Volume X Spring 1999 Issue #3

Congress cuts per-student funding at tribal colleges Despite the first federal budget surplus in decades, the tribal colleges will receive less money per student than last year. Under the new budget for fiscal year 1999, tribal colleges will receive just $2,964 per student in fiscal year 1999, compared with $3,043 per student a year ago. The Core Operational Funding under the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Act provides for the colleges' essential operations, including faculty salaries, curriculum, and building maintenance. In the appropriations process, tribal colleges are forced to compete with other Indian programs. Indian education is pitted against Indian immunizations, and the federal surplus is irrelevant to the discussion. In raw dollar terms, the tribal colleges as a whole received a slight increase, from $28.8 million to $30.2 million. However, the per student funding dropped as a result of a seven percent increase in tribal colleges' enrollment and the addition of Medicine Creek Tribal College. (Although eligible for federal funding under this law, Medicine Creek is not yet a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium--AIHEC.) The Clinton Administration had requested $34.3 million for the tribal colleges' core funding, and several senators lobbied unsuccessfully for more funding, including Conrad Burns (R-MT), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). The problem can be expected to worsen as tribal college enrollments continue to increase and new tribal colleges develop. Tribal colleges already operate on bare-bones budgets. "We're losing ground from an already precarious position. The funding gap between tribal colleges and mainstream schools is continuing to widen," said Dr. Carty Monette, president of Turtle Mountain Community College in North Dakota. "Both President Clinton and Congress take credit for caring about education, but we have been passed over." "We are facing terrible choices," said Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top, president of Little Big Horn College in Montana and of the consortium of tribal colleges. The presidents don't find out until the end of October how much money they have to run their colleges for the current school year. "It becomes a question of whether to cancel summer school, lay off faculty, or eliminate entire courses of study." Her college had to impose a salary freeze two years ago, forcing people to continue to work at "missionary wages." Funding instability threatens the accreditation standing of several of the colleges. The American Indian colleges are certified under the same standards as "mainstream" colleges. The $2,964 provided to tribal colleges this year compares with $4,600 per student at other community colleges. Tribal colleges have never been funded at levels comparable with "mainstream" community colleges, let alone universities. Although they serve both Indian and non-Indian students in their communities, they are not state institutions and do not receive state funding in most cases. Consequently, they are dependent upon federal funding, which supports only Indian students, for their core operations. This is supplemented by limited tribal funding and grants from private foundations. Congress has never come close to providing the funding that it authorized for tribal colleges--$6,000 per student. As other colleges and universities' budgets increase, the per-student funding for tribal colleges has increased only $133 since 1981, meaning that it has decreased substantially due to inflation (TCJ, Vol.9, N. 1, pages 39-43). The core funding is part of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs budget and funds 25 of the 32 institutions in AIHEC. Congress provided the same funding as last year for two other AIHEC members--the Institute of American Indian Arts ($4.25 million) and the United Tribes Technical College ($2.3 million). Diné College received a slight increase to $7.44 million ($4,808 per student). The federal budget contained some good news for the tribal colleges. A new section of the Higher Education Act (Sec. 316) provides Department of Education grants for strengthening tribal colleges. Although President Clinton had asked for $5 million for the tribal colleges, Congress decided instead to allocate $3 million for the tribal colleges in the continental United States (Sec. 316) and $3 million for the universities and colleges that serve Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. (Sec. 317). Besides being lower than the Department of Interior funding, the new grant program is competitive and can never substitute for the core funding.OLC receives $2.3 million welfare grant Oglala Lakota College has received a $2.3 million Welfare to Work grant to help the hardest-to-employ welfare recipients acquire the skills, work experience, and resources they need to find and keep good jobs. The award was announced Nov. 20 by Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman. The project, Wanna Wowasi on Wakanyeja (Work now for our Children), will serve the Lakota people by attempting to place enrollees into employment and providing support services such as GED tutoring, work training, and child care. It will incorporate Lakota values to emphasize the importance of employment for program participants for future generations of Lakota. The college will set up a local employment agency, support entrepreneurial activities with loans and