Awards Opportunities
The Center for Cross-Cultural Studies has several awards available for current, former, and lifelong learners. The Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Indigenous Scholar Award and Rebecca B. Kaliss Indigenous Studies Research Award are available to support students and scholars in their work.
Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Indigenous Scholar Award
Nominations
Nominations for the Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Award for Contributions to Native Ways of Knowing are now open. The deadline for nominations is March 1, every year.
Nominations of potential candidates, including background information can be or forwarded to cstopkok@alaska.edu.
Purpose
In recognition of Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley's contribution to articulating the significance of Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of acknowleding the worldviews in the contemporary world, the ²ÝÁñÉçÇø ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Native Knowledge Network hereby establishes the AOK Indigenous Scholar Award in his honor.
The award is presented annually to recognize and encourage Indigenous scholars who have made exemplary contributions to our understanding of Indigenous knoweldge systems and Native ways of knowing in ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.
The award amount is based upon available funds and the qualifications of the nominees, there is no minimum or maximum award amount.
Qualifications
The Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Award is to be presented annually to recognize an Indigenous scholar who has made a significant contribution to our understanding of Indigenous knolwedge systems and Native ways of knowing in ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.
Dr. Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley was a Yupiaq scholar who served 25 years as faculty with the University of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Fairbanks. Along with Dr. Ray Barnhardt, he helped to create the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies at ²ÝÁñÉçÇø. In so doing, he introduced the construct of "Native Ways of Knowing" and contributed significantly to the academic field of Indigenous knowledge and broader cross-cultural sharing.
The Indigenous Studies Program located within the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies offers a collaborative interdisciplinary Ph.D. program that is a direct result of Dr. Kawagley's lifetime of work.
It is our honor each year to present the Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley award to a person or group that exemplifies the values Angayuqaq worked so hard to celebrate.
Past Awardees
2024: Paul Williams Sr. (Gwich'in)
2023: Dr. LaVerne Xilegg Demientieff (Deg Xit'an)
2022: Vivian ³Ûé¾±±ô°ì’ Mork (Tlingit)
2021: Dr. Panigkaq Agatha John-Shields (Yup'ik)
2020: Ilarion Kuuyux Merculieff (Aleut/Unangan)
2019: Rev. Dr. Trimble Gilbert (Gwich'in)
2018: Randall Tetlichi (Gwich'in)
2017: Goldbelt Heritage Foundation (Tlingit)
2016: Dr. Elizabeth Fleagle (Iñupiaq)
2015: Dora Andrews-Ihrke & Eva Evelyn Yanez (Yup'ik)
2014: Kenneth Frank (Gwich'in)
2013: Dr. Gordon L. Pullar (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq)
PURPOSE:
To provide support for graduate students enrolled in the Cross-Cultural Studies program
at the University of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Fairbanks who are conducting research projects whose findings
are to be published and/or shared publicly concerning ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Native issues. Projects
may include, but are not limited to dissertations, theses, and conference presentations.
Expenditures from this fund may include, but are not limited to travel and lodging
costs in connection with getting to/from locations in which the research takes place,
and conferences that are directly connected to the issues being researched. No more
than $1,000 in total support shall be given to any student who meets the above-mentioned
criteria.
TO APPLY:
Send an essay describing your travel, its purpose, and the expenses requested, on
an MS Word document, to Sean Asikłuk Topkok: cstopkok@alaska.edu