The California State University, San Bernardino, will start offering courses in Serrano from this year. Serrano will be the second American Indian language that will be taught at the university. Last year, the university introduced courses in Luiseño.
Cal State is one of the few U.S. universities to offer for-credit indigenous-language courses.
Both courses are funded by tribes with profitable casinos, in an attempt to revive languages that were at risk of extinction after centuries of U.S. government efforts to eradicate American Indian culture.
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, whose reservation is near Highland, will fund the Serrano classes, which will be offered in three undergraduate levels beginning 2013-14 academic year. The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, whose reservation is near Temecula funds the Luiseño course.
Currently, the land occupied by the university is where the Serrano people previously lived before the European settlers arrived.
The Serrano courses will feature the history and culture of the Serrano people. Tribal members will be able to enrol for the course for college credit along with Cal State students through Cal State's College of Extended Learning.
The courses will be taught by three San Manuel specialists and Ernest Siva, who has spoken Serrano since his childhood and launched efforts to preserve the language for decades.
"This seems like a dream that this would be happening," Siva said. "I don't really have anyone to talk to besides myself," Siva said.
Siva said that Serrano is taught on the reservation, and the tribes have created games, apps with Siva's voice, and other methods to preserve the language. But it's also important to include this indigenous language as an academic subject, together with French, Spanish and other languages.
Siva hopes that by introducing Serrano as a credit based course, more people will become aware of the language and start to speak regularly.