technical assistance, and provide telephone service. It will teach job skills on community service projects and provide counseling. . In addition, the project will work with employers to help them become more effective supervisors of Welfare to Work employees. The Pine Ridge Reservation suffers from severe poverty and high unemployment. Potential workers cannot get jobs because they have no reliable cars and no public transportation, inadequate housing, and few telephones. The target group suffers from alcoholism, inadequate education, and low basic skill levels. The reservation is geographically isolated, with the nearest shopping 50 to 90 miles away. The college will work with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the South Dakota Department of Social Services, the South Dakota Department of Labor, and other reservation groups. The South Dakota grant is part of $250 million distributed to 75 projects in 44 states to fund innovative strategies to provide the hardest-to-employ welfare recipients support and training to get jobs. The $250 million is part of $3 billion appropriated by Congress for welfare-to-work. Seventy-five percent, or $2.2 billion, is provided non-competitively by formula to states for job-training and support services. White Earth accepted as AIHEC member White Earth Tribal and Community College was accepted as the 32nd member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) at the October meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Located in Mahnomen, Minn., the college was established by the White Earth Ojibwe Tribe on September 8, 1997, and enrolled its first students the following month. Under the direction of President Dr. Helen Klassen, the White Earth Tribal and Community College is dedicated to providing a culturally relevant curriculum and environment by collaborating with students, staff, community, and industry. Currently 85 White Earth tribal members and area residents are enrolled at the college. The White Earth Tribal and Community College is working to become a fully accredited institution through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In the interim, courses offered at the college are accepted at other learning institutions on a course by course basis. Degrees offered include the Associate of Arts in Native American Studies and the Associate of Applied Science in Casino Operations, Computer Information Systems, and Tribal Business Management. A Criminal Justice Program is also offered, in which students may choose to obtain an associate of science or an associate of arts degree. AIHEC is an organization of tribally controlled colleges and universities, which is based in Alexandria, Va. The colleges are located in the United States and Canada. The three colleges most recently accepted into AIHEC before Little Priest were Little Priest Tribal College in Nebraska, Leech Lake Tribal College in Minnesota, and College of the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin.Red Crow first to be accredited in Canada Red Crow Community College, on the Blood Indian Reserve, Alberta, Canada has become a full-fledged accredited college. It is the first college to be accredited through the inaugural First Nations Accreditation Board, which was recently established by the First Nations Adult Higher Education Consortium (FNAHEC). The accreditation board was set up in an effort to validate the member colleges' programs. The initial intent is to have the respective colleges' programs and courses recognized within member institutions. The ultimate aim is to validate their programs and courses so that they may be transferable and recognized by the mainstream higher education institutions as well. Previously there was no national or provincial process in Canada for accrediting tribal colleges as public institutions, only as private institutions. The board consists of representatives of the FNAHEC member institutions: Red Crow Community College, Piegan Board of Education, Tsuu T'ina Board of Education, Yellowhead Tribal College, Old Sun Community College, Nakoda Board of Education, Maskwachees Cultural College, and Blue Quills First Nations College. Evaluation consists of three steps. The self-study process includes eight areas (as identified in the Accreditation Self-Study Guide) which are indicative of the institution's performance and achievement. In its self-study the institution assesses itself from its own perspective and knowledge in relation to these criteria. A self-study report is then compiled, including intentions for improvements or changes to be made in problem areas. The second part of the process is the audit. The audit team visits the institution to get a first hand look at the college's operations and conduct interviews to verify the contents and claims of the self-study. For the third step, the audit team prepares its final report, which determines whether the institution is granted accreditation or not. Red Crow Community College's audit was successfully completed in November and the final decision made in January. Established in 1988, Red Crow Community College provides arts and science classes. It is conducting research and negotiating with the University of Lethbridge and the University of Calgary to provide Native teacher training and a Native social work degree program. Leech Lake given Packard Foundation grant Leech Lake Tribal College (Cass Lake, Minn.) has received a $100,000 grant from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation