Volume 13 Spring 2002 Issue #3
In This Issue
Sustaining Our Future
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On Campus
Red Crow fire destroys college library
A fire of suspicious origin on Halloween night caused serious damage at Red Crow Community College's library near Cardston, Alberta. At press time, the college was still trying to find out if their insurance would cover all the damage, according to Red Crow President Marie Smallface Marule. Police are investigating the possibility of arson. Despite the late hour (1:30 a.m.), several staff showed up, and some ran into the library and retrieved paintings.
The college continued operating in its student housing facilities while insurance adjusters worked in the main campus building. Originally the St. Mary's Residential School, the three-story brick and concrete structure was constructed in 1917. The college converted the original chapel into a library. Although the primary structure is intact, the most expensive areas of the building were destroyed: the library, electrical system, and heating system, Marule said. They hoped to be back into the building by the end of January with a portable building for the library.
The library had accumulated over 20,000 books over the years, primarily through donations, according to Library Coordinator Mary Weasel Fat. Some may be salvageable. The Native American collection, including 150 Native American videos, was completely lost. The library staff had automated about a third of the library collection.
Despite the disaster, Weasel Fat retained her optimism and found some reasons to be grateful. She had just picked up a new, $5,300 cataloging system, but she had not brought it into the library. Although a large, $5,000 painting was damaged, they were able to save several limited edition prints, which they are selling for a capital campaign. About 20 oral history tapes of people on the Blood reserve were destroyed, but copies were stored elsewhere. Weasel Fat has been developing the library for seven years. "At least I know what to do," she said. "I have been through it before." She said they would welcome any books, periodicals, and Native American video donations.
The college continued with its plans to start a capital campaign in conjunction with its 15th anniversary on Nov. 29. "We hope to raise money to provide technical and vocational training as well as academic," Marule said.
The fire will not affect plans for the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education, which is being sponsored by Canadian First Nations institutions in August (see separate story). Donations can be sent to Red Crow Community College Library, P.O. Box 1258, Cardston, Alberta, Canada TOK OKO. Call (403) 737-2400 for more information.
Paige names director of White House office
U. S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige has appointed Victoria L. Thornton as the new director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities (WHITCU).
WHITCU was created by former President William Clinton's executive order in 1996. The office receives advice from the President's Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities. Members of the board had not been named at press time. As director of the initiative, Thornton will work with members of the board and department leadership to ensure tribal colleges and universities are recognized as accredited institutions and have access to federal opportunities available to other higher education institutions.
Thornton worked in the former Bush Administration as director of scheduling and logistics for Admiral James D. Watkins at the U. S. Department of Energy and in the Reagan Administration as a staff member for the Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economics. She is returning to the Department of Education where she worked in various capacities from 1981-1987.
Thornton is part Diegueno of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians located in Valley Center, CA, where her father served as tribal chairman for nearly 20 years. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from California State University- Fullerton and her teaching credentials from the University of California- Irvine. Carrie Billy (Navajo) served as the first WHITCU executive director under the Clinton Administration.
First Nations institutes form own consortium
Indigenous institutes that provide adult and higher education in Canada have formed a nationwide organization, the National Association of Indigenous Institutes of Higher Learning (NAIIHL). The indigenous educators modeled their organization after the American Indian Higher Education consortium (AIHEC), according to Marie Smallface Marule, president of Red Crow Community College in Alberta and also vice chair of the NAIIHL. As a member of the AIHEC board of directors, Marule has been working with tribal college presidents in the United States for several years. "We envy the support you get through AIHEC," she told her colleagues in the United States at the fall board meeting.
The Institutes that form the association are governed by Indigenous People to meet the postsecondary educational needs of the Indigenous communities of Canada. The First Nations coalition held its initial meeting in March 2000. Later they developed a Memorandum of Agreement that emphasizes their objectives: to promote indigenous knowledge, language, and culture and to facilitate access to resources.
Funding for the Canadian consortium is provided by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). Approximately 70 institutes have been represented at the NAIIHL meetings. The board of directors members come from various regions of Canada: Chair Murray Maracle (Ontario); Vice Chair Marule (Alberta); Treasurer Barbara Morin (British Columbia); Secretary Verna Billy Minnabarriet (British Columbia); Norma Shorty (Yukon); Eleanor Bernard (Nova Scotia); Harry Lafond (Saskatchewan); and Delbert Molton (New Brunswick).
