Established in 1955, the work of the Institute of American Indian Studies includes organizing campus programs to promote education and awareness of American Indian culture, issues, and problems; assisting University of South Dakota efforts to recruit and retain American Indian students, faculty, and staff; encouraging increased levels of research on American Indian life; and strengthening relations with tribes, tribal colleges, and other appropriate American Indian organizations in the state and region.

With the advent of the University of SouthDakota's American Indian Studies Major Program in 1998, the Institute's director was designated Program director. The director and administrative assistant maintain the Institute as the advising center for the major.

The Institute of American Indian Studies administers one of the largest oral history collections of its kind in the United States. The South Dakota Oral History Center's archives contain over 5,200 recorded interviews. Oral History Center projects and American Indian student recruitment and leadership programs in the past were supported, in part, through a grant from the General Mills Foundation in conjunction with the University of South Dakota Foundation.