to develop its new Department of Science and Mathematics. The grant will purchase laboratory and field test equipment that will enhance the educational experience and attract more students to the fields of natural science and natural resource management. Michael Wassegijig Price (Ojibwe) was hired in August 1998 as the chairman of the new department. Price formerly served as the director of college programs for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) in Boulder, Colo. The vision of the Department of Science and Mathematics is to develop a curriculum and laboratory that reflects the essence of the Leech Lake Reservation and of northern Minnesota. Wild rice, maple sugar, birch trees and abundant wildlife are integral parts of the Anishinabe culture, both physically and spiritually. Students will engage in both the scientific analysis and cultural understanding of the natural world at Leech Lake Tribal College. The end result will be college graduates capable of effective management and stewardship of these living entities or, in Western terms, "natural resources." The laboratory will develop the capability of research and investigation. Specific areas of emphasis will be: wild rice beds and the invasion of exotic species such as Purple Loosestrife; health and sustainability of birch trees after bark harvest; water quality in area lakes; fire ecology; and forestry management. Local environmental pollution issues that will be studied include organic mercury and landfill/groundwater contamination. Upper division science courses that are or will be offered are Environmental Toxicology, Freshwater Biology, Ethnobiology or Anishinaabe Understanding of Ecology, Plant Systematics and Forestry. Leech Lake Tribal College currently offers an Associate of Arts Degree in Natural Science and an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Environmental Management. Tribal college librarians network at MSU Montana State University-Bozeman hosted the fifth annual Tribal College Librarians Professional Development Institute, July 13-17, 1998. In total, the five institutes have reached 64 different participants from 31 institutions. Each institute serves a blend of new participants and a core group of returning librarians. Kathy Kaya and Mary Anne Hansen, MSU-Bozeman reference librarians, co-facilitated the week-long event. Topics included distance education, genealogy, government publications, searching the Web, National Agriculture Library collections and programs, and program management. The institute provides tribal college library personnel an opportunity to learn new skills and gain new knowledge in a variety of areas relevant to library work. The instructors try to create a balanced mix of topics from basic librarianship to cutting edge developments, while addressing cultural concerns important at the tribal colleges. The institute provided an opportunity for librarians from tribal colleges to meet in person and share concerns, ideas, and experiences. Participants could also earn continuing education credits for attending the institute. Seventeen representatives from 15 tribal college libraries attended. The participating colleges included Northwest Indian College, Fort Belknap College, College of the Menominee Nation, Maskwachees Cultural College, Oglala Lakota College, Dine College, Sitting Bull College, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Nebraska Indian Community College, Red Crow Community College, United Tribes Technical College, Salish Kootenai College, and Leech Lake Community College.

The sixth annual Tribal College Librarians Professional Development Institute will be July 12 -16, 1999, on the MSU-Bozeman campus. The tentative agenda includes programs on web page development as well as budgeting, preservation of information resources, fundraising, and health. MSU can offer $400 per library to help defray travel expenses this year. The final agenda will be announced in the spring when speakers are confirmed. For more information, contact Kathy Kaya at (406) 994-5312. E-mail kkaya@montana.edu

UTTC tackles injury prevention education United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) has created a new program of study leading to an associate of applied science degree in injury prevention. Located in Bismarck, N.D., and serving over 40 tribes, UTTC wants to become the injury prevention center for the nation, according to Dennis Renville, the program instructor. The first students who enrolled in the program felt passionate about wanting to make a difference on their home reservations. Sandy Summa said there is an epidemic of domestic violence and motor vehicle crashes on her reservation, Ute Mountain Ute in Colorado, and on other reservations she has visited. "In my own family, my older brother committed suicide, another brother has AIDS, and my sister lost her baby to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). That was enough," Summa said. Before enrolling at UTTC, she worked with youth at a shelter in Colorado. "They have a lot of potential. They just need a little bit of help," she said. Renville wants to train students for injury prevention specialist jobs with local, national, and tribal organizations. He hopes tribes will create jobs for his graduates. The courses address violence, residential and recreation injuries, epidemiology, traffic related injuries, alcohol, and drugs. "The students are my role models," Renville