"AIIHL is a vehicle to represent and assert our distinctiveness and to affirm our inherent, aboriginal and treaty rights and responsibilities as indigenous nations," according to Eleanor Bernard (Mi'kmaq), who represents the Mi'kmaq College Institute located in Sydney, Nova Scotia. The NAIIHL will advocate for and support technical, adult, postsecondary, and related Indigenous education. "It is through networking and sharing information that we can make educational programming work for the indigenous students," Bernard said.
State, tribe increase funds for Diné College
For the past 33 years, tribal colleges have continually struggled financially because they lacked the core funding enjoyed by state universities and community colleges. Diné College has made significant progress, however, during the past three years, in attaining funding from tribal and state governments. In August 2001, the state of Arizona passed legislation providing sales tax revenues for universities and colleges in the state. It could potentially bring more than $4 million to the tribal college over the years from sales tax revenue collected on or near the Navajo Nation. The college will receive a minimum of $200,000 annually for 20 years, with an additional amount funded on a formula based on the number of students. The legislation allows some of the state's new six-tenths of a cent sales tax to be used for workforce development.
Also last summer, the Navajo Nation Council doubled its appropriation for the college, allocating $2.1 million. The college will use the additional Navajo Nation funds to strengthen its community campus sites in the state. President Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet expressed her gratitude to the state and the tribal government. Based in Tsaile, AZ, Diné College has eight campuses, including two in New Mexico. It serves primarily the Navajo Nation, serving both Indian and non-Indian students. For copies of the legislation and information about the legislative strategy, contact the development office at Diné College (520) 724-6687.
In 1999, both Arizona and New Mexico lawmakers passed laws benefiting the college. The Arizona Legislature agreed to return a small portion of the Transaction Privilege Tax revenues collected on the Navajo Nation to Diné College to help improve its facilities. The college will receive $17.25 million over 10 years.
In New Mexico, voters approved a general obligation bond to support education throughout the state, including $1 million each for construction on two tribally-controlled college campuses, Diné College-Shiprock and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.
The states' support for Diné College is very unusual. Although all tribal colleges accept students from throughout the community whether they are Indian or non-Indian, most of the states have consistently refused to provide any state support for tribal colleges. The other colleges rely primarily on the federal government for core support, which pays only for Indian students and which has only reached two-thirds of authorized funding, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
D-Q students build renewable energy trailer
By Vivian GrattonIt pumps waters, cooks lunch, can power a circular saw, and it rolls. It's the D-Q University Renewable Energy Trailer, outfitted in September 2001 by D-Q University undergraduates and other tribal professionals. The trailer will be hauled to pow-wows, festivals, and schools, and will also provide hands-on education for renewable energy courses and workshops on the D-Q campus near Davis, CA. Once pulled onto location, the trailer quickly converts to a 300-watt power system, mini-kitchen, and education station.
To set it up, demonstrators pull out wind turbine and pole-mounted solar panels and affix them to the frame. The trailer also includes a solar water pumping display, solar cookers, and brownie mix. With the north-facing doors open, visitors can see charge controllers, disconnects, an inverter, and batteries. Large diagrams and information sheets explain how each component and each system works. Also on display are D-Q University brochures, event flyers, and college applications.
A Department of Energy grant for renewable energy feasibility studies and education funded the renewable energy trailer project and workshop. D-Q instructor Sue Mahoney wanted a portable education station to take the college's renewable energy program out to the geographical dispersed California Indian lands. Scott Ely, a Colorado-based solar expert with his own renewables education trailer, responded enthusiastically to the request for another trailer. He taught a hands-on installation workshop.
Putting together the power trailer was a tremendous learning experience. Environmental professionals from four local tribes joined eight undergraduates to assemble the power systems. Together these professionals and students stripped wires, tightened screws, tested electrical continuity, and bolted down battery cables.
One Sunday afternoon, after a meal of solar-oven cooked lasagna and brownies, the trailer was pulled out into the sun. Students proudly watched the inverter and charge-controller displays while planning a fundraiser of solar (blended) smoothies and solar brownies.
For more information, contact Sue Mahoney at D-Q University (530) 758-0470, ext. 1023, or email smahoney@dqu.cc.ca.us.
OLC building faculty endowment fund
When Thomas Shortbull became president of Oglala Lakota College (OLC) in 1995, the college didn't have a faculty endowment fund. At that time, OLC had $1.1 million in non-scholarship endowment funds and $351,628 in scholarship endowments.
