MIAMI — The Florida International University Global Indigenous Forum, in its seventh year, has announced the following upcoming programs that are free and open to the public:

On Oct. 14, FIU Indigenous Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be a celebration of Indigenous peoples and issues on the Graham Center north lawn.

The event is organized by the student club the Global Indigenous Group.

On Oct. 15, Democratizing the Conversation on Earth Citizenship, an Intercultural Dialogue from Indigenous and Western Perspectives on Humans and Nature will be held from 3:15 to 4:50 p.m.at FIU Modesto Maidique campus, room SIPA 103. The event is organized by the FIU Global Indigenous Forum.

Speakers will be Thomas Pliske and Rubi Hurtado. Pliske is Lecturer Emeritus in the Department of Earth and Environment, and the Department of Religious Studies at FIU. He is the author of numerous articles in scientific journals and the books, “Light, Truth and Nature” and “A Himalayan Hope and a Himalayan Promise.”

Hurtado is traditional musician, dancer, researcher, and professional journalist from the Xauxa-Quechua people of Peru. She is a founding member of both the Kuyayky Foundation, and the FIU Global Indigenous Forum. She holds degrees in journalism and anthropology from FIU.

A University-Community Partnership to Ameliorate Substance Use Among Native American Adolescents will be held in November on a date to be announced. The event is organized by the Global Indigenous Forum.

Native American youth report higher rates of alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug use than U.S. adolescents from any other racial/ethnic group. Dr. Michelle Hospital, from the FIU Department of Biostatistics, and Dr. Staci Leon Morris, from the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, will present their research and interventions incorporating Native American cultural values involving tribal elders and stakeholders as partners.

Both are associate directors in FIU’s Community-Based Research Institute (CBRI).

For more information call 305-348-2247 or go to indigenous.fiu.edu.