said. They go before the media and tell about the need for the program. To recruit students and raise awareness, Renville helped developed a video called the "Eagle's Cry" about drinking and driving. The video was funded by the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the National Highway Safety Administration. UTTC also sponsors Native American Life Saver conferences on domestic violence, suicide, and gangs. The next will be June 15-16. Call Dennis Renville at (701) 255-3285 ext. 374 for more information. Renville, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, has a master's degree in counseling and a bachelor's degree in education. The program is funded by the IHS, Office of Minority Health, and the Center for Disease Control. The first students in the program are Sharon Clairmont, Rosebud Sioux Tribe; Yvette Belgarde, Turtle Mountain Chippewa; Minnie Plenty Chief and Lyle Uses Arrow, Standing Rock Sioux; Geri Whiteman, Crow; Sandi Karlson, Turtle Mountain Chippewa; and Sandy Summa, Ute Mountain Ute. CRCC students research technology capacity Twelve students from Cheyenne River Community College (Eagle Butte, S.D.) have embarked on two research projects that will change the way the college and the community at large view technology at work and at home. Telecommunications and Business Networks professor Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy has developed two projects to let the students themselves analyze the role of technology on the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservation and elsewhere. "Students learn more when they research the information on their own and draw conclusions from what they actually saw and heard," said Sarkozy-Banoczy, the college's new technical director. The Reservation Telecommunications Project required the students to take a hard look at the reservation infrastructure and the local telecommunications market. The students utilized one-on-one interviews, surveys, and personal inspection, blending philosophical and technical analysis as they examined global telecommunications changes affecting life, tradition, and culture. "Some of the students were very detailed and aggressive with their research," Sarkozy-Banoczy said. "They mapped out fiber optic cable and new T1 lines, and they videotaped interviews with Tribal Telephone Authority experts and the tribal chairman." At midterm the two teams presented their research and handed in written, drawn, and videotaped material. For future reference (and possible airing on local cable access) the presentations themselves were videotaped. "All the information was interesting to us, because so few businesses, programs, and common people really have access to the technology that could help them," explained Amber Marshall, a student in the class. "Some people seemed really interested and some didn't, but we realized that most people just need to learn about it, not just people in power." At the end of the semester, the groups will present the second project, the CRCC Telecommunications Review. This project focuses on the community college itself and its future telecommunication and networking infrastructure. The teams will conduct a formal feasibility study and all follow-up research, which will be used by the CRCC Technology Committee and college management. Then it will be up to the administration to raise money to build the infrastructure, according to Mike McCafferty, CRCC interim president. LBHC taking the reservation to the worldLittle Big Horn College (LBHC) is at the forefront of a technology explosion on the Crow Reservation in Montana. A recent grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help the Big Horn Focus Project achieve its goal--"Taking the Reservation to the World and the World to the Reservation," using technology to foster cultural exchanges. The schools of Big Horn County are spread out over vast distances, but the project will help connect 3,033 school age children to each other and to the world.The project involves the college, the Montana Consortium, the Big Horn County School Districts, and Vision Net. Now connected through e-mail access with web pages being constructed at all sites, the project goes beyond the Internet. The distance learning classes will be conducted at one site, utilizing interactive video, connecting all the partners through an enhanced Wide Area Network (WAN). The Big Horn Focus project germinated from discussions at Rural Science Initiative and Bilingual Task Force meetings, two groups concerned with curriculum, academic standards, and using technology within a culturally relevant environment. Wanting to facilitate cross cultural exchanges, the groups decided upon telecommunications. Little Big Horn College and Rocky Mountain College (a small private college in Billings) have been part of the Montana Consortium for several years. (See separate story in this issue, "Emphasizing the human being in distance education.") The Montana Consortium in partnership with the four reservation school districts and Vision Net (parent company of Nemont Telephone) submitted the grant. A one year, USDA Rural Utility Service Grant provides equipment for the project. Previous distance learning sites were handcuffed by the inability to go outside their peer groups or hub. With Vision Net, as many as 144 sites could be connected. At this time approximately 58 Montana sites use this system, including public schools, community colleges, and undergraduate colleges.

