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Denni Woodward, associate director of the Native American Cultural Center, consults with a student. Woodward is a winner of the 2012 Amy J. Blue Award. Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

American Indian Staff Forum

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The American Indian Staff Forum (AISF) is a community of American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander staff and faculty at Stanford University, Stanford University Medical Center and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. AISF is one of many staff groups for employees within the Stanford community. AISF's goal is to be an educational resource to the university, to other ethnic staff organizations, and to local and national Native American groups.

Mission

The American Indian Staff Forum (AISF) is a group of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian staff and faculty at Stanford University, Stanford University Medical Center and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

The purpose of our organization is two-fold: To provide community for all members of AISF and to advocate for issues of concern to Native Americans, and; to be an educational resource to the University, other ethnic staff organizations, and local and national Native American groups.

About the AISF Community

The American Indian Staff Forum AISF organizes several events including regular brown bag lunch meetings at the Native American Cultural Center,  quarterly off-campus socials or field trips, an annual holiday dinner, the annual "PamCake" Breakfast for newly-arrived Stanford freshmen during Stanford Admit Weekend, the quarterly Pam Hanitchak Lecture Series and the Anne Ninham Medicine Mentorship Award.

The Pam Hanitchak Lecture Series is a series of lunchtime meetings hosted during the school year at the Native American Cultural Center in the Clubhouse.  Past speakers have included Tom Arviso, Jr (Knight Fellow and Editor of The Navajo Times), Bill Lomax (Vice President, Goldman Sachs' Investment Management Team), and Elizabeth Hoover (Stanford Humanities Center External Faculty Fellow from Brown University).  Pam Hanitchak (Cherokee) was a founder of the American Indian Staff Forum.  This ongoing lecture series honors her dedication to strengthening our American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian community at Stanford.

For more information about the American Indian Staff Forum, please contact:

Hand Woven Wool Native American Rug. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Anne Ninham Medicine Mentorship Award

The Anne Ninham Medicine Mentorship Award was established by the American Indian Staff Forum in 1998 to honor retired staff member Anne Medicine's legacy of mentoring and to encourage others to strive for the depth of her commitment. A perpetual plaque in the Native American Cultural Center records the history of each year's winner.