Congratulations, summer 2023 graduates!

Dear Graduates of 2023,

The faculty and staff in the Department of Indigenous Studies join you in celebrating your accomplishment. You all deserve the spotlight on your special day. We are all very proud of you and offer our sincerest congratulations!

A Bachelors of Arts degree with an Indigenous Studies Major or Minor is more than just a tally of credits required to graduate. Recall your first day on campus. Remember how daunting your journey to graduation felt? Remember your first class with an INDG Studies designation? Today you can look back on all the time you spent on campus and all the assignments you completed to get to this day. We hope they are all good memories.

Your convocation day marks the end of your undergraduate studies and the beginning of your post-baccalaureate careers. It gives you an opportunity to look back on these last few years. Maybe you will find you are no longer the person you were when you started the program. Now you have gained new knowledge by completing your BA. Perhaps you met the people who will be your lifelong friends. Maybe you gained the confidence that you will bring to your future efforts. Naturally, we hope the student experience has opened the way for new perspectives and that our teaching played some role in your personal triumph. We send you off with an invitation to return for a visit and we hope you keep in touch.

Convocation day is an important rite of passage for you. Walking across the stage and hearing your name read aloud is public recognition of your struggle. It salutes the challenge you undertook when you decided to attend university and that you succeeded. May this be the first of many successes you will experience.

Congratulations, Graduates!

All the best,

Eldon Yellowhorn, Ph.D.

Professor

Chair | Indigenous Studies