This project is the latest of several efforts by Little Big Horn College to serve K-12 students, adults, senior citizens, and businesses through telecommunications. The college's School to Work Program provides access, training, and linkages to community businesses to benefit students at all levels. Sharon Peregoy, a moving force in the Big Horn Focus Project, said the group is researching other funding sources to expand their services. They also plan to deliver seminars in business management, procurement, and contracting to American Indian rural communities. The college website is www.lbhc.cc.mt.us/index.html

Johnson Foundation supports entrepreneurs For the fourth year, the Theodore R. & Vivian M. Johnson Scholarship Foundation has awarded Tribal College Entrepreneurship Scholarship grants. Colleges receive grants of up to $30,000 in the form of scholarships to students in entrepreneurship who are working to start small businesses on or near the reservation. Scholarships of up to $1,000 per student per semester may be used to help cover the cost of tuition, internships, related workshops, or special training pertaining to the student's business (TCJ, Vol. IX, Number 3). Twenty colleges received grants for 1998-99: Blackfeet Community College, Cheyenne River Community College, College of the Menominee Nation, D-Q University, Dull Knife Memorial College, Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, Fort Belknap College, Fort Berthold Community College, Fort Peck Community College, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Leech Lake Tribal College, Little Big Horn College, Northwest Indian College, Oglala Lakota College, Salish Kootenai College, Sinte Gleska University, Sisseton Wahpeton Community College, Sitting Bull College, Turtle Mountain Community College, and United Tribes Technical College. "The Johnson family has always been there for tribal colleges," according to Michele Lansdowne of Salish Kootenai College (SKC). With a start up grant in 1995, another foundation of the Johnson family (Handsel Foundation) helped establish the SKC Tribal Business Assistance Center, which served as the model for a Small Business Administration (SBA) program to fund other tribal college business information centers around the country. The SBA has been a source of substantial support since then, most recently providing $40,000 to each center as well as a week of training in December. Lansdowne named entrepreneur of the year Michele Lansdowne has been named the 1998 National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Supporter of Entrepreneurship category. Lansdowne heads the Business Development Department at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont. She also oversees the Tribal Business Assistance Center, which provides a variety of services for tribal entrepreneurs. Armed with a MBA and a masters in languages, Landsdowne moved from teaching into small business development 10 years ago in Bellingham, Wash. Since then, she served as Northwest Indian College's Business Assistance Center director before moving to Salish Kootenai College to start the Tribal Business Assistance Center there. She also helped developed the Montana Tribal Business Information Network. The work of the tribal business assistance centers at tribal colleges across the country equips individuals and communities to lead self-sufficient lives consistent with their cultural values (TCJ, Vol. IX Number 3). The award recognizes outstanding leaders who have consistently demonstrated creativity and innovation in teaching or supporting entrepreneurship, and have contributed time, investment capital, encouragement and/or skill development. Selected by an independent panel of judges, Lansdowne received the award at the 12th Annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year International Conference in Palm Springs, Calif. Founded in 1986 by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP, the awards program is also sponsored by USA Today, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Additional support is provided by Investor's Business Daily. Michele Lansdowne received the award from Kurt Mueller of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial LeadershipNorth Dakota colleges build web courses The North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges with funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation is developing courses and programs using its Interactive Video Network (IVN) and the Internet. The IVN component has been used in North Dakota for a number of years, primarily to share courses at the two-year level. The Internet is a newer addition. It uses a program called Web Course in a Box (WCB) to put either entire courses or enrichment activities for campus courses on the World Wide Web. Twenty-five faculty members, student services personnel, and administrators attended a working conference in Bismarck Nov. 5-6 to think more about using distance techniques, especially the Internet, in their teaching and to learn to operate the Web Course in a Box program. The conference also introduced online student services, such as advisement, tutoring, and registration. The North Dakota association is working with the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) in