The event, sponsored by the Department of Native American Studies in the College of Letters and Science, will honor Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet tribal elder, activist, banker and rancher who attended MSU and received an honorary doctorate in 2002. The new arbor is located in the garden area north of American Indian Hall, the first building on campus designed and built to serve Native students. The event will feature tours of American Indian Hall, an exhibit of art by Winold Reiss, refreshments, door prizes, honor song from the Bobcat Singers drum group and remarks from dignitaries, including a tribal elder and MSU President Brock Tessman. The dedication of the Elouise Cobell Garden Arbor is scheduled for 11:45 a.m.

“The arbor is a quarter round, which completes the architectural circle as it embraces the building,” Fleming said. “Symbolically, we have the arbor as a connection to the reservations, back to students’ homes. It’s also that notion that we’re creating a space for culture as an extension of the building.”