In 1990, Kathryn M. Buder founded the Buder Center for American Indian Studies within the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Since then, a total of 149 Master of Social Work (MSW) degrees have been earned and awarded through the Buder Foundation Scholarship. All scholars work with Native people and Native organizations on and off Tribal homelands, exemplifying the commitment of each graduate to acknowledge the needs of our Peoples and continue working toward future change.
In social work, we welcome all people. Our program engages theory and pedagogy with the connectedness and inclusivity of Native/Indigenous teachings. Incorporating communal and cultural ways help encourage and prepare our scholars for movement back to the center of a circle without linear constraints. When Native ways of knowing and Indigenous pedagogies are introduced into our social work curriculum, it offers a way back to where we once were as Native Peoples.
The Buder Center and the Brown School’s unique inclusion of seeing and recognizing culture and alternative ways of knowing allow for all voices to have a seat at the table. The Native-focused courses are specific in the areas of mental health, social policy, community development, and Indigenous ways of knowing, bringing together what we know as Native people to community and family work. For the last four-and-a-half years, I have been privileged to serve as the Director.
There are so many successes of Buder alumni working in the mental health field. Tescha Hawley (Gros Ventre Tribe), ’07, founded DayeI Hope Project on the Fort Belknap reservation to offer support, including equine therapy, for Native people battling cancer and other health-related challenges. In social work, we realize the whole person does not just mean healing one part of the self, but all parts. The Day Eagle Hope Project engages and encourages healing of past, current, and intergenerational trauma through a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
Native child advocacy is another important area that must continue to move forward. In so many cultures, children are sacred beings; they are gifts from our Creator. Dr. Sarah Kastelic (Alutiiq), ’97, is the Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA). She works tirelessly to empower Native child advocates and train those working with and for Native children across our nation. This organization is a cornerstone and an educational lighthouse in a time of healing and forward movement for past atrocities.
As part of this advocacy, graduating MSW Buder scholar Deezhi Thin (Diné), ’26, researched historical and intergenerational trauma to give context to those not familiar with Native history. She was invited to present her research under our Native Child Advocacy Studies grant at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM.
As Native American and Alaska Native social workers, we continue to trace and follow the original paths of our Elders and ancestors toward health through a spiritual, whole-person lens that captures what we yearn for as a Peoples, examining how we treat ourselves and others during the process. As Indigenous Peoples, we have culture. This culture is the heart of our continued survival in a world repeatedly turning the pages on our history of loss. When we take a strength-based approach, we empower one another with stories like the ones shared here.
The spirit of the Buder Foundation scholarship is to return, share, and give back to our Tribal and urban communities what was awarded to us through this education. We strive to inspire future generations of social workers while staying in community with each other. For 36 years, Buder scholars have committed to the profession of social work and are part of this legacy of helpers. We have become clinical practitioners, mental health champions and scholars, policy makers, educators, public health workers on national and global levels. We are leaders. And we are just getting started. Áhehee’.
Pamela L. Begay (Diné), PhD, LCSW is Director at the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, Associate Professor of Practice, North American Commissioner, International Federation of Social Workers and Commissioner for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice Council, CSWE, and Board Member, Association of Women Faculty.
Top Photo: 2026 Buder Scholars. Photo courtesy of Pamela L. Begay.
