Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month, 2023

Dear Cal Lutheran Community,

During the month of November, our university celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month to recognize and honor the contributions of Indigenous and Native-identifying communities. Our Thousand Oaks campus is located on the ancestral lands of the Chumash People, whose territory encompassed 7,000 square miles from the beaches of Malibu to Paso Robles. We also recognize and celebrate the Ohlone people who were the original inhabitants of the land where our Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) campus in Berkeley is located.

Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month prompts us to engage in activities where faculty, staff, students, and friends seek to learn and understand issues that are integral to Cal Lutheran’s commitment to service and justice. As part of the programming, Dr. Megan Fung invites us to join SEEd Project Garden volunteers in the installation of white sage plants, a shrub that is deeply rooted in the tradition of many indigenous communities in Southern California. In addition to the SEEd program, there are opportunities to learn from a number of cultural educators. Please consider participating in any or all of the following: 

• Native Cultural Awareness Training, led by Dayna Barrios, a community leader and former Chairwoman for the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians (BVBMI)
• A Lecture Lunch with Julia Samaniego (Tutaviam, Chumash), who oversees propagating native plants, seed collecting and inventory of plants for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Project Nursery
• Foodie Friday for Indigenous Heritage Month Celebration with Marianne Yeager (hi ho’stoqošlo’q’ hi xus Cultural Group)
• A talk to explore Indigenous Opera; and a history lecture entitled “A Family Story from Native California''

Information about dates and registration are available on this flyer. These activities and educational programs are co-sponsored by the Office of Talent, Culture, and Diversity (TCD); the Center for Cultural Engagement and Inclusion (CCEI); SEEd Project Garden; the G.A. Foster Legacy Foundation; the Religion Department; Ethnic and Race Studies; the Organization of American Historians, Artists and Speakers Committee and the Department of History. We also appreciate the ongoing contributions of Campus Services, Media Services, Sodexo, student groups, and various departments across campus. Highly integrative efforts like these bring together a beautifully broad range of constituents who design and implement the wide range of events outlined here.

Please join activities like these that recognize the Indigenous communities who are profoundly connected to our campus — such participation ensures we continue to learn and grow together.