Extraordinary Service Award

The NAI Extraordinary Service Award goes annually to an individual or group that promotes extraordinary service to the Native American community at Notre Dame. The award was established in 2018 (and awarded retroactively to honor NAI Founder Dr. Laurie Arnold for her work in founding the Initiative). The winners are listed on a plaque that currently resides in the Department of American Studies. The award is presented at the Native American graduation and recognition ceremony in the spring semester. All active students in the Native American Student Association are asked to contribute to selecting an honoree or honorees for the year. 

2023	Tara Kenjockety (Ho-Chunk and Seneca Nation)	Hesburgh Library
2022	Ashlee Bird, Ph.D. (Western Abenaki)	Department of American Studies
2021	Marcus Winchester (Pokégnek Bodéwadmik)	Office of Language and Cultures for the Pokégnek Bodéwadmik
	Bob Mundy, ’76 & ‘81	Office of Undergraduate Admissions
2020	Bob Walls, Ph.D.	Department of American Studies
2019	Elaine J.C. DeBassige, ‘92	Rector Farley Hall
	Snite Museum of Art	Snite
2018	Native American Student Association of Notre Dame	NASAND
	Brian S Collier, Ph.D.	Institute for Educational Initiatives & Department of American Studies
2017	Laurie Arnold, Ph.D.	NAI Founder, College of Arts & Letters

---

We acknowledge our presence on the traditional homelands of Native peoples, including the Haudenosauneega, Miami, Peoria, and particularly the Pokégnek Bodéwadmik / Pokagon Potawatomi, who have been using this land for education for hundreds of years and continue to do so. We know land acknowledgments are always a work in progress; we last updated this on May 15, 2023.