About the Native American Retention Initiative

Strategic Native American Retention Initiative

The Strategic Native American Retention Initiative (NARI) is a multifaceted academic success program at UC Davis focused on increasing the retention, persistence and graduation rates of Native American students, in a culturally appropriate way. Our goals are to:

Indigenize Student Success: Connecting culture to student’s educational goals, centering their identities as Native peoples and using best practices designed to support students on their higher education journeys.
Build Connections: Fostering connections between students, staff, faculty, and campus partners (internal and external) set Native students up optimally for academic success during their time at UC Davis and beyond.
Strengthen Community: The importance of a well-connected support system is critical to the holistic well-being of Native students at UC Davis, and supports leadership not only amongst peers, but also in the classroom.

Mission Statement:

The Native American Retention Initiative (NARI) is a multifaceted academic success program committed to the retention, perseverance, and academic resiliency of Native American students at UC Davis. NARI emphasizes the importance of building strong connections to create an environment where Native American students feel like they belong and can succeed academically. In order to build these connections, NARI programming is structured holistically to promote academic success through data-driven culturally-informed asset based strategies centered around our students' unique identities.

Vision:

The Native American Retention Initiative’s (NARI) vision seeks to foster a thriving Native American community at UC Davis through holistic support and programming. Our programming is rooted in “heart work,” focused on creating programming for our students that is transformational and equity-minded, while also done in partnership and collaboration with internal and external partners. We seek to provide students with culturally-informed asset-based advising and resources on their educational journeys, while also encouraging their growth as confident Native scholars who utilize their agency and initiative to develop their own post-graduation pathways. In order to create programming and strategies that best addresses the needs of Native scholars, NARI makes decisions based on the most current data and research practices utilized at UC Davis and across institutions of higher education.

For more information, please contact nari@ucdavis.edu.