{"id":236,"date":"2019-02-26T22:07:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T22:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/?page_id=236"},"modified":"2026-01-08T19:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:48:11","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>History<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1225\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1225\" style=\"width: 464px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1225 size-landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-464x348.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-464x348.jpg 464w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-232x174.jpg 232w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2019\/06\/2007-NASS-Team_1409.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1225\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 2007 NASS team (LEADS Center, University Union) from left &#8211; Jeannette Peterson, Daisy Purdy, Sharon Doctor, Dwight Witherspoon, Catherine Talakte Taylor, Jenny Yazzie Buckinghorse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>NAARP&#8230;NASS&#8230;OISS<\/h2>\n<p>In July 1994, under the leadership of NAU President Dr. Clara Lovett, a new student affairs department was established to improve retention and graduation rates among Native American college students. This department, originally named the <strong>Native American Academic Retention Program (NAARP)<\/strong>, began with a team of three staff members.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The founding team\u2014<strong>Tessie Moate, Catherine Talakte, and Dennison Young<\/strong>\u2014was recruited to design a program specifically tailored to support Native American students. Over time, the program grew to include a Director, Secretary, Graduate Assistant, and student employees. NAARP was later renamed <strong>Native American Student Services (NASS)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>From 1994 to 2011, the NASS office was located in the University Union (Building 30). In October 2011, NASS moved into the newly opened <strong>Native American Cultural Center<\/strong> (renamed the <strong>Center for Native American and Indigenous Futures<\/strong> in Fall 2025), located in Building 14.<\/p>\n<p>As NAU\u2019s student population became increasingly diverse\u2014representing Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, First Nation, and Aboriginal communities\u2014and with input from students, NASS adopted a new name in November 2018: the <strong>Office of Indigenous Student Success (OISS)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Today, OISS continues its mission of providing holistic support to Indigenous students through a culturally grounded approach. Signature programs include the <strong>Indigenous Peer Mentoring Program<\/strong>, <strong>Indigenous Connections to Success Program<\/strong>, and events focused on wellness, community building, and mentorship. OISS is part of the <strong>Inclusive Student Mentoring and Success<\/strong> subdivision within the Division of Student Affairs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>History NAARP&#8230;NASS&#8230;OISS In July 1994, under the leadership of NAU President Dr. Clara Lovett, a new student affairs department was established to improve retention and graduation rates among Native American college students. This department, originally named the Native American Academic Retention Program (NAARP), began with a team of three staff members. The founding team\u2014Tessie Moate, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1476,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2283,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/2283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/iss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}