The Office of American Indian Initiatives (OAII) was created to serve as the liaison between Arizona State University and the 22 federally recognized Arizona Tribal nations and their citizens. The OAII works to serve as the voice for American Indian and Alaska Natives whether they be students, staff, faculty or representing the tribes themselves. In the fall of 2015, there were approximately 2,600 enrolled American Indian and Alaska Native undergraduate and graduate students on all of the ASU campuses. This is the highest number of student enrollment to date. With enrollment numbers increasing every year, it is important that these students' needs are addressed and the Office of American Indian Initiatives works closely with other departments to ensure that resources are available to ensure their academic success.
ASU recognizes the importance of fostering and developing its relationship with the surrounding American Indian communities. The OAII ensures that these relationships are beneficial to both the Tribes and ASU. ASU relies on the the expertise of its American Indian faculty and staff who have years of experience, not only working in the higher education, but also in working closely with Tribal nations. This allows the university to have a better understanding of the history and desired future plans of community development for Tribal Nations.
Past and current initiatives that have developed in recent years is the Tribal Nations Tour, which is an outreach and retention program that focuses on AI/AN kindergarten to twelfth grade students. The OAII also assists the American Indian Student Support Services and Access ASU with the annual Re-Charge Event which is an all-day conference for middle-school and high school students to familiarize them with different aspects of higher education. In fall 2014, the office hosted the Indigenous Sustainability Conference, a dynamic two-day conference that attracted Indigenous scholars from all over the world to discuss the importance of Indigenous knowledge and how that knowledge continues to be beneficial to the development of Western society. The office is currently working on the development of a tribal college with the San Carlos Apache Tribe.