Professor Enrique Salmón appointed as Cal State East Bay Inaugural Tribal Liaison

Dear Cal State East Bay community,

I am writing today to inform you of the appointment of Professor Enrique Salmón as Cal State East Bay’s Tribal Liaison. This is a new part-time role, reporting to the president, in addition to his primary role as Professor of Ethnic Studies.

This past year the university began a formal effort to repatriate tribal remains and artifacts to local Indigenous and Native communities in our region both to comply with federal and state laws–and more importantly–because it is the right thing to do. As part of this effort we have dramatically increased our formal and informal engagement with local tribal leaders. Professor Salmón will play a key role assisting me with building these important relationships that we hope will remain vital even after the repatriation process has been completed. As a member of an Indigenous community, Professor Salmón has cultural knowledge essential to establishing and building such relationships.

Our university community, like many communities throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area, gathers on the ancestral land where the Muwekma Ohlone and North Valley Yokut people continue to live and honor the centuries-old traditions of their sacred land. I am proud that our university has developed a land acknowledgement, and I am even more proud that our land acknowledgement is backed up by tangible action.

Please join me in thanking Professor Enrique Salmón for his willingness to accept this presidential appointment as Cal State East Bay’s Inaugural Tribal Liaison.

With warm regards,

Cathy Sandeen
President

February 15, 2022