Boulder, Colo., for assistance in providing student services online. Beginning with second semester, 1998-99, selected students from each campus are taking a pilot course. The course and the methods used for delivery will be evaluated. Future plans call for offering both four-year programs and graduate programs from other institutions using the North Dakota Association's "pipeline". Member colleges believe that distance methods can be an important adjunct to campus-based classes and programs, allowing the talent available at each campus to benefit all the other campuses. "The methods that we develop and the administration of one central network for six colleges will create a model that can be used throughout AIHEC," said Jack Barden, associate director for higher education program development of the North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges. Menominee pilots distance education class The College of the Menominee Nation has formed a team of research faculty to launch its pilot distance education class in Sustainable Development. The three credit course will offer eight, 6-hour modules via satellite next fall. Each module will address one of the six dynamic and interactive forces that center upon Menominee Autochthony (Autochthony means community-plant, animal, or human-- and its relationship to the land.) The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's "Building a Dream" initiative and the United States Department of Agriculture support the project. The Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) was organized by the leaders of the Menominee community because of the Menominee success in sustainable development of their forested lands. SDI disseminates that expertise and applies sustainable practices to other economic and community activity. The Sustainable Development Institute helps develop the College of the Menominee Nation's Associate of Science Degree in Sustainable Development and related technical degree programs in timber harvesting. In addition to the distance education course next fall, the college will be offering SDE 100 this spring on campus. Taught by Dr. Erik Melchiorre, it is the first class in the Sustainable Development Emphasis degree. SDE 100 introduces the six main components of sustainable development and their interrelationship. The course will include field trips to see sustainable forestry on Menominee lands and the solar/wind energy demonstration centers in Neenah, Wis. A student term project will involve designing passive solar technology for a single family home, based upon available solar data for Keshena, Wis., or site evaluation for wind powered electrical generation. As part of a land grant college, the Menominee institute also provides workshops, community education programs, and demonstration projects, such as studying the local Wolf River watershed and analyzing water quality for private home wells. The SDI will publish a quarterly newsletter thanks to a grant from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. Contact Dr. Holly YoungBear-Tibbetts, Dean of Outreach and Sustainable Development, at (715) 799-5600 e-mail hyoungbear@menominee.com Sustainable Development Institutes Theoretical Model SIPI distance education effort expands To help educate and better serve reservation communities, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) received a boost in early 1999 for its growing distance education program. The federal government and the Lockheed-Martin Corporation each gave SIPI $100,000 to provide instruction via satellite to reservations. The courses will include both degree programs and tribal employee training. Many Indian tribes across the nation are located in remote, rural settings and could benefit from increased use of satellite communication. Santa Clara Pueblo, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, and the Canoncito Navajo Chapter, all in New Mexico, are expected to be the pilot locations for the program. The project funding will enable Native American communities to receive interactive training through satellite and the World Wide Web without leaving the reservation. This will benefit those who lack time, ability, or funds to travel to a college or other institution for such classes. Tribes may receive training in precision farming and water management technologies. One tribe may use the new technology to map its land to help establish boundaries. SIPI (Albuquerque, N.M.) will also be able to make science and math classes available to tribes across the country, no matter how remote. Former New Mexico Congressman William Redmond was instrumental in putting the appropriation and grant together, along with Lockheed Martin officials and representatives from the National Center for Research Innovations. SIPI is one of NCRI's seven sites for technology transfer and information systems development. SIPI, NCRI, and the Southern Ute Tribe (Colorado) are working on another distance education project as well, including teacher and staff training.SGU chemical dependency program grows For many years, Sinte Gleska University's (SGU) chemical dependency program has trained graduates to address the drug and alcohol problems on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and elsewhere. Patrick Powers now heads the