By Sian Wilkerson

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Humanities Research Center (HRC) is partnering with the College of Humanities and Sciences to expand the university’s Indigenous humanities efforts through development of a new lab that is set to launch this summer.

Led by Cristina Stanciu, Ph.D., director of the Humanities Research Center and professor in the Department of English, and Catherine Ingrassia, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, the Indigenous Humanities Lab is supported by an 18-month, $150,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation awarded on April 1. The new lab will join eight other humanities labs currently supported by the HRC.

“Since 2020, the Humanities Research Center has been driving universitywide efforts to indigenize its curriculum and to build meaningful collaborations with local Indigenous communities,” Stanciu said. “This Mellon grant supports our ongoing intentional work, and we hope the university will continue to support and expand these programs.”

In 2022, the One VCU Land Acknowledgement Task Force was created in part to identify ways to build meaningful relationships with all 11 state-recognized tribal nations. Among its suggestions was a universitywide land acknowledgement, which was formally adopted by the Board of Visitors in 2024. The acknowledgement highlights the centrality of Indigenous peoples, their contributions and their ongoing presence on the land VCU calls home.

As Stanciu noted, a land acknowledgement without meaningful action is just a statement.

“We see it as an opportunity to build on the existing momentum at VCU to help create and sustain an institutional infrastructure where Indigenous studies, and Indigenous humanities in particular, will thrive,” she said.

"This generous grant from the Mellon Foundation represents our college's commitment to expanding Indigenous Humanities at VCU. The Indigenous Humanities Lab will create vital spaces for collaboration between our scholars, students and Virginia's tribal nations, fostering meaningful relationships that transcend traditional academic boundaries,” Ingrassia said. “By supporting this initiative, we're not only honoring our institutional commitment to the Land Acknowledgement adopted by our Board of Visitors, but actively building an academic framework where Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives are centered and celebrated. This work is essential to providing our students with an understanding of our shared histories and creating pathways for more inclusive scholarship in the humanities."

With the Mellon grant, the team will work to create a sustainable infrastructure of Indigenous humanities at the university, with new generative sites for scholarly, curricular and community-driven research and collaboration.

In addition to launching the lab, the goal is to strengthen existing programs and develop new ones through VCU’s On Native Ground initiative, which began in 2021 and has since brought visibility to local and national Indigenous issues through symposia, workshops, lectures, the Karenne Wood Native Artist/Writer Residency program and a partnership with Pocahontas Reframed, the only Native film festival on the East Coast.

The team will also hire a postdoctoral fellow, who will assist in the lab’s research and curricular development efforts. The ultimate goal is to create an interdisciplinary minor in Native American and Indigenous Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences.

Currently, college faculty teach seven undergraduate and three graduate NAIS courses. The team hopes to expand these offerings, as well as provide students with experiential learning opportunities, such as visits to local reservations and opportunities to meet with the Karenne Wood artist/writer as well as an elder-in-residence, a program the team plans to begin in spring 2026.

Stanciu expressed gratitude to her VCU colleagues as well as to community partners in local tribal nations who have been instrumental in the university’s efforts.

“Indigenous history is Virginia history, and VCU students stand to learn a lot from tribal citizens,” she said.