Due to the pressing need for new college facilities on the Pine Ridge Reservation and Rapid City, SD, OLC first focused on its Rebuilding the Lakota Nation Through Education Campaign, which resulted in $7 million in facilities construction. OLC's remaining construction will be addressed through the American Indian College Fund's Capital Campaign.
In December 1999, OLC embarked on Phase III of its Rebuilding the Lakota Nation Through Education Campaign by establishing a goal of $10 million in a faculty endowment fund by 2004 and $20 million by 2009. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $500,000 challenge grant with the requirement that OLC raise $1.5 million to endow faculty positions in OLC's Lakota Studies Department. OLC has raised $911,522 and will need to raise the remaining $588,478 by 2003. Last month, OLC received a $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation in support of the NEH challenge.
With the NEH challenge, OLC has created two Lakota Studies Faculty Endowments: the William Horn Cloud Lakota Language Faculty Endowment and the Gerald One Feather Lakota Studies Faculty Endowment Fund. By 2004 Oglala Lakota College will utilize 6% of the return on investments to support faculty salaries. The college hopes to add 10-15 more faculty positions.
"Creating a faculty endowment fund is the only way to maintain a quality academic environment to meet the needs of the Oglala Nation and our students," Shortbull said. As of November 2001, OLC had $665,648 in its scholarship endowment, $1.2 million in a facilities maintenance endowment, and $5.1 million in its faculty endowment.
Fort Peck honors long time president
By Lisa N. PerryDuring the National Indian Education Association 2001 opening pow-wow in Billings, MT, in October, the Fort Peck Community College (FPCC) held a giveaway to honor longtime college president Dr. James. E. Shanley (Assiniboine). He is a well known Indian educator across the United States.
Shanley, whose Nakoda name is "Eagle Standing By the Eagle Lodge Door,'' was presented with an eagle feather war bonnet. The Mandaree Singers of Mandaree, ND, sang an honor song.
Shanley has been the president of Fort Peck Community College in Poplar, MT, for the past 17 years and has served as the American Indian Higher Education Consortium president for the past year. His fellow tribal college presidents re-elected him president at the October board meeting. Robert Fourstar Sr., faculty member at the college, spoke of Shanley's numerous accomplishments. "It is good to have this opportunity to honor one of our own," stated Fourstar. Pendleton blankets were given away to numerous Indian tribal colleges within the United States.
Fort Peck tribal dignitaries at the honoring included Arlyn Headdress, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribes and current member of the college board; Rick Kirn, Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board member and college board member; Bill Whitehead, chair of the FPCC board; and Larry Wetsit, manager of customer affairs at Nemont Telephone Cooperative in Scobey, MT, who was a past FPCC board member. Many Fort Peck Community College administrators, staff, friends and family members were also present to help honor and support Shanley.
Born in Wolf Point, MT, Shanley received his doctorate in educational administration at the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 1989. Prior to Fort Peck, he worked in Arizona for four years as the director for the Southwest Resource and Evaluation Center in Tempe, and he was president of Standing Rock Community College (now Sitting Bull College) for five years. Shanley has published many articles relating to evaluation, welfare reform, and higher education in national publications, including the Tribal College Journal. Most recently, Shanley contributed to a book on tribal college development to be published in 2002. His work, he said in an interview, is "challenging, satisfying, and actually improves things."
Harder reports on college alumni success
Tribal college students supported not only themselves but also an average of 2.59 other people while they attended college. This is one of the findings of a report commissioned by the American Indian College Fund.
The study, "Redefining Success," expands the conventional notion of post-college success to encompass not only economic success but also increased personal growth and tribal /community connection. There is little long-term information about tribal college alumni. Harder+Company Community Research of San Francisco, CA, conducted the study to understand the impact of the tribal college experience on tribal college students and the impact of the College Fund scholarships on those students. They used a mail-in survey and three focus groups, which were held at Northwest Indian College, Salish Kootenai College, and Oglala Lakota College. A total of 272 surveys were completed and returned.
The study found that the majority of respondents (74.8 percent) were first generation college students. They went to college for a number of reasons, but the most important was to make a better life for themselves and their families. The proximity of the college to their homes was also important.
