Volume XI Summer 2000 Issue #4

ON CAMPUS

Wisconsin provides funds for tribal colleges

For the first time, the state of Wisconsin is helping support the two tribal colleges in that state this year--the College of the Menominee Nation and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College. The Wisconsin legislature agreed to provide $300,00 to each of the tribal colleges as part of a work-based learning program.

Unlike community colleges and state universities, most tribal colleges receive no state funds even though they accept both Indian and non-Indian students. The federal government helps support the costs of educating Indian students with only $3,400 per student this year-close to half of what state-supported institutions receive, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. (For articles about decisions by the Arizona and New Mexico legislatures to support tribal college construction, see TCJ, Vol. XI, N. 1, p. 29 and Vol. X, N.4, p. 10.)

College of the Menominee President Dr. Verna Fowler, a tribal member, said she considered the money Indian money since it derives from casino revenue given by the tribes to the state under their compact. She credited the Menominee Tribe for its help convincing the legislature to help support the colleges. Fowler is an experienced lobbyist. In the 1970s, she assisted Ada Deer in their successful effort to restore the Menominee Tribe to federal status after being terminated in the 1950s.

Despite the legislative victory, her college suffered from severe funding shortfalls late last year when funds were delayed from three sources--the federal government, the state government, and the tribal government. Both the federal government and the state government had budget surpluses, but they took months to resolve budget differences before passing them, long after the fiscal year had started.

Because of the federal budget impasse, tribal colleges were forced to take out loans and cut back on expenditures. "It almost brings you to a stop," Fowler said. "The biggest effect of the latest financial crunch due to the late budget is that it changes one's entire focus. It takes your focus from developing and maintaining quality educational programs and rich student experiences to meeting the payroll and getting the bills paid. Consequently, it is extremely detrimental to the students," she said. The college has been expanding rapidly, now serving nearly 500 students after only seven years since it was chartered. The state appropriation will be repeated next year, and Fowler hopes that it will continue to be repeated for the life of the tribal gaming compacts.

SKC opens environmental laboratory

Salish Kootenai College (SKC) has taken a big step toward increasing research opportunities for faculty and students and providing an alternative funding source for science on the SKC campus. The college plans to open the Salish Kootenai College Environmental Laboratory (SKCEL) on its campus in northern Montana in early summer. The lab will begin by offering water quality testing under the Clean Water Act for many pollutants, including inorganic chemicals, metals, bacteria, and particulates. As it receives certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the lab will expand into the Safe Drinking Water Act testing and later soils testing.

Through the fees charged for its services, the college expects the lab to increase the revenue stream for advancement of the sciences at SKC. Both faculty and students will use the facilities for in-depth environmental research. The lab also expects to have summer internships to help train both Indian and non-Indian undergraduate students and graduate students to work on environmental issues. The lab has several Native scientists on staff as mentors, according to Frank Finley, lab manager. Finley, a tribal member, earned his bachelor's degree in environmental science from SKC. He encouraged Native science students to contact the lab. For more information, contact the lab director, Doug Stevens, by phone at 406/675-4800 ext. 495 or by email at doug_stevens@skc.edu

Little Priest gets contract to operate library

Little Priest Tribal College (LPTC) has been awarded the contract to operate the base library at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Under this five year competitive contract, LPTC provides professional, administrative, and management support services for the library. LABAT-Anderson, Inc., will be working with the college as a subcontractor. Little Priest is located in Winnebago, Neb.

"Our college is still very young, and achieving this contract is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff," said LPTC Interim President Del Free. The contract will benefit the tribal college financially and will enable the college library in Nebraska to network with all of the libraries in South Dakota and Minnesota, according to Darcy Peletich of Little Priest.

The library on the Ellsworth Air Force Base is a well-established library with over 38,000 titles, which has been a leader in South Dakota in the use of technology. It is networked with South Dakota and Minnesota. "South Dakota has one of the best library networks I have ever seen," said Peletich, who has a master's degree in librarianship. Little Priest plans to have six employees at Ellsworth; most of the previous employees chose not to stay since they were federal employees.

The library at Little Priest is a good, basic library for supporting a two-year college, and it has a very good Native American collection with over 2,500 items focusing upon the Winnebago Tribe, Peletich said. "It's a jewel," she said, but she and the librarian look forward to accessing additional resources.

