First Nations Studies for Professionals Noncredit Certificate
Advance Collective
Awareness
Recognizing and valuing First Nations' perspectives to foster respect and inclusion.
Improve and enrich your professional practice with a certificate program designed in partnership with Social Work Professional Programs to expand awareness and understanding of the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Native American Nations in Wisconsin. Experiential teaching methods will reflect tribal oral tradition, Elder epistemology and participatory learning.
Our Certificate at a Glance
Find out more about the First Nations Studies for Professionals Noncredit Certificate.
Dates
March 2025-January 2026
5 full-day sessions
Format
In-person
Investment
$39/session students
$49/session professionals
Full certificate $245
What are the "4Rs?"
The 4Rs in Indigenous culture refer to Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity and Responsibility. These principles are foundational in Indigenous education and community practices. These principles will guide our educational approach and interactions.
The 4Rs honor and dignify the inherent value of all peoples, including their unique ways of knowing and being, and contribute positively to collective well-being.
Unique Insight & Wisdom
Educators and health and human services professionals will benefit from the unique insights and wisdom offered by the certificate program. In addition, sessions will fulfill continuing education requirements for health and human services professionals and Act 31 requirements for educators and school social workers.
- Classroom teachers
- Teacher educators
- University faculty
- Field supervisors
- Program coordinators
- Social workers
- Professional counselors
- Marriage and family therapists
- Nursing home administrators
Meaningful Sessions
Gain greater appreciation of Native American heritage and issues.
Learn in a context of culture and practice consistent with First Nations' values. Options are available for every learner. Educators and education professionals can satisfy Act 31 requirements by taking at least two of the five sessions. Health and human service professionals can earn continuing education credit by taking one or more sessions. Learners who complete all five sessions will earn the certificate and a digital badge.
Understanding First Nations
Green Bay Campus
Friday, March 28, 2025
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Become grounded in the multiple facets of Indigenous identities and their relationship to original practices and belief systems. Reflect on your own preconceptions in order to examine the development, interaction and diversity of relationships with First Nations peoples. Examine how your ideology and worldview may contrast with First Nations.' Acknowledge how Euro-American colonization impacted the historical and contemporary status of the First Nations in Wisconsin. Explore the concept of cultural humility as it relates your own practices of working with First Nations individuals and families. Co-facilitated by Forrest Brooks and Lisa Poupart.
Continuing Education (Special Topic): 6 CEHs/0.6 CEUs
Cost: $49 professionals, $39 students
Resistance, Change & Colonization
Green Bay Campus
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Examine the multiple factors that brought about the destruction and loss of traditional ways for First Nations due to Euro-American contact and colonization. Participants will learn about the ways in which Euro-American political, economic, legal and social power facilitated the near genocide of First Nations. Engage in discussion to dispel popular stereotypes regarding First Nations peoples and how these stereotypes impact them today. Whenever possible, the exploration of American Indians will draw upon the Wisconsin First Nations for specific examples and illustrations, including the Anishinaabeg, Menominee, Oneida, Hochunk, Mohican, Brotherton and Potawatomi. We will conclude with an exploration of the perseverance of First Nations peoples in the United States today. Co-facilitated by Forrest Brooks and Lisa Poupart.
Continuing Education (Special Topic): 6 CEHs/0.6 CEUs
Cost: $49 professionals, $39 students
Indigenous Education, Euro-American Policy and Historical Trauma
Green Bay Campus
Friday, August 15, 2025
9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Examine in-depth specific Euro-American education policies including the U.S. Federal Indian boarding schools. Education is evaluated as a colonial tool of assimilation and institutional oppression. Unresolved historic grief syndrome and historical trauma will be presented as lenses for understanding and addressing social issues in First Nations communities today, including suicide, domestic violence and substance abuse. Co-facilitated by Forrest Brooks and Lisa Poupart.
