When students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members gather Friday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of McMaster’s Indigenous Studies Program, they will also have the opportunity to cheer two emblems of its success.

Dawn Martin-Hill, an early advocate for the creation of an Indigenous Studies program, will officially be recognized as the inaugural holder of the Paul. R. MacPherson Chair in Indigenous Studies.

The 20th anniversary celebration of the program – a two-hour open house starting at noon in McMaster’s Council Chambers (Gilmour Hall Room 111) –  will also feature the announcement of the winner of the Harvey Longboat Graduate Scholarship Award, valued at up to $15,000.

Martin-Hill, now an associate professor of anthropology, had worked while still a student to bring together leaders from McMaster and Six Nations to create the program.

Her current research includes overseeing the translation and digitization of rare ethnographic records from Six Nations, dating back to the 19th century, and restoring traditional knowledge to nurture Haudenosaunee youth in following healthy pathways to adulthood.

All are invited to attend the open house. Indigenous Studies Program director Rick Monture and dean of Social Sciences Charlotte Yates are among the speakers scheduled to appear, beginning at 12:30 p.m.