The total amount of the contract from April 2000 through September 2004 is $1.3 million. As the federal government opens many of its services and facilities to contractors, it sought a minority, academic institution with strong librarian credentials for the Ellsworth contract. Little Priest is the prime contractor for the Department of Defense, and LABAT-Anderson, Inc. of McLean, Va., is the subcontractor. LABAT has operated libraries for the federal government since 1986, providing support for 57 federal libraries and information centers across the United States.

Vocational rehab program puts brothers to work

Billy and Jack Brien are both deaf, and it was difficult for them to find employment anywhere. On a reservation with an unemployment rate of 55 percent it was next to impossible. The rural North Dakota community has few interpreters or people who can use sign language, and few businesses have TTY machines. Thanks to Turtle Mountain Community College, however, they have run their own auto mechanic business on the reservation in North Dakota since 1993.

Now in their 40s, Billy and Jack had decided to become auto mechanics at an early age. "I was seven years old when I started messing with cars," said Jack. Right after they graduated from high school at the School for the Deaf in Devils Lake, N.D., they enrolled in and graduated from auto mechanics schools. Jack specialized in diesel mechanics at Area Vocational Technical Institute in East Grand Forks, Minn., and Billy went to Lake Region Community College in Devils Lake.

Despite their education and their years of experience, it was difficult for them to find employment in an established garage due to communication difficulties. No employers knew sign language, and many were afraid to hire them out of ignorance. For many years, friends and neighbors brought their cars to the brothers' homes to be repaired. Then, they heard about a new program located at the tribal college, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Vocational Rehabilitation Project, which promised to help them obtain employment "by any means necessary."

Because of their qualifications and their experience, it was apparent that starting their own business might offer the best option. They entered Turtle Mountain Community College's Entrepreneurship Training and with the help of interpreters provided by the program, they learned to run a mock business, do their own books, write a business plan, obtain a license, and set up their own shop, Briens' Mechanic Garage in Belcourt. Their business has been successful; sometimes they have a waiting list is a week long. To communicate, customers write down the problems they have with their vehicles.

The Turtle Mountain Vocational Rehabilitation project is one of 55 rehab projects on various Indian reservations located throughout the United States funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration at the Department of Education through a special program for American Indians. The first cycle of the Turtle Mountain grant began in October 1993, and the program is now funded for an additional five years through 2003. Any recognized Indian tribe may apply. The director at Turtle Mountain Community College for the past eight years, Donna Thomas, believes the grant would benefit other tribal colleges. She said, "The program helps any Indian with a disability residing on the reservation to obtain employment. We serve the disabled, severely disabled, and most severely disabled with an individual plan designed specifically for them." Thomas offered to provide technical assistance or to refer others to experts in their locations. To contact her, call 701/477-5998.

Jack and Billy Brien prove that good hearing is not necessary to be good mechanics. Photo by Karen Tuomala of the Turtle Mountain Star.

Fort Peck tackles turnover, FAS problems

On the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana, 451 students are identified in the special education program in the five school districts. Teachers there struggle with behavioral problems caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAS/FAE). Fort Peck Community College hopes to help break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty by increasing the number of American Indian special education teachers and improving the educational services delivered to children with disabilities.

Through an assessment review of the school districts, Fort Peck Community College (FPCC) found a major disparity between the numbers of Indian and non-Indian teachers and aides. Nearly all (90 percent) of the 225 teachers were non-Indians while 90 percent of the 109 teacher aides were Indian. This indicated a need to professionalize the Indian staff, which could increase the number of Indian teachers and reduce the turnover rate.

In 1995, the tribal college initiated a teacher training program to offer special education professional development on the reservation. The goal is to substantially increase the number of Indian special education teachers and teacher assistants working on the reservation. In 1997, FPCC implemented the Paraprofessional Education Program to certify teacher aides and substitutes. Schools have said that teacher aides and substitute teachers need to be better prepared for the behavior problems they encounter. The program exposes students to various teaching methods and strategies for each exceptionality in hopes of reducing the turnover rate for the aides.