More than one-third of the respondents dropped out of tribal college or stopped attending temporarily, usually because of financial problems and family obligations (raising children and caring for a sick or dying family member). They mentioned the lack of transportation and childcare as big challenges for them at the tribal colleges. Asked about dropping out or stopping out of mainstream colleges, they also mentioned feeling out of place and feeling different from other students. At the tribal colleges, however, they reported a cooperative and supportive learning environment. One student said, "I always visualize [those at mainstream colleges] with their elbows out, just fighting to get to be the front. But I always felt like we just put our arms around each other and went forward together." The College Fund scholarships were very important to respondents, but they used other financial sources as well to finance their education.
Tribal colleges build the capacity of American Indians, according to the survey. Many of the respondents returned to their reservations to put their knowledge to work for the good of the tribe. The unemployment rate on reservations is often over 50 percent. Nevertheless, respondents typically worked full time. Their annual salaries, however, were less than the national average.
The College Fund plans to repeat the study. For more information about the 23-page Harder report, contact the College Fund at its Denver office (303) 426-8900 or visit the website www.collegefund.org.
Nebraska building new campus in Macy
Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) broke ground last fall for its new 23,000-square foot campus headquarters near Macy, NE. The college recently purchased 20 acres of deeded land just east of U.S. Highway 75 overlooking the village of Macy.
The new building will include a library, cultural preservation center, bookstore, 60-seat amphitheatre, science lab, smart classrooms and computer labs, and faculty and administrative offices. For students with young children, the college will provide a child development center. A smaller, natural resources building will house a classroom and hydroponic greenhouse. The college expects the structures to be completed by fall 2002, according to NICC Vice President of Academic Affairs Ralph Swain.
During the construction, NICC is installing the technology necessary to electronically deliver certain classes from the main campus in Macy to its other three campus locations (Santee, South Sioux City, and downtown Omaha). The college received $51,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a five-year U.S. Department of Education grant for learning technology ($350,000 per year), and a Bush Foundation grant for faculty development ($30,000). Faculty will use a new distance education classroom at the Macy headquarters to deliver their classes, according to NICC Information Technology Director Dan Cotter.
Phase II of the construction will include student apartments and a vocational-technical facility. WPC Group of Kansas City will serve as the construction management team and general contractor.
ANA grant to help revitalize languages
Imagine what it would feel like if there were only two-dozen speakers of the English language left on earth. It seems impossible. Yet, many indigenous tribes around the world are facing language extinction. In an attempt to bring back their languages, Fort Belknap College in Harlem, MT, designed a program that has been awarded a federal Administration for Native Americans Category II Language Program grant.
The college received $375,000 for a three-year period. The "Speaking White Clay Implementation Project" evolved in response to the college's mission of providing culturally entwined educational programs to their students as well as a desire to keep the languages alive. Continuing the survival and vitality of the Gros Ventre language is of grave concern to the tribe. Members are worried about the continuing decline of both the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine languages because with few fluent speakers under the age of 65, the threat of language extinction is very real.
Lynette Chandler, a Fort Belknap tribal member and graduate of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, is spearheading the project. From the 35 identified fluent Gros Ventre speakers, eight have been paired up with eight learner students. The speaker-learner teams meet for a minimum of 10 hours per week and gather once a month to reinforce their individual efforts. By the end of the project it is anticipated that all eight learners will be sufficiently fluent in the Gros Ventre language to pass the exam for Class VII Certification for teaching native languages in Montana public schools.
Language camps will also be held every summer for the next three years. The fluent speakers will teach college students and 50 youth between the ages of 15 and 25 in Gros Ventre language and culture.
IAIA offering four-year degree programs
The Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development (IAIA), the only museum and college in the nation devoted to Native arts and culture, has been granted four-year accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design for two of its programs. IAIA will now offer the bachelor of fine arts degree as well as the associate arts degree in both Museum Studies and Creative Writing. Upon hearing news of the award, Della Warrior, president of the IAIA, said, "This additional accreditation is a major milestone for the institute in terms of recognizing not only our commitment to excellence but our ability to follow through on that promise."
The accreditation is a significant achievement for this institution whose very existence was threatened by massive budget cuts just four years ago. In 1997 their annual federal appropriation was slashed from $10 million to $5.5 million and later to $2.5 million. Since then the IAIA has reduced its dependency on federal funding by 33% through increased private contributions and earned income programs and raised $9.8 million to establish a permanent home on 140 acres south of Santa Fe, NM.
