The Native American Student Programs office provides educational, cultural, and social support for American Indian students. This office coordinates a variety of activities designed to expand education awareness for American Indian students as well as the campus community. NASP encourages the development and enhancement of leadership and interpersonal communication skills through active participation, which makes it possible to plan and implement innovative programs, that promotes and educates the campus community about the uniqueness of American Indians.
Under NASP, the most active student groups are the Native American Student Association (NASA) and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES).
NASA consists of students from many Native American communities throughout the United States and other diverse backgrounds. In addition, they also consist of Indigenous people from Mexico and Canada. These students are dedicated to establishing strong working ties with neighboring Native American communities, increasing the size of Native American students at UCR. It provides a rich cultural environment in which Native American students can prosper. NASP and NASA sponsors and co-sponsors various programs throughout the school year. The following are the programs provided for Native American students.
The AISES chapter of UCR was formed in the Spring of 1995. The National office is based in Alburqurque, NM. The primary purpose of the UCR AISES chapter is to increase the interest of science and engineering in American Indian students and also to develop national networking with other AISES chapters. AISES also focuses on the recruitment and retention of American Indian students to increase the number of Indian professionals and researchers, which is vital to the synchronization between tradition and science.