Niizhoo-gwayakochigewin (Nee-zhoo gwy-ah-ko-chi-gay-win)

Bemidji State University’s Niizhoo-gwayakochigewin (Nee-zhoo gwy-ah-ko-chi-gay-win) program aims to deepen the understanding of sustainability. This project aims to have two-leggeds (humans) respect and understand both Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge perspectives to help communities thrive.

Niizhoo-gwayakochigewin — an Ojibwe phrase which translates to “two ways of doing the right thing in the right way” — joins Bemidji State’s Office of Sustainability, American Indian Resource Center, Center for Sustainability Studies, and Department of Languages and Indigenous Studies to create a unique interdisciplinary program that offers a ground-breaking Indigenous Sustainability Studies major and minor, graduate student positions, and summer internships.