In 1998, the tribal college finalized an agreement with Montana State University-Billings to deliver the special education endorsement program via interactive television to the reservation. The program includes 37 required courses. All students selecting a teaching endorsement in special education must have a written plan of study approved by the department chair, according to Donna Buckles-Whitmer, distance learning coordinator at Fort Peck. She is also a member of the Alliance Project National Board.

NWIC program includes special ed

Northwest Indian College (NWIC) has joined with Washington State University (WSU) to address the shortage of indigenous teachers in the Pacific Northwest. The tribal college in Bellingham, Wash., and the state land grant university in Pullman, Wash., are building a culturally sensitive and responsive teacher preparation program.

The project began with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in fall 1997. Since the design of the grant required immediate start-up, the teacher education program initially mirrored the WSU teacher education. Since then, the team has focused upon professional development and curriculum revision. The committee members represent the local tribal community, local Indian educators in schools and the tribal college, state and national Indian education consultants, the directors of the program, and the faculty liaison from WSU.

"The 18 students in this program care about the future of the children, as demonstrated by their commitment to pursue their degrees in spite of the many personal and professional challenges they have endured," said Susan Rae Banks, Ph.D., the faculty liaison at WSU for the program. The first cohort of six students graduates this May with bachelor's degrees in elementary education (K-8). Five of the six will also be receiving an endorsement in special education. For their field work, the students have been to both tribal and public schools. They have discussed the complex issues that they have encountered as they learn how to serve indigenous children with and without disabilities and their families in ways that honor families rather than alienating them. "The students are prepared to be advocates for truly free appropriate education for all children by involving elders, families, and community members in schools," Banks said. Their training also prepares them to discourage others from viewing differences as deficits and encourage others to see the learners' culture, traditions, and strengths. The second cohort of 12 students started the core courses in teacher preparation in January 2000. Graduating students are expected to return as mentors and as instructors for the program.

The program will benefit tribes by giving Indian people a bigger voice in their educational futures, Banks said. "Such community-based teacher education partnerships facilitate systemic change, empower Native peoples, embrace traditional lifestyles, and increase cultural sensitivity and effective teaching in mainstream colleges and universities as well as tribal colleges," she said.

NSF networking plan includes tribal colleges

Tribal colleges and universities expect to be at the cutting edge of technology instead of the bleeding edge, thanks in part to a National Science Foundation project for minority-serving institutions funded through EDUCAUSE, according to Steve Dupuis. He is the project coordinator for the tribal colleges on the Advanced Networking Project with Minority-Serving Institutions (AN-MSI). With this project, EDUCAUSE (an international, nonprofit association) hopes to help minority institutions use technology to enable transformational change in higher education.

NSF awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to EDUCAUSE for the project. The overall goal is to assist minority-serving institutions as they develop the campus infrastructure and national connections to become full participants in the Internet-based "Information Age." The project, which began in September 1999, involves the collaboration of tribal colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), predominantly Black schools (PBCUs), and Hispanic-serving institutions. These communities will work together and with each of their project teams in an effort to bring modern networking technology to the campuses and to establish the necessary management and staffing skills.

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium Technology Committee appointed Dupuis, who is a member of the Salish and Kootenai tribes, to coordinate the tribal colleges' work on the project. For more information, contact him at Salish Kootenai College 406/675-4800 ext. 451 or email Steve_Dupuis@skc.edu

Oglala Lakota College opens windows for youth

The Oglala Sioux Tribe was recently awarded $4 million by the Department of Labor as part of a five year, $16 million project to develop systems and infrastructure to assist youth between 14 and 21 on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The tribe will help the young people to access education and employment.

Oglala Lakota College (OLC), through its Wowasi Un Wakanyeja Welfare to Work Program, was the catalyst in planning and preparing the proposal. Terry Albers, Director of the WUW program, said, " This was truly a collaborative effort of the tribal college, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the SuAnne Big Crow Boys and Girls Club, Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Housing, and the Oglala Nation Education Coalition. It shows what can be accomplished when we work together. Our incentive was our most precious natural resource, our youth."