IAIA's Creative Writing Program is chaired by award-winning poets and writers Arthur Sze and Jon Davis. Courses are offered in a variety of subjects, including literature, creative writing, poetry writing, playwriting, multicultural literature, native American journalism, text-image collaboration, and English composition.
The museum studies program is chaired by Chuck Dailey and Barbara Lucero Sand. Classes are held at both the IAIA campus and at the IAIA Museum, located in downtown Santa Fe. The Museum functions as an academic laboratory for Museum studies and a venue for student and alumni shows.
Keweenaw Bay expanding degree offerings
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) will soon join the ranks of other tribal colleges offering an associate degree in Environmental Earth Science. With a grant from the All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Treneice Marshall was hired as project coordinator and is developing the program, in partnership with Michigan Technological University and tribal colleges in the mid-west region.
The goal is to increase the number of Native students earning B.S. degrees in SMET (science, math, engineering, and technology) programs. This project is a big step toward producing Native American graduates who can support the long-term water resource planning and management goals of the Keewenaw Bay Indian community, become faculty of KBOCC in the Earth Science field, or become secondary teachers, according to KBOCC President Debra Parrish. Additionally, tribal members and staff will be involved to help incorporate traditional values, customs, and beliefs into the curriculum, something uniquely important to tribally controlled colleges and universities.
KBOCC also received a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant, "Building to Enhance Science Training" (BEST), which will cover the costs of renovating the existing facility for an updated science lab. Renovation includes rerouting plumbing, installing additional electrical outlets, installing ventilation to the outside, lowering a ceiling for appropriate task lighting and ventilation system, and removing inner walls.
Three libraries awarded enhancement grants
The directors at the Fort Peck, Salish Kootenai, and Lac Courte Oreilles tribal college libraries have received Enhancement Grants for Native American Library Services through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This year 13 libraries in tribal communities and Alaskan villages scattered across the United States were awarded these highly competitive grants totaling $1,516,000. The grants enable libraries to provide special services that would otherwise be out-of-reach. The three grants awarded to tribal college libraries demonstrate a wide and innovative range of activities.
The Fort Peck Enhancement Grant is a one-year project for the amount of $122,581. Anita Scheetz is the administrator for the program. Funds will provide for new computers, furniture, and faster Internet access to library users. Evening workshops will be offered to elders, parents with children, and the community at large. Nakoda and Dakota stories that were originally published in the 1960s will be reprinted and distributed to every library in Montana. Archival training will be provided to several students enabling them to collect and preserve materials pertinent to the Fort Peck Reservation. An effort will be made to collect local photographs, historical documents, and out-of-print materials. The fourth component of the grant calls for the expansion of services to the community children. The library will offer a summer reading program, plus new items will be purchased such as children's materials, furniture, and computers with software.
Salish Kootenai College's D'arcy McNickel Librarian Carlene Barnette received a one-year grant for the amount of $107,508. The grant will be used to expand tribal library services to three outlying reservation communities through an improved web-based catalog. The main library is located on the Pablo, MT, campus. The library users will be able to access the catalog for requesting materials, and daily delivery services will be provided to all three sites. The grant will also provide for digitizing 735 historical and cultural photographs form the tribe's archival collection. The photographs will be mounted on the library web site.
In Wisconsin, the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Ojibwa Community College Library received $145,140 for a two-year project. Cary Pfaff is the director. The LCO Library will become the community center for life-long learning activities that will encourage community members to develop self-sufficient lifestyles through education and cultural awareness, according to Pfaff. The library staff will develop and implement reading readiness and reading enrichment programs for preschool and school-aged children in conjunction with other tribal entities and programs. Secondly, the library will expand and upgrade outreach programs targeted for the elderly, disabled, preschool, school-aged, and home schooled populations. The third objective is to implement a community history center, which will expand current local history and genealogy resources and make them available to the community. Local history and genealogy workshops will be provided that incorporate oral history tradition, indigenous ways of knowing, and ancestral knowledge. The last objective calls for the infusion of the Ojibwe language throughout the library and community.
The combination of state-of-the art technologies with historical preservation and traditional library services demonstrate the diverse functions that tribal college libraries play for their tribes and their institutions. The IMLS Enhancement Grants along with the preceding LSTA Special Project Grants that were offered through the Department of Education have enabled tribal libraries throughout the country to develop innovative programs.
