Annual Campus NAGPRA Survey & Bi-Annual Walkthroughs
Monday, October 26, 2026, 4:01pmTO: All Employees
FR: Michael E. Spagna, President and Elise-Alexandria Green, Director of Tribal Relations
Dear Campus Community,
As part of our institution’s ongoing commitment to fulfilling our responsibilities under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and supporting respectful, accountable relationships with Tribal Nations and Native Hawaiian Organizations, we are launching our annual campus NAGPRA survey. The goal of this is to have all employees of SSU participate and complete this survey by the due date. In recent surveys, we’ve had about 65% of campus participation.
Progress and Outcomes to Date
Our campus-wide review and outreach efforts continue to demonstrate the importance of proactively identifying and reviewing materials held across the institution. To date:
- In-person reviews Completed: 9
- Departments where potential cultural items and/or possible ancestral remains were located: 3
- Department trainings completed: 1
- NAGPRA-eligible items recovered: Items identified through the review process were subsequently confirmed to be eligible under NAGPRA.
The recovery and identification of NAGPRA-eligible items underscores the importance of continued participation in the annual survey and review process. It also demonstrates that potentially eligible materials may be located in departments, offices, storage areas, laboratories, or other spaces that have not traditionally been considered collections-holding units.
New This Year: Campus-Wide Department Walkthroughs
This year, in addition to the annual survey, we will conduct an in-person walkthrough of every campus department. These walkthroughs will occur every two years to ensure compliance with the CSU Systemwide NAGPRA Policy. These walkthroughs are intended to provide an additional opportunity to identify materials, collections, records, or spaces that may warrant further review under NAGPRA.
The walkthroughs will also allow departments to ask questions, identify areas of uncertainty, and work directly with Repatriation Coordinators Kirsten Twork and Stephanie Laurencell to determine whether additional review is needed. Departments will receive additional information regarding scheduling and what to expect during the walkthrough process.
The annual survey and department walkthroughs are complementary parts of our campus-wide effort to ensure that potentially NAGPRA-eligible materials are appropriately identified, documented, and addressed.
Survey deadline: November 6, 2026
Survey link: https://sonoma.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eQLv4ZxolOGW2bA
Who should complete the survey?
All employees on campus are required to complete the survey even if they have responded in previous years or believe they do not currently hold NAGPRA-related materials. Please coordinate within your department or unit as appropriate to ensure that the response is complete and accurate.
If you encounter materials that you believe may be subject to NAGPRA, or if you are uncertain about the status of materials under your unit’s care, please do not move, handle, separate, or independently determine the status of the materials. Contact the NAGPRA Program at nagpra@sonoma.edu for guidance and next steps.
Information collected through the survey and walkthrough process will support the university’s ongoing NAGPRA compliance, consultation, documentation, and repatriation responsibilities.
Thank you for your participation and cooperation with this year’s survey and campus-wide walkthroughs. The results of our previous reviews demonstrate that this process is important and effective. Your engagement helps ensure that potentially eligible items are identified appropriately and that our campus approaches its NAGPRA responsibilities with care, accountability, transparency, and respect. If you have any questions, please refer to the FAQ page on our website regarding campus surveys and searches.