Yug'an Ojanjanglepi (YO) means "opening the windows" for youth opportunity. The program will serve at least 750 youth between the ages of 14-21 each year through a seamless system of enrollment, assessment, service strategies, personal planning, training, work experience, personal skills development, mentoring and follow-up. It will set up Boys & Girls Clubs for 14-18 year-olds and will set up Young Adult Societies for 19-21 year-olds in collaboration with the Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Housing Drug Elimination Program. YO expects reservation-wide, psotive impacts on employment rates, high school completion rates, and college enrollment rates. Angie Eagle Bull of the Oglala Sioux Tribe NEW Program will be the overall coordinator.

The program features the Oglala Lakota College Youth Data Nexus, which will serve as an employment agency for youth and include support services, referral, educational counseling, a job and skills listing, and proactive job development with employers. OLC President Tom Shortbull, said, "Oglala Lakota College can be a catalyst for achieving the vision of tribal leaders in many areas. The Welfare to Work program is our biggest venture in this area and will help get people off welfare. Yu'gan Ojanjanglepi will carry this initiative further and keep our youth from going on welfare through access to education and employment. We may be the 'ground zero' of economic poverty in America but we have a tribal identity and cultural heritage that will enable us to overcome poverty."

The YO strategy will rely on the core principles that underlie successful youth programs, including ensuring the participation of caring adults and guaranteeing long term follow-up to all youth participants. "We will build on strategies that the college has found to work on the reservation: utilize organizations that are already successful, integrate Lakota culture throughout the program, and bring the program to the people where they are," Shortbull said.

SKC stresses holistic special ed training

The Salish Kootenai College (SKC) special education program includes two unique features. During both years of the two year program, participants work directly with K-12 students on the Flathead Reservation in Montana who have been referred to special education. The practicum experience helps make the classroom instruction more meaningful. Since the program stresses a holistic background in special education, it includes courses such as adaptive physical education and cultural arts in the curriculum.

The Associate of Arts Degree in Special Education was first offered in the fall of 1996. It was developed with grant funding from the Office of Special Education of the Department of Education. The Alliance Project for Tribal Colleges helped SKC obtain the grant by inviting faculty to participate in a special education grant writing workshop and by providing a mentor to help review the grant proposal before it was submitted. After funding was announced, Alliance referred SKC to Project Success, a sister program that offered a weekend workshop on the technical aspects of managing a federal special education grant.

There are many opportunities for employment in special education for people who want to earn associate degrees and work as para-educators. Partly for this reason, SKC's special education program was developed to serve both two year students and those who wanted two years of initial training before completing their bachelor's degrees in special education. Most students through the years have planned to continue their studies in a four-year program. It was not easy to design the curriculum to serve both purposes, according to Mike Hermanson of SKC. It needed to provide sufficient background for students immediately to become para-educators and at the same time to provide sufficient general education requirements for transferring to a four-year program. A reasonable compromise was established so that SKC could reach both goals.

In collaboration with the national Indian School Board Association, SKC has for four years also offered a summer institute for para-educators working in the schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The institutes included legal issues, instructional strategies, working relationships, and issues related to specific disabilities. Para-educators usually attend training that is primarily focused on the role of the classroom teacher, but the SKC summer institute training focused specifically on them.

Group starts work on New Meriam Report

A working group is being formed to prepare a major new policy study of American Indian reservations and Alaska Native communities. It will examine current conditions on reservations and issue recommendations intended to guide federal policy and private sector support in the new century, according to Paul Boyer, the principle architect of the report. He is calling the study the New Meriam Report The original Meriam Report was released in 1928 by the predecessor of the Brookings Institution. Officially called The Problem of Indian Administration, it influenced federal Indian policy for decades.

Unlike all previous reports on Indian policy, this study will be guided by an American Indian organization, according to Boyer. For the first time, the nation's indigenous people are taking a leadership role in defining a comprehensive policy agenda. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium board of directors endorsed the project in 1998, and in 1999, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a $50,000 planning grant.

The advisory board includes six tribal colleges to date: Lionel Bordeaux of Sinte Gleska Univesity, Verna Fowler of the College of the Menominee Nation, David Gipp of United Tribes Technical College, Joe McDonald of Salish Kootenai College, Carty Monette of Turtle Mountain Community College, and Janine Pease-Pretty on Top of Little Big Horn College.

