Two sandhill cranes flying across a blue sky

Join us for the Myaamiaki Conference-- April 9, 2022

Myaamiaki Conference flyer, picture of Bonham Huose

We are quickly approaching the 9th biennial Myaamiaki Conference. At this year's conference, we will present the ongoing activities of the Myaamia Center that support the revitalization of Myaamia language and culture.

The 2022 Myaamiaki Conference will be a part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the relationship between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University. This unique partnership is expressed through a shared commitment to neepwaantiinki, ‘learning from each other,’ which has played a key role in the Miami Tribe’s language revitalization efforts that have led to the first generation in nearly 100 years learning to speak the Myaamia language.

We hope that you will join us for this year's conference. The conference is free to the public, but we ask that you register if you plan to attend.

Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022
Time: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Location: Armstrong Student Center, 550 E Spring St, Oxford, OH 45056

Myaamia Heritage Program Wins Award at ACPA

Myaamia Heritage Program Innovative Practice Award Certificate

The Myaamia Heritage Program was presented with the Innovative Practice Award at the 2022 ACPA Conference

The Myaamia Heritage Progam won the Innovative Practice Award from the Indigenous Student Affairs Network (ISAN) at this year's ACPA (a national Student Affairs association) annual convention in St. Louis. The Innovative Practice Award is awarded to any individual or program for creating or implementing an original, highly-effective Indigenous Student Affairs program on their campus.

The Myaamia Heritage Program was awarded this year because of the impressive outcomes that the program has achieved for Myaamia Students. Since the creation of the Myaamia Heritage Course in 2003, Myaamia students have a 92% 6-year graduation rate (compared to 56% prior to the start of the course series). Additionally, 100 students have graduated from the program. It is especially exciting to reach these milestones and win this award during the 50th anniversary of the relationship between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University.

Aacimotaatiiyankwi: A Myaamia Community Blog

Myaamia Assessment Office Integration System Model

Diagram of OAE teams and partners’ scope of work
Image created by Carole Katz

Many of us have observed that our revitalization efforts have had surprising impacts across the community. In order to better understand these changes, the Myaamia Center created a team to gather data on community impacts. The recent rapid growth in community programs has necessitated the expansion of our assessment efforts. In this post, Dr. Haley Shea introduces the work of the Office of Assessment and Evaluation and their staff.

Learn more about the Office of Assessment and Evaluation

Myaamia Education Office Updates

Myaamia students and Myaamia Center staff in a field of snow throwing a wooden 'Snake' (long, thin piece of wood)

Aatotantaawi! 'Let's Talk About It!' is a discussion group for the Myaamia community based on group chosen material.

ciinkwia awiiwahi neehineecihi neehi-hsa ciinkwia noontaahkweeta! ‘The frogs are singing and thunder has sounded!’ In most of Myaamionki, winter has come to an end with the singing of the Spring peeper frogs and the coming of the first thunderstorm of the year. This means it’s time to stop telling Aalhsoohkaana ‘Winter Stories’ and start preparing for all the events we associate with warmer weather. It was a fun winter for storytelling with a mix of in-person and virtual events. The Miami Tribe hosted two face-to-face storytelling sessions in Miami, OK and Fort Wayne, IN with over 150 people attending across the two events. The Aatotantaawi ‘Let’s Talk About It’ discussion series, organized three storytelling events with ninety-one attendees joining from around the U.S. If you are a Tribal citizen or family member and would like to join the Facebook discussion group, follow this link and click “Join Group.”

Join Aatotantaawi 'Let's Talk About It' Group

Myaamia Heritage Program Update

hundreds of sandhill cranes landing on Brookville Lake

Sandhill Cranes landing at Brookville Lake. Photo by Karen Baldwin

As we make our way towards the middle of aanteekwa kiilhswa 'Crow Moon', we are starting to see many ecological changes here in Oxford. The temperature is warming up, we are starting to see the signs of spring flowers, and the bird activity is increasing. These are all exciting changes for our students to observe in the Ecological Perspectives and History year in the Myaamia Heritage Course.

One of the activities that takes place during this year's course is tapping maple trees and collecting the sap to boil down to iihkisaminki 'maple syrup' or siihsipaahkwi 'maple sugar'. This year's maple sugaring season was not great for production, with extremely cold temperatures at the start and then warm temperatures right away.

Each spring, a group of cecaahkwaki 'sandhill cranes' spend the winter at Brookeville Lake near Liberty, Indiana. This year we were able to take a group of students to see the estimated 6,000 birds that return to the lake each evening around sunset. Sandhill cranes are an important symbol for our Myaamia community, which made it even more exciting to see and hear so many of these birds.

2022 Myaamiaki Conference Events

myaamiaki conference save the date. April 9, 2022

flyer for contemplating myaamia identity, a student art exhibit

Photo of King Library Special Collections

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

Myaamia Center Webinar Series Wednesday, April 13 Noon EST

Support the Myaamia Center

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351 E. Spring St.
Oxford, OH | 45056 US

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