UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State student organizations and units at campuses across the commonwealth are holding events in honor of National Native American Heritage Month, celebrated during the month of November. Here’s a look at some of the events taking place at the University’s campuses. Additional events may be added throughout the month.

According to the Library of Congress Native American Heritage Month website, Native American Heritage Month, also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, celebrates the rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories of Native people and recognizes the significant contributions of the first Americans. 

Penn State as an institution also officially recognizes Indigenous history and Native American heritage though its acknowledgement of land: The Pennsylvania State University campuses are located on the original homelands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora), Lenape (Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe, Stockbridge-Munsee), Monongahela, Shawnee (Absentee, Eastern, and Oklahoma), Susquehannock, and Wahzhazhe (Osage) Nations. As a land grant institution, we acknowledge and honor the traditional caretakers of these lands and strive to understand and model their responsible stewardship. We also acknowledge the longer history of these lands and our place in that history.

The Penn State Indigenous Peoples' Student Association (IPSA) and the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance (IFSA) are communities of Indigenous students, allies, faculty and staff at Penn State, dedicated to promoting the academic success of Indigenous students on campus through the advancement of Indigenous awareness, recruitment, retention and social activities.

Penn State World Campus – online events

Q&A Panel: “The Speakers of Singing Winds” — Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7–8 p.m. ET, online. Hosted by Penn State World Campus Student Affairs. The panel will feature speakers Michael Simms and Kristen Spangler who will share their experiences related to their Native American identities and take questions from the audience. Register here to attend the Q&A panel.

Storytelling experience: “Traditional Northeastern Woodlands Native American Storytelling” — Thursday, Nov. 21, 8–9:30 p.m. ET, online. Hosted by Penn State World Campus Student Affairs. Anne Jennison will lead this storytelling session about the Wabanaki Tribes. Prepare for an interactive storytelling experience filled with humor, drama and moments of wonder. Register here to attend the Storytelling Experience.

Penn State University Park

6th Annual Centre Film Festival — Nov. 11–17, the State Theatre in State College and the Rowland Theatre in Philipsburg. The six-year-old Centre Film Festival returns this year to screen more than 200 films in a variety of genres at Centre County theaters and online in mid-November. The festival runs Nov. 11-17 and features documentary, narrative and experimental films, as well as shorts and feature-length options; included is an Indigenous Peoples Heritage track, among many other themes.

Rock Your Mocs! Moccasin Making Workshop — Sunday, Nov. 10, noon–6 p.m., HUB-131. Registered students will craft their own moccasins with artists Samantha and Mary Jacobs from the Seneca Nation.

Chef Tawnya Brant at the Penn State Forum Speaker Series — Monday, Nov. 11, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. Chef Brant is a Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman and a "Top Chef Canada" competitor who will share her work within the Indigenous food sovereignty movement. Visit the registration page to purchase tickets for Brant's Penn State Forum Speaker Series talk.

Talk: Tawnya Brant, Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) chef — Tuesday, Nov. 12, 4–5:30 p.m., in-person (132 Flex Theater, HUB-Robeson Center) and online. Presented by Penn State Sustainability and the Ross Student Farm. Brant is an entrepreneur, restaurant owner, author and Top Chef Canada competitor who is a leader in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement. Register here to attend Tawnya Brant's talk via Zoom.

Lunch meet-and-greet with Chef Tawnya Brant — Wednesday, Nov. 13, 11 a.m.–1:30 p.m., West Food District. Visitors can taste some of Brant’s recipes. No registration is required. The event will take place in the buffet area. The standard rate for lunch is $13.15 for regular guests or $4.60 with a student meal plan. 

Frybread Making Workshop & Social — Tuesday, Nov. 12, 6:30–8 p.m., Abba Java Coffeehouse, 299 Locust Lane, State College. Hosted by the Indigenous Peoples' Student Association. Learn the art of frybread, connect with community, and honor Indigenous traditions through food and fellowship. All are welcome. Optional: Bring a dish to share.

Film: "Gather" — Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m., online. Hosted by Penn State Sustainability. Learn about stories of Indigenous communities finding resilience through restoration of traditional foodways. Panel discussion to follow. Register here to attend "Gather."

A Conversation with author Tommy Orange at the State Theatre — Friday, Nov. 15, 7 p.m., 130 W. College Ave., downtown State College. Join WPSU for a conversation with Tommy Orange, an American novelist and writer from Oakland, California. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. His novel "There, There" received the 2019 American Book Award and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. Doors will open to the public at 6:30 p.m. Registration is required for the conversation with Tommy Orange.