The report has four objectives. It must be 1) comprehensive, addressing education, health, housing, economic development, and culture; 2) inclusive of elders, activists, tribal leaders, researchers, and government leaders; 3) authoritative, using facts and credible figures to support its recommendations; and 4)Indian-led. The working group is now being formed. For more information, contact Boyer at 814/861-4513 or email spb148@psu.edu

Paul Boyer wrote two reports on tribal colleges for the Carnegie Foundation, and he is the founding editor of the Tribal College Journal.

Tribal colleges help build local economies

A new report shows that many of the nation's 33 tribal colleges and universities are helping their communities to make significant advances in income, employment, and education. The colleges are utilizing innovative approaches that integrate business methods with tribal values, roles, and community structures. These methods are impacting not only reservations but entire regions and serve as models for many communities nationwide.

The report, "Tribal College Contributions to Local Economic Development," was prepared by The Institute for Higher Education Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit education research group, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which is comprised of the 33 American Indian tribal colleges and universities. They released the report at a special White House briefing on tribal colleges Feb. 10 in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities.

The report cites dramatically higher rates of median income, employment, and postgraduate education among many tribal college graduates as compared to other American Indians on reservations. From 1980 to 1990, for example, median income for females living on reservations with tribal colleges grew 49 percent faster than incomes for those living on similar reservations without tribal colleges. The unemployment rate for at least one set of recent tribal college graduates was 15 percent, as compared to 72 percent on the reservation overall. With such success, tribal colleges can help combat the often deplorable economic conditions in their local communities.

The unemployment of American Indians living on reservations with tribal colleges averaged 45 percent in 1995, and the average per capita income was $4,665 in 1990. By comparison, the average unemployment rate in the U.S. was about 6 percent, and the average per capita income was $19,188.

By integrating tribal and business values, tribal communities define the success of their programs as much by levels of social renewal as by fiscal growth but appear to achieve both. These programs range from: an economic summit at Little Big Horn College in Montana; internet access for tribal businesses and farmers; banking and law enforcement career training at Fond du Lac Tribal College in Minnesota; environmental sciences at Diné College (Navajo Nation); engineering studies at Turtle Mountain Community College in North Dakota; and entrepreneurship training at Sitting Bull College and at Salish Kootenai College.

Tribal colleges nationwide have had immediate impacts on their communities and regions through the creation of jobs, services, and role models. More significant are their long-term impacts on: workforce and skills development; encouragement of entrepreneurship and small business growth; and promoting efficiency and environmentally sound practices in agriculture and natural resources. The conclusion calls for enhanced support for tribal colleges and their communities in order to maximize these areas of progress.

The report is the latest in a series produced under the Tribal College Research and Database Initiative, a collaborative effort between AIHEC and the American Indian College Fund. The initiative is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Native Americans and the Pew Charitable Trusts. To download the report or order a printed copy, call the Institute for Higher Education Policy at 202/861-8223 or go to the AIHEC website and click on "research."

Interactive special ed classes offered at DKMC

Dull Knife Memorial College (DKMC) in Lame Deer, Mont., is working with Montana State University (MSU) in Billings to provide special education teacher training. A grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs helps support the four-year program. Fourteen full time students and three part-time students are working toward a bachelor's or master's degree in special education. They started in January.

Three master's level candidates and 10 bachelor's level candidates will go to MSU-Billings this summer while the others attend summer classes at the tribal college. The university will offer four interactive television classes in Lame Deer each year, meaning that students will not have to travel the 120 miles to Billings for those classes.

"The determination of these students is very impressive," according to Sharon Dinstel, director of the special education project at Dull Knife. "Many of them are holding down full time jobs in the area of special education, as well as attending DKMC full time, not to mention all the responsibilities of family, community, and self. They have expressed their gratitude and appreciation to have a program that will help them complete their degrees," she said.

Students honored for commitment to teaching

Two sisters from the Navajo Reservation were invited to attend the 2000 State of the Union Address and represent the nation's tribal colleges. Christina and Justina Jones, students at Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz., were recognized for their commitment to teaching and community service. Christina was introduced on national television at the address.