Continuing Education (Special Topic): 6 CEHs/0.6 CEUs
Cost: $49 professionals, $39 students
Professionals in First Nations Communities
Green Bay Campus
Friday, November 21, 2025
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Focus on ethics and boundaries as they apply to professionals working with First Nations communities. Participants will examine personal worldviews, as well as professional obligations and boundaries, and will identify situations that are unique to professionals working with First Nations communities and/or with First Nations peoples. Participants will apply ethical decision-making models to scenario-based discussions. Through experiential learning and accurate, authentic information, you will enrich your professional practice in ways that are culturally appropriate and reflective of First Nations peoples. Facilitated by Suzanne Cross.
Continuing Education (Ethics & Boundaries): 4 CEHs/0.4 CEUs
Cost: $49 professionals, $39 students
First Nations Generational Healing for Professionals
Green Bay Campus
Friday, January 16, 2026
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
In the final session, we will focus on the idea and practice of generational healing. A brief contextualization of historical and generational trauma will initiate the session. You will learn to renew relationships using Indigenous protocols. Discussions will include various examples of Indigenous traditions including how to relate to healthy ways of being and how to relate to the world. In addition, the concept of the medicine wheel, which is used as a way of connecting and building relationships, will be reviewed in-depth. Discuss and apply the concepts of the practice of healing while focusing on your own ways of interacting and working with Indigenous peoples. Co-facilitated by Forrest Brooks and Lisa Poupart.
Continuing Education (Special Topic): 6 CEHs/0.6 CEUs
Cost: $49 professionals, $39 students
Gain a Competitive Advantage
Upon successful completion of this certificate, you will receive an exclusive UW-Green Bay credential, a digital badge validating your accomplishment and signaling to employers your mastery of the curriculum. The digital badge can be featured on LinkedIn, your resume, email signature or website.
Act 31
Act 31, also known as Wisconsin Act 31, is a law that requires all public school districts and pre-service education programs in Wisconsin to provide instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of the state’s eleven federally-recognized American Indian nations and tribal communities. This law was enacted to ensure that students and educators have a better understanding and appreciation of Native American heritage and issues. Source: DPI Wisconsin
CSWE Accreditation
The UW-Green Bay Social Work Professional Program, accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the UW Oshkosh Council on Professional Counseling, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services and UW-Green Bay, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools approves continuing education training for UW-Green Bay and are accepted by the State of Wisconsin as continuing education credit hours.
Instructors
Forrest Brooks, MA
Forrest Brooks is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, with family lines also in the Stockbridge-Munsee and Menominee Nation communities. He serves as a lecturer in First Nations Studies within the Humanities program at UW-Green Bay.In the early years of the program, he served as an Academic Advisor assisting in outreach to Indigenous communities in Wisconsin, such as Menominee Nation, Oneida Nation, Stockbridge-Munsee Nation and to the Lac Du Flambeau community. Previously, Forrest worked in the Oneida Nation on the creation of Oneida language teaching materials and as a teacher of Oneida language. Forrest is part of the team that has created the First Nations Education Doctoral Program (Ed.D.), the first doctoral program at UW-Green Bay.
Suzanne Cross, Ph.D.
Suzanne Cross is an Associate Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University-School of Social Work. She is a citizen of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan and an accomplished artist who does beadwork and shawl making.Suzanne has been a member of the Ziibiwing Board of Directors since 2013. Her collection of 13 shawls “in recognition of the 13 moons from the Creation Story,” was featured at the Ziibiwing Center in a changing exhibit that ran from October, 2014 through February, 2015. Suzanne, an open heart surgery survivor, designed the shawls to encourage American Indian women to recognize the value of changing lifeways to prolong and save lives.
Lisa M. Poupart, Ph.D.
Lisa M. Poupart is a member of the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabeg. She is an Associate Professor of First Nations Studies, Women's and Gender Studies and Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.Lisa chairs the First Nations Studies Program and co-directs the Education Center for First Nations Studies. She also directs the First Nations Education Doctoral Program (Ed.D.). Her work centers on First Nations generational healing of historic trauma. She is an international board member of Debwewin, a nonprofit First Nations organization dedicated to education about traditional healing systems to promote the wellness of all beings and the Earth. Lisa is also involved in a number of initiatives to standardize First Nations Studies curriculum in grades K-16.
Need Guidance?
If you have any questions or need additional guidance, please contact Melissa Betke, Program Specialist, at betkem@uwgb.edu.