Native & Indigenous Initiatives supports relationship development between Pitzer College with local tribes; archives histories of these relationships, and provides student jobs.

We are excited to invite two local Native Scholars in Residence to create and support programming for and with our Native Indigenous students needs.

Multidisciplinary artist Laurie Steelink, born in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in Tucson, received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. In 2012, Steelink founded Cornelius Projects, an exhibition space in San Pedro, CA which focuses on the cultural history and the artists of San Pedro and the Harbor Area. Steelink’s work has been exhibited internationally, and she has participated in Native American Indian Marketplaces at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, and with the Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dr. Meranda Roberts has a Ph.D. in Native American History and an M.A. in Public History from the University of California, Riverside and Meranda has worked as a co-curator at the Field Museum of Natural History, where she developed brand new content for the museum’s Native American exhibition hall, “Native Truths: Our Stories. Our Voices.” She curated the 2023 Native American Invitational Exhibition at Idyllwild Arts titled “Still We Smile: Humor as Correction and Joy” and is currently guest curating the exhibition “Continuity: Cahuilla Basket Weavers and their Legacies,” which will open at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College in Winter 2024. Meranda is also a visiting professor at Pomona College in the art history department.


MEET THE STUDENT TEAM

The Native Indigenous Initiatives Program Assistant focuses on strategizing and implement programming that better serves Native and Indigenous students who are currently attending Pitzer, while also connecting to local tribes.

JANSIKWE MEDINA-TAYAC, PZ’ 25 | MEDIA STUDIES AND SPANISH
Jansikwe Medina-Tayac (she/her) is a sophomore at Pitzer College from Takoma Park, Maryland. She is majoring in Media Studies and minoring in Spanish. As a Piscataway and Colombian woman, Jansikwe is committed to creating a safe and inclusive space for all native and indigenous students at the 5Cs. She is passionate about community organizing and using film and media to create positive social change. Jansikwe is currently the co President of the native indigenous student Union and works closely with native communities both in Southern California and the DC area.

SARA ORR, PZ’ 25 | ANTHROPOLOGY AND NATIVE AMERICAN INDIGENOUS STUDIES
Sara Orr (She/Her) is a second year at Pitzer College from Springdale, Arkansas. She is majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Native American Indigenous Studies. She is passionate about empowering other native students through community programming and mutual aid organizing. This work is continued with her leadership position in Pitzer’s Native Indigenous Student Union and local activism in her home communities of Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

ALE RODRIGUEZ, PZ’ 24 | SOCIOLOGY

MICHELLE HERNANDEZ, PZ’24 | SOCIOLOGY AND CHICANX/LATINX STUDIES

SIA WERE, PZ’25

Native Indigenous Initiatives Email | [email protected] or Native Initiatives Student Union Insta | @nisu.pitzer