Little Priest investigates food assistance
In the past 40 years, Type II Diabetes has changed from a rare occurrence to an epidemic in American Indian and Alaskan Native populations. In an effort to strengthen the battle against diabetes, Little Priest Tribal College in Nebraska recently entered into a subcontract with the University of Arizona to complete a research project that examined some of the impacts of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food assistance programs in relationship to diabetes and obesity among residents of the Winnebago Reservation.
The project, The Impact of Food Assistance Programs on the Winnebago Indian Reservation, was divided into two sections: 1) Did all the food assistance programs follow the same nutrition standard in food preparation, amounts served, and interpretation of nutrition guidelines? 2) In using the foods available from the food assistance programs on the Winnebago Reservation, can the food preparation habits of people be changed to reduce diabetes risk factors? The project involved eight participating programs, all within the boundaries of the Winnebago Reservation and recipients of some type of USDA food assistance program.
Investigators determined that the nutrition, serving standards, and food preparation methods varied among the participating programs. Each program prepared food in a fashion that caters to the likes and dislikes of the recipients. Despite the fact that current preparation methods were adding to the obesity among the Winnebago people, healthier substitutions were not used when it was known that recipients wouldn't eat those foods.
The second phase of the project focused on creating a change in food preparation and cooking habits. Classes provided information on using healthy substitutions and demonstrated cooking methods, which help in the reduction of obesity and therefore, the development of diabetes.
Three recommendations were made from this study. First, the study should be replicated with a larger cohort and over a longer period of time to examine the actual physical and emotional changes that may occur in the participants. Second, all government food assistance programs should provide their clients with educational classes on how to prepare and select foods that promote health. Third, a presentation of the findings will educate all members of the community and help create a reservation-wide effort to coordinate food programs for a better understanding of health risks and solutions.
White Earth professionalizing teacher aides
White Earth Tribal and Community College (WETCC) in Mahnomen, MN, has received a four-year, $800,000 Para Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is being used to train American Indian teacher aides. Only two percent of the teachers on the White Earth Reservation are Native American while the students in the schools on the reservation are primarily Indian.
Under the grant, students will complete their associate degrees in para-education at WETCC and may continue on to Moorhead State University for a four-year degree in special education. Helen Klassen, president of the tribal college, expects the program to train 15 enrolled members each year to become aides. Dr. Sandra Parsons, education department chairperson who wrote the grant, said, "It will be advantageous for our children to have an enrolled member who has additional training as advocate, mentor, and role model. The ultimate goal is to keep our children in school."
WIPCE to be held at Stoney Park, Canada
The sixth World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) will be held August 4-10, 2002 at Stoney Park, Nakoda Nation, Morley, Alberta, Canada. Registration is $500 and the deadline is April 30, 2002. The 2002 WIPCE theme is "The Answers Lie Within Us," which is intended to help participants focus on the past, present, and future of cultural knowledge and practices and to identify current needs and strengthen future collaborations.
The fifth WIPCE was held in Hawaii in 1999 with over 5000 delegates. The sixth WIPCE will be hosted by the First Nations Adult Higher Education Consortium at a site near the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Stoney Park was selected for its spiritual significance to the indigenous people of the Nakoda Nation and their brothers and sisters of the plains of Western Canada.
The WIPCE conference registration will be limited to 5,000 delegates. For additional information please see the web page www.fnahec.org/wipce2002 or contact them by email at wipce@fnahec.org or telephone (403) 258-1775.
Lambert earns national distance ed award
The Sloan-Consortium has selected Dr. Lori Lambert (formerly known as Colomeda) as the recipient of the 2001 Sloan-C Excellence in Teaching Award. Competition for the award is rigid with over 71 colleges and universities submitting candidates. Lambert is the curriculum specialist for the Distance Education Department at Salish Kootenai College (SKC) in Pablo, MT. Her supervisor, Dr. Michael T. O'Donnell, director of distance education at SKC, nominated her for this prestigious award, which was presented at Sloan's international conference in November.
In 1998, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded SKC a development grant to provide stipends for faculty developing courses for online distance delivery. Lambert developed 15 courses pro bono and was instrumental in assisting SKC faculty to develop 100 additional courses for the college.
Lambert states "The award belongs to all of us at the college and especially the Distance Education Department, Michelle Mitchell our technology manager, David Burland computer specialist, Kim Barber of Student Services, and Mike O'Donnell. We are a team, and this validates our hard work over the past four years."
