By Jennifer K. Morita

September 25, 2025

Sacramento State and California tribal leaders have created a place where students seeking a Native American-based education — rooted in culture and community — can bloom and shine bright with the University’s new Wileety Native American College (WNAC), which held its grand opening celebration Sept. 24. 

Wileety (pronounced Wuh-lehh-too) launched this fall semester as the first of its kind in California, with 34 undergraduate students representing 25 tribal nations from throughout the United States. 

The college is open to all students interested in learning about Native American culture, values, and governance. 

University faculty, as well as Native American dignitaries and tribal and state leaders, attended the day-long celebration held in the University Union Ballroom, acknowledging California’s troubled past with Indigenous tribes while looking ahead to a promising future. 

“Too often our Indigenous students and Native students don’t see themselves in the educational curriculum,” University President Luke Wood said. “... Many students say they have not had the opportunity to learn in spaces where their identities are center, and so we are proud that we get to do that. 

“We have the privilege of being the people who are in these roles at this point in time, especially with what is going on in our country.” 

Wileety Native American College, which takes its name from the Miwok term meaning “to bloom, to be bright, to shine,” aims to prepare students to become successful leaders through a community and culturally based education.

• The WNAC offers scholarships through generous donations to its giving fund, the Wileety Native American College General Fund. 
• Additional photos from the Wileety Native American College Grand Opening can be viewed on this album. 

All students in the college will minor in Native American Studies and can pursue any major they are accepted into that is offered by the University. 

The college uses the cohort model so students can collaborate with a set group of peers. The college is anchored in a 6,000-square-foot space in the University Library breezeway that includes a computer lab, study area, and “gathering space” where students meet twice a week. 

Annette Reed, the college’s inaugural dean, said she hopes Wileety will instill a sense of community within Native students. 

“If you are on a campus of 31,000 students and only 100 of them are Native, you’re going to get lost,” she said. “We wanted to create a place that felt like home. 

“Part of their support system is one another. When these students walk into a room, they are not alone.” 

Wood announced the creation of the Native American College on Nov. 8, 2024 in the state Capitol’s Assembly Chamber on California Indian Cultural Education Day, naming long-time Ethnic Studies professor and Native American community leader Reed as its first dean. 

Wileety was planned in collaboration with California Tribal Nations and Native American communities to better serve and support Native students. 

“It’s the first of its kind in all the history of these colleges throughout the state,” said Joaquin Tarango, tribal community relations advisor to Wood. “When these universities were established, Native people weren’t invited to them. We had to fight our way to being here. We had to find all the other Natives on campus to come together and support one another. 

“... The importance of creating Wileety and Native resource centers is you’re creating space for these students to come and feel comfortable, to feel seen, to feel heard.” 

While learning is valued in Native American culture, the idea of formal education has been problematic. Boarding schools created by the U.S. government in 1879 to assimilate Native children into so-called American culture devastated whole generations. 

Native children were sent far from their homes and families — often involuntarily — and forced to cut their hair and give up their language, traditional clothing, customs, and religion. 

“Our children were often barred from receiving a quality education and removed from the education that we’ve cultivated in our community since time immemorial,” said Christina Snider-Ashtari, an enrolled member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians and tribal affairs secretary to Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

“... Sacramento State is leading the way and creating a place for our students to have culturally informed, quality education in California.” 

First year student Gabriel Askley, whose mother is from the Ojibwe tribe, left his home in Wisconsin to enroll at Sac State. 

“Something about the Wileety Native American College stuck out and just felt right,” said Askley, whose uncles are Ojibwe elders. “It felt like I needed to be here, and after my first meeting with Dean Reed, I knew Sac State was the perfect pick for me. 

“I’m so comfortable here … It’s welcoming. The biggest thing is having more Native people than just me.”

Native American community leaders thanked Wood and other University officials, including Senior Advisor to the President Mark Wheeler and Vice President of Inclusive Excellence Michael V. Nguyen, for having the vision to establish the WNAC.

A representative for Assemblymember James Ramos, the first California Native American elected to the state Legislature, also presented WNAC officals with a resolution of support.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Aniesha Mitchell said Wileety was created, and named, to be a place of belonging. 

“It is a place rooted in cultural respect and academic excellence, a place where Native students are not asked to leave parts of themselves at the door,” she said. “Here, you bring all of who you are — your traditions, your languages, your families, your communities — into every classroom, every conversation, and into every goal that you set.”