"It's an honor," said Christina, 23, who lives in Round Rock, Ariz. "This shows the importance of tribal colleges and how important it is to have more Indian teachers." Christina and Justina, 25, are third-year teacher students at their tribe's own fully-accredited college, where Navajo language and philosophy are part of their studies. Diné College--the oldest and largest of the 33 tribal colleges--has graduated more than 20 teachers since 1998. "They will be fantastic teachers," said Ben Barney, director of the Diné Teacher Education Program. "They will serve their community's children as positive role models for the rest of their lives. This is a guaranteed 30- to 40-year investment."

As part of his initiative to create 100,000 American teachers, President Bill Clinton recommended the establishment of a new American Indian Corps of Teachers--to create 1,000 Indian teachers over five years. Diné and other tribal colleges are first in line for $10 million in support of programs and scholarships.

Christina and Justina Jones are fluent Navajo speakers who plan to teach tribal language in a reservation public school that currently has only one culturally-relevant course. Educators say addressing Indian students' cultural identity is key to building the self-esteem that is critical to academic success. "Some of our students come in, and they really don't know their language, their culture, who they are," said Christina. "With a Navajo teacher, they will learn more about themselves and learn more in school."

The Jones sisters also have served in the AmeriCorps, part of the Corporation for National Service. They tutored fourth-grade students and helped build reservation housing in Round Rock, where half the homes have no indoor plumbing and unemployment is 65 percent. "The community these students come from is somewhat forgotten in terms of education," said Barney. "Elementary students are bused in to the public school, and the teachers and the system providing their education don't necessarily know or relate to their needs. It's important they see someone in the classroom who relates to them and who will fight for them."

Christina and Justina Jones were honored by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton in January. Photo by Scott

Keweena Bay begins distance education

Keweena Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) recently received a technology gift from neighboring Suomi College. The gift includes distance learning classroom equipment that enables interaction between two or more sites linked by fiber optic cable. The system is equipped with cameras, speakers, VCRs, video monitors, a fax machine, and computers with high speed Internet capability. This equipment will allow KBOCC to broadcast its course offerings that don't require hands-on instruction to 15 different sites in the Copper Country Intermediate School District, according to KBOCC President Debra Parrish. The tribal college is located in Baraga in far northern Michigan on the L'Anse Indian Reservation. Students at the Baraga site can be seen on the television screens, and instructors and students can be seen at another site, allowing for full interaction between the classrooms.

Suomi College is a private college founded by Finnish Americans. Its main campus is located in Hancock, Mich., thirty miles from the L'Anse Reservation. The distance learning classroom was originally installed in 1995 to link its main campus in Hancock to the extension site in Baraga. The technology will allow KBOCC to eventually expand its course offerings and to enhance scheduling flexibility. The tribal college expects to bring its courses on-line as early as summer 2000. Keweena Bay was accepted as the newest member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in October 1999.

Dr. Art Puotinen, Provost, Suomi College; Debra J. Parrish, President, KBOCC; and Susan LaFernier, CEO, Keweena Bay Indian Community.

Southwest Polytechnic forms alumni group

Southwest Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) has formed an alumni association. The SIPI Board of Regents appointed a 1998 graduate to serve as the president, Jaylene "Cookie" Adakai-Sanchez, who is Diné and Turtle Mountain-Ojibwe. She earned her associate degree in natural resources and was student of the year. As the president of the fledgling alumni association, Adakai-Sanchez has her hands full establishing by-laws and setting goals for the organization. SIPI hopes that the new association will help sponsor activities for the school, such as a banquet dinner for graduates, and will help raise much-needed funds.

In addition, she holds a full-time job as administrative assistant with DataCom Sciences, Inc., a government contracting company in Albuquerque, N.M., that works with Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Offices, Indian agencies, and approximately 123 tribes. Adakai-Sanchez admits she is busy, but she said, "I take great pride in SIPI. I want to do all that I can to keep my ties with SIPI strong." Anyone wishing to contact the SIPI Alumni Association can email Cookie at adakaisanchez@aol.com., or call Sandy Lujan, placement officer at 505/ 346-7737. Founded in 1971, SIPI is a national Indian community college located in Albuquerque. It is governed by a board with members from several different tribes.

