Native American Heritage Month
November 4, 2026

Honoring Native American Heritage Month 2026

Dear campus community,

UC Irvine is proud to celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November. 

In 1966, Acjachemen Chief Clarence Lobo walked the land that UC Irvine would be built on. "Our children shall not know the experience of roaming over these rolling hills and listening to the wild birds as they talk to nature,” he said. “Our footprints upon the sands of time shall be history to them."  

Lobo’s words remain a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggles of Indigenous people against land dispossession and erasure. Irvine has been home to Indigenous communities for at least 12,000 years, with numerous villages throughout the area. Many parts of what is now UC Irvine campus served as important gathering places for the ancestors of the Acjachemen, Tongva, and Kizh peoples, including sites such as the UCI Ecological Preserve and the San Joaquin Marsh Reserve, and these lands continue to hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for their communities today.

These histories are part of an enduring Indigenous presence, and Native Americans continue to live, work, study, teach, and lead at UC Irvine and across the region. Native American Heritage Month offers an important opportunity to honor and learn from these histories, deepen our understanding of their ongoing impacts, and celebrate the contributions of Native Americans past and present. 

I invite you to visit the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s 2026 Native American Heritage Month website, part of our Honoring and Celebrating Our Community Calendar. This site offers a collection of resources and activities to foster learning, support research, and build connections.  

Sincerely,

History