chemical dependency program. Powers, an Oglala tribal member, earned his master's degree in psychology at Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb. As an intern at a Veteran's Administration hospital in the addictions ward, a licensed and practicing counselor, and a recovered addict himself, Powers draws his expertise from a wide range of experience in the field. Having a drug and alcohol degree program at Sinte Gleska is important, said Birdette Clifford, dean of human services, because of the degree of alcohol abuse on the reservation. For those looking for jobs in related fields, "the success rate is really good," Clifford said. Since 1991 when he began working with the department, Clifford could only think of one graduate who did not find a job connected to his degree in human services/ chemical dependency. "The need is there, and they fill those positions," he said. "[Our program] gives someone an overview of the effects and chemistry of drugs and alcohol," he said. Patrick Powers advocates a free-choice approach. "Get them back in touch with cultural routes, experience the Spirit, provide clear-thinking skills, and raise self-esteem. Create the environment of safety and choice." Several years ago, Sinte Gleska upgraded its associate of arts degree to a bachelor's degree in human services with an emphasis in chemical dependency. Obtaining such a degree helps qualify students for potential certification in drug and alcohol counseling. At this time, to become a drug and alcohol counselor in South Dakota, you need certain courses and experience but not a degree. Clifford expects that in the near future, a degree in human services will be mandatory. NWIC delivers business classes by satellite Northwest Indian College (Bellingham, Wash.) delivers business classes by satellite to instructional sites on seven other reservations in Washington state: Upper Skagit, Makah, Swinomish, Nooksack, Nisqually, Quinault, and Jamestown S'Klallam. The NWIC library is accessible through the Internet connectivity at each site, supplementing the small NWIC library resource sections at the sites. NWIC also has Business Assistance Centers at the instructional sites to serve Native Americans who want to start a small business or who need assistance with expanding existing businesses. The program provides state-of-the-art information and tools needed to become competitive in today's business world. The Business Assistance Center on the main campus has a computer lab with six computer work stations for students, Business Department instructors, and clients to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail, work on desk-top publishing projects, and access the resource library. Clients or students who need business cards and flyers have access to a scanner and software to prepare their own, or if needed, the staff will design and print them to their specifications. To use the computer lab, clients and/or students must sign up for a tuition-free course in small business consultation at NWIC. Clients can access the latest information on business subjects through workshops, seminars, individual consultations, and Internet research. The NWIC Business Department also offers a one-year certificate or a two-year degree in entrepreneurship (see TCJ Vol. IX, Number 3).NMSU offers bridges for students, faculty Summer research opportunities for students and faculty of New Mexico's tribal colleges will again be available through New Mexico State University's "Bridges Program." Funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bridges Program focuses on research in the social sciences and humanities, conducted in partnership with four 1994 land-grant tribal colleges: Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Institute of American Indian Arts, and Diné Community College at Shiprock. Projects and activities are designed to increase collaboration and cooperation between NMSU and tribal institutions through services that can help two-year tribal college students transfer to four-year universities. Through Bridges, several first or second year students will be chosen to engage in full-time research conducted under the direction of a special NMSU faculty mentor over a period of 8-10 weeks, corresponding with the university's regular summer sessions. Past student projects have ranged from computer graphic design studies to a study of the religious history of peoples of the U.S. Southwest.

In addition to opportunities for students, the Bridges Program also offers tribal college faculty opportunities to collaborate with NMSU instructors in specific areas of study. These collaborations offer "hands on" experiences and exposure to new and important ideas that can then be passed along to tribal college students. Research can take place on the NMSU campus or at appropriate field sites. Students will earn a stipend while working on their projects, and both students and faculty receive research expense monies. For more information, visit the Bridges Program web site at: http://www.nmsu.edu/~bridges or contact Gina Klinekole, Project Coordinator of the Kellogg American Indian Bridges Program, c/o Sociology and Anthropology, NMSU, P.O. Box 3001 MSC 3BV, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001. Telephone: (505) 646-3610.