Friday, January 6th, 2023 - 12:00pm


Dear University Community,

The UC Office of the President has requested that campuses actively engage in soliciting nominations from qualified candidates to serve on UC repatriation committees. Respectful repatriation is a fundamental value of UC and the State of California. As required by California NAGPRA (CalNAGPRA) and the UC Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation Policy (UC Policy), UC has established campus and systemwide committees charged with providing compliance oversight and review, and advising the university on matters related to the implementation of legal and policy requirements to increase repatriation outcomes or dispositions of Native American human remains and cultural items.

The committees are composed of both UC and tribal members. All members must be reviewed and nominated by the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) before appointment by UC. The NAHC is continually accepting nominations for all positions, and is especially in need of applications for UC potential members. Minimum statutory qualifications can be found here and more information on the Committees is available here (PDF) and here (excel).

All UC representatives must meet the following criteria:

  • Have a graduate degree in either Archaeology, Anthropology, Native American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Law, Sociology, Environmental Studies, or History, with a focus in California.
  • Have a minimum of five years of experience working in the applicable field of study.

In addition, preference will be given to members “who have demonstrated, through their professional experience, the ability to work in collaboration with Native American tribes successfully on issues related to repatriation or museum collection management” (CalNAGPRA §8026(c)(2)). The UC Policy currently allows UC to make exceptions to the above qualifications provided that such exceptions promote repatriation and amplify the Policy’s Purpose and Guiding Principles and that proposed members have been nominated by the California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC).

For additional application details, please see https://nahc.ca.gov/calnagpra/nominate/

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