Jaylene "Cookie" Adakai-Sanchez: "I want to do all that I can to keep my ties with SIPI strong."
Photo by Lee Marmon

Turtle Mountain providing health training

Turtle Mountain Community College is collaborating with the University of North Dakota to provide interdisciplinary training for students in occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, medical technology, and medicine. Project CRISTAL (Collaborative Rural Interdisciplinary Service Training and Learning) is designed to improve health care services to populations residing in a rural reservation area of North Dakota.

The Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation was selected as the site for Project CRISTAL because it provides an excellent training ground for students and faculty due to the numerous, varied health conditions that may not be found elsewhere. The interdisciplinary training model fits the traditional cultural belief of holistic medicine and community health. Through Project CRISTAL, students and faculty will gain an understanding of each health discipline and how each approaches health problems. The training will focus upon patient-centered and community-oriented learning.

The project is intended to help recruit and retain health care practitioners to work on reservations in North Dakota and to make rural practice an attractive choice for health professionals. Project CRISTAL will link rural and under-served communities with health resources using computer-aided instruction, electronic mail networking, V-Tel connectivity, and electronic library resources. The project will provide valuable insight into health issues of American Indian populations, which may lead to future research specific to the Turtle Mountain Community. For more information on Project CRISTAL, contact Ella Bruce, Project CRISTAL coordinator, at 701/477-7839.

Menominee to serve Upward Bound veterans

The College of Menominee Nation (CMN) in Keshena, Wis., will be providing education to military veterans thanks to a U. S. Department of Education Veterans Upward Bound grant. The college received a $200,000 annual grant for four years. CMN is one of 35 post secondary educational institutions across the United States to receive these grant funds.

The program will serve 120 first generation and low income veterans from an eight county region of northeast Wisconsin. Six tribal communities are also eligible to be served: Menominee, Stockbridge-Munsee, Oneida, Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Chippewa, Ho-Chunk, and Forest County Potawatomi.

The program will provide academic advising, financial aid information and assistance, and counseling services to veterans desiring to begin their college education and upgrade their skills in the work force, according to Alan Caldwell, who directs the program at CMN. "This grant gives the college an opportunity to expand its educational services to an under-served part of the population of northeast Wisconsin," he said. It provides a monthly stipend and some tuition costs for participants taking college level classes.

SKC constructs new building for art education

Art will have a new home at Salish Kootenai College this fall. After years of planning by many cooperating groups, the art facility will open its doors with more than 9,000 square feet of interior space and over 2,000 square feet of exterior space. Funding for the project was received from the Salish Kootenai College Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, Plumb Creek, Salish Kootenai College, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. SKC students and faculty in the building trades and construction worker program completed all major construction with some assistance from the local Kicking Horse Jobs Corps.

Throughout the building, natural wood trusses have been used with high ceilings to create an airy and bright workspace, according to SKC Art Department Director Corwin Clairmont. The halls are extra wide so that they can be used as year round galleries to display student work. Students will be asked to offer their ideas on final interior design features.

The new art building will have an area for three-dimensional work including wood and metal sculpture, jewelry construction, silversmithing, and sand blasting. A special section has been set-aside with a kiln for ceramics, and another area will house the printmaking operations. The sewing room has enough space for classes such as dance outfit design, star quilt making, and even tipi construction.

The large, partially covered exterior segment will allow students to work on special seasonal arts and larger sculpture pieces. The Native American Studies program will also have space for Salish and Kootenai language classes within the new building.

Fond du Lac encourages traditional diets

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Minn., received a $15,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Onanegozie Resource Conservation and Development Council to study and share information about traditional food gathering and preservation techniques of the Ojibwe culture. The Circle of Subsistence project also involves the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. It is designed to encourage healthy diet choices and good nutrition practices and also to share traditional methods of acquiring and preserving food customarily used by Ojibwe people.

Program components are arranged to emulate traditional Ojibwe yearly cyclical patterns, utilizing the 13 Ojibwe moons. Topics correspond with the time of the Ojibwe year and will include the gathering and processing of maple sap; collecting birch bark for basketmaking; gathering wild berries; identifying medicinal plants; harvesting and processing wild rice; tanning hides; and processing meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. David Wise, the tribal college liaison for the USDA-NRCS, said the grant covers seven counties.

Fond du Lac President Lester Jack Briggs signs the Onanegozie grant agreement with William Hunt, Gordon Aanerud, and Robert Hoefort.