • Erik Larson, Faculty, Sociology
  • Joan Ostrove, Faculty, Psychology; Director of the Jan Serie Center for Scholarship & Teaching