UArizona opens microcampus to serve Pascua Yaqui Tribe

PHOENIX — The University of Arizona on Tuesday celebrated the grand opening a new microcampus built to serve members of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

“This new University of Arizona location designed to serve the Pascua Yaqui Tribe represents a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to Native American communities — especially those whose traditional homelands include Southern Arizona,” university President Robert Robbins said in a press release.

“It has been a goal of mine for years to establish a campus for every tribe in the state, and I hope this will be the first of many.”

Formerly a middle school, the new 5,000-square-foot building located at Camino De Oeste and Tetakusim Road will open its doors to the first students on Oct. 13, coinciding with the 7 Week Second session of the university’s fall term.

The goal is to help tribal members access higher education and workforce education programs easier than before.

Leaders from the university and the tribe’s education department worked together on a initial curriculum for the new campus according to the tribe’s priorities to advance its workforce, the release said.

So far, the Indigenous Governance Program will allow students to attain a Master of Professional Studies, or graduate, or continuing education certificates in Indigenous governance.

The microcampus will work to add law, K-12 teaching, nursing and cybersecurity programs in the future.

Classes are set to be offered through a mix of online, in-person and hybrid courses, with Arizona Online providing the platform for the virtual courses.

“We celebrate brining this opportunity home to the reservation, so that no one has to leave if that’s not what they choose to do for themselves,” Serina Preciado, the tribe’s education director, said in the release.

“We advance the narrative of what it means to be from ‘the rez’ today. I’m happy to say that at Pascua Yaqui, we have world class higher education right in our backyard.”

Follow @suelenrivera