Lambert is a member of the Abenaki Nation and a descendent of French Canadians and Mi'kmaq peoples. She graduated in 1979 from Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, PA. In 1980, she received her bachelor of science degree from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Her master's in education was awarded in 1982 by Beaver College/Arcadia University, Glenside, PA. She holds a Ph.D. from the Union Institute of Arts and Science, Cincinnati, OH. Last year she completed an online post-doctoral certificate from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in Distributed Learning and Technology.
This is her ninth year at SKC. She is married to Frank Tyro, media director for the college, and lives in Pablo, MT, with their six Huskies.
The goal of the Sloan Foundation's grant program in asynchronous learning is to make quality higher education and training available anytime and anywhere. The Sloan ALN Consortium includes 71 institutions, ranging from elite universities to community colleges that have received grants from the foundation.
Menominee continue sustainability legacy
For over 5,000 years, dating back to the earliest traces of the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin, the forest has been central to the lives and well being of the tribe. The Menominee have created the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) to examine sustainability issues and apply them to the Menominee model of sustainable development.
The institute provides frequent workshops for the community. Residents of the area recently learned about food preservation at a class co-sponsored by the institute and Menominee County UW-Extension. Supermarkets have replaced the root cellars and gardens used by earlier generations, according to Terry Peters, one of the class participants and part of the college staff. Traditional food preservation has been replaced by methods depending on chemicals and preservatives, in many cases without the vitamins and minerals of natural foods.
Through the class, participants learned how to process blackberries and tomatoes. Working with her 11-year old nephew, James Grignon, Peters canned 28 quarts and 24 pints of blackberries and 20 quarts and 24 pints of tomatoes. She said that the home-canned fruit and vegetables provide greater nutritional value, taste, and satisfaction. Subsequent classes focused on preserving venison and other wild game.
The classes are part of Woodlands Wisdom, a project involving six Upper Midwest tribal colleges and the University of Minnesota. They are working to improve the overall health of their people (see TCJ, Vol. 13, N.1). At Menominee the program has sponsored several nutrition forums. One gathered information about traditional diets and diet-related illnesses. The Menominee Sustainable Development Institute is developing a nutrition degree program.
The institute also sponsored a workshop on photovoltaics where participants could walk through the demonstration and see the cost reductions. Another symposium was aimed primarily at non-Indian seasonal homeowners, teaching them how to bring sustainability to the household level, according to Holly Youngbear Tibbets, dean of the Sustainable Development Institute. Co-sponsored by the Menominee Town Forestry Department, the workshop provided a manual, Home Environmental Stewardship, which helped them assess their property and develop a plan for improving environmentally friendly practices. The agenda included methods of dealing with gypsy moth infestation and shore land plant restoration.
Wade Teeple wins web site award
By Sharlene Myers, Bay Mills Indian community NewsBay Mills - Soldier, fisherman, educator, lawman, webmaster, politician. If anyone can say, "Been there; done that," it is Wade Teeple. Currently employed as off-campus coordinator at Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) in Michigan, Teeple has also had careers in commercial fishing and tribal law enforcement with both Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He was tribal chairman for eight years and put in a stint as interim director of the Michigan Indian Child Welfare Agency. He also served with the elite Screaming Eagles - the famous 101st Airborne - and he is a champion horseshoe tosser.
Now he can add award-winning webmaster to his list of accomplishments. Recently, Teeple's web site was chosen as one of the best by military.com, the largest on-line military destination. Teeple learned his webmaster skills at BMCC as part of a class project. His site has icons, moving graphics, and a drop down menu providing information on BMCC, Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan tribes, and the 101st Airborne.
His career in the 101st lasted two-and-a-half years. He volunteered for the Army at the age of 18 and then volunteered again for the 101st, spending his tour stationed at Fort Campbell, KY. He got out in August 1965, narrowly missing duty in Viet Nam. "President Kennedy sent the first brigade of the 101st to 'Nam in July 1965. That was close enough for me," he said.
As off-campus coordinator, Teeple arranges for people at other locations to take college courses. He began by conducting a statewide assessment of all federally recognized Michigan tribes using a W.K. Kellogg grant. The assessment took about a year and a half to complete and indicated that business and computer classes were the top interests. He tries to get classes going with other tribes for people not interested in mainstream education.
His involvement in tribal politics has come in handy in his new position. As chairman, he met many people from other tribes, and these contacts helped him set up the education courses. Of all his varied careers, Teeple said his favorite is what he is doing now.