Project Grant P25AP02052

Ball State University was awarded $149,918 in federal project grant funding effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Consultation/Documentation Grants program (CFDA 15.922), administered by the Department of the Interior National Park Service. The award supports in-person consultation activities conducted by the university's Controller's Office in Indiana, aligned with NAGPRA's mandate to facilitate respectful engagement between cultural institutions and federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the identification, documentation, and potential repatriation of Native American human remains and cultural items held in institutional collections.

The project grant enables Ball State University to conduct tribal consultations, develop collection inventories and documentation to establish cultural affiliation and geographical origin of holdings, and prepare notices for Federal Register publication as required under NAGPRA compliance protocols. These consultation and documentation activities represent core program objectives designed to support the institutional and tribal processes necessary for determining eligibility and facilitating the respectful return of ancestral remains and sacred cultural objects to descendant communities in accordance with federal law.