Native American Heritage Month Fun Friday — Friday, Dec. 6, noon–3 p.m. at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. Join us at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center to share in Indigenous food, music and a corn husk holiday ornament workshop led by Bernadette Franklin from the Seneca Nation.

Exhibition: "Unknown Forest" — Now through Jan. 27, 2025, open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Art Alley, HUB-Robeson Center. "Unknown Forest" features paintings and drawings by New York-based artist, Avani Patel. Patel’s cultural background has had a profound impact on forging her identity as an artist. Indian culture is the starting point of her work. 

Exhibition: "Reunion" — Now through March 4, 2025, open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m., HUB Gallery, HUB-Robeson Center. "Reunion" by New Mexico-based contemporary artist Cannupa Hanska Luger is an immersive, multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring sculpture, regalia, and digital media. The selection of works presented in this iteration makes up a spectrum of possibilities and sheds light on historical truths to tell a narrative of complexity in the act of survival. 

Penn State Berks

Indigenous Storytelling with the Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers — Monday, Nov. 4, 12:15 p.m., Perkins Auditorium. Free and open to all who would like to learn more about the Piscataway culture and the art of Native storytelling and arts. Join the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Arts & Lectures as we celebrate Indigenous and Native American Heritage Month at the Berks campus.

November is a moment where we can be intentional about honoring Indigenous and Native culture, brilliance and ancestral strength; it is our hope that as a community we can take this time to uplift Indigenous traditions and voices, and highlight the resilience and achievements of Native and Indigenous cultures at Berks. In addition, Berks students who are interested in the creation and joining of an Indigenous Student Union can reach out to the Office of Inclusive Excellence at tmr70@psu.edu or Student Engagement & Leadership at lqs5108@psu.edu.

Penn State Brandywine

Talk: Native American House Alliance of Philadelphia — Thursday, Nov. 21, noon, Student Union 114-117. Sponsored by Penn State Brandywine Student Engagement.

Penn State DuBois

The Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers — Tuesday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m., Hiller Building Auditorium. The Piscataway Nation, a group of Native Americans who were the first to encounter Captain John Smith in 1608, is a cultural heritage that continues to be passed down through Mark Tayac and the Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers. They present educational and entertaining pow-wow-style campus events featuring American Indian dance, drum and song. The Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers also contribute to TV specials on the History Channel and Discovery Channel, and regularly attend events like the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

A Campus and Community Art Show — Wednesday, Nov. 13, 11 a.m.–6:30 p.m., PAW Center Gym. The Penn State DuBois IDREAM Team invites students, faculty, staff and the community to submit artwork and participate in "A Campus and Community Art Show." Celebrating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging through art, we look forward to your participation and artistic interpretations. Submissions should follow the following theme, a quote by Audre Lorde: "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." Register here to participate as an artist in the Art Show by Nov. 6.

Penn State Great Valley

Talk: History and Legacy of the Shinnecock through Art and Photographs — Monday, Nov. 18, 1–2 p.m. via Zoom. Presented by David Bunn Martine, Native American artist, oral historian, author and curator of the Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum. Read more about David Bunn Martine here.

Penn State Harrisburg

The Martha Redbone Roots Project — Friday, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m., Mukund S. Kulkarni Theatre. Martha Redbone and her masterful ensemble celebrate her multicultural Southeastern heritage with a journey through times past and present — a tapestry of the sounds of her childhood and her ancestral homelands of Kentucky coal country. The music embodies the early days on the mountain, with the folk, blues and gospel sounds from the ancestors of the Black migration mixed with the Indigenous foundation of the region. Performance is open to the public and tickets are required. Ticket information for the Martha Redbone Roots Project is available at this link.

November Student Book Club: "The Night Watchman" by Louise Erdrich — Friday, Nov. 22, noon–1 p.m., Hanes Library Holocaust Memorial Conference Room. The Hanes Library and Student Engagement are co-hosting a book discussion for students. The story is based on the extraordinary life of the author’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., to fight an “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress in 1953, a bill that threatened the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. Students can register here for the Student Book Club.

Pennsylvania College of Technology

The Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers — Wednesday, Nov. 13, 3:30–4:30 p.m., Thompson Professional Development Center lawn. The Piscataway Nation Singers & Dancers carry on the long-standing traditions, culture and heritage of their Indigenous ancestors. From Tayac Territory (Port Tobacco, Maryland), Mark Tayac and the group present a colorful, educational and entertaining pow-wow-style event featuring Native American dance, drum and song. Open to the public.