Volume 15 Summer 2004 Issue No. 4

On Campus

Minority Colleges Need IT Investment to Thrive

A new report from the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education urges increased investment in the information technology capacities of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The report, Serving the Nation, documents technological disenfranchisement among underserved groups and showcases the success of MSIs despite limited financial resources.

The national organizations that represent the nation's MSIs asked the alliance staff to prepare the report, the first-ever national effort to study technology use at MSIs as a group. The alliance surveyed more than 300 of its member institutions and combined the results with in-depth profiles of six model colleges and universities.

The survey results indicate that most MSIs have built a solid information technology (IT) foundation on their campuses and are using IT to enhance a variety of administrative and student service functions.

However, improvement is needed. For example, it is critical that all MSIs have a strategic plan for information technology in order to maximize limited resources, and not all have prepared one, according to the report. In addition, MSIs lag behind other institutions in student computer ownership, online student services, and Internet access in residence halls. In addition, faculty use of email/Internet in teaching is low despite efforts by many schools to provide training and support.

"This report provides compelling evidence of the need to move our national dialogue about technology beyond basic concerns about hardware and software," says Jamie P. Merisotis, coordinator of the alliance and president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, the Washington-based research organization that prepared the report.

ON THE LOOSE. David Heup shows off the College of Menominee Nation's mobile computer lab. The wireless laptop computers provide access to the Internet, users' hard drives and e-mail accounts, and software on the college's main computer server. Students and faculty can roam with their laptops within 200 feet of the mobile lab. It was purchased with a $55,000 Department of Education Title III grant. Photo by Lela Schwitzer, courtesy of reznet

Consequently, the alliance urges more investment by government and the private sector to give MSIs the ability to stay on the cutting edge of technology application. The investment is critical to their ability to produce minority leaders for IT-related fields and thereby ensure the economic success of their communities and the nation as a whole, according to the report.

The member organizations of the alliance include the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

A complete report is available free of charge on the alliance's website: www.msi-alliance.org.

SIPI Provides Distance Ed Classes In 4 States

Child care providers from several different tribal nations are earning their Early Childhood Education Associate of Arts degrees without leaving their homes and jobs, thanks to distance education classes offered by Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, NM.

SIPI expects 35 to graduate this spring and another 100 within the next two years. New federal regulations require childcare providers in Head Start to earn degrees, and without distance education classes, it would be difficult for them to do so.

SIPI has been engaged in distance education since 1999 and now serves several different tribal nations' sites: 10 in New Mexico and one each in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Michigan. At this time, nearly 200 students are taking distance ed classes. The college works closely with tribes to assess their educational needs. SIPI also provides assistance in technology training and teleconferences to demonstrate how technology can facilitate communication among the tribal nations and information providers.

The success of the early childhood program has been a catalyst for additional tribal requests for classes delivered to them. SIPI is currently developing a bachelor's degree in Tribal Business/Management/Leadership in collaboration with New Mexico State University. This program will include courses directly related to the management and economic development needs of tribes.

SIPI plans to offer a short course soon, "Introduction to Museum Work." This results from collaboration between SIPI, Haskell Indian Nations University (Lawrence, KS), and the National Museum of the United States Army (NMUSA). SIPI and Haskell want to ensure that the stories of Native Americans are told correctly when the Army museum opens in 2009. Native Americans have served in the Army since its earliest days.

Grants from the Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Lumina Foundation, RGIS, and private donors have underwritten SIPI's distance education development.

SWC Initiates Language Immersion for Youngsters

Children will help the rest of their community to revitalize the Dakota language as Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC, Sisseton, SD) develops its Dakota Language Immersion Project. The tribal college, in collaboration with the Association on American Indian Affairs, has initiated the project at the Siceca (Children's Learning) Center on the SWC campus.

Dakota elders visit the early childhood education center throughout the week. While they are there, only Dakota is spoken, with the children absorbing Dakota words along with the Siceca staff. Elder visits involve both a man and a woman, which enables the children to learn Dakota correctly based on their gender.

Research has found that language revitalization projects in Indian Country have always been most successful when they involve language immersion starting at a very young age. The Siceca Learning Center currently provides care for 30 children, with plans to expand to as many as 60. The college plans to eventually have a "language nest," with only Dakota spoken. As the children learn Dakota, they will serve as conduits to the rest of the community, helping their parents and others learn and become fluent as well.

Language is a high priority of the tribal college president, Dr. William Harjo LoneFight, who himself speaks several Native languages. The League for Innovation in the Community College and Capella University recently recognized LoneFight's work in Native education.

He was selected from a field of more than 70 competitive applicants demonstrating innovative accomplishments in higher education to receive a full Ph.D. scholarship for one of Capella University's accredited online Ph.D. programs. This scholarship allows him to increase his capacity to serve the tribal community while continuing his leadership role at the college.

He earned his first Ph.D. in cultural resource management from the Kialagee Tribal Program and also is completing a doctorate in educational anthropology from Stanford University.

He authored a teaching tool to help social workers develop culturally empowering approaches to substance abuse prevention. He also developed a theory of culturally effective systemic reform in math, science, and technology to capitalize on students' cultural backgrounds and enhance their learning process.

AIHEC Creates Commission To Oversee Athletics

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) has established an AIHEC Athletic Commission to oversee AIHEC-sponsored athletic events and resolve conflicts. The AIHEC board appointed the nine commissioners for three-year terms. The AIHEC Athletic Committee composed of tribal college presidents develops policies and procedures for the commission.

The board took the action because of controversies in the past about which teams should be eligible to compete, the length of games, and about whether part-time students can compete, according to Dr. Joe McDonald, chair of the committee and president of Salish Kootenai College. Although they followed the generally accepted rules for the game in the past, the college hosting the basketball tournament set the rules for eligibility each year.

The board of directors voted in October 2003 to establish the commission, saying, "Tribal colleges and universities endorse the value of athletics as part of a holistic education program." In language unusual to the world of college athletics, the board resolution said, "AIHEC-sanctioned athletic competition is a privilege with academics acknowledged as a first priority for our students."

The requirements specify that a student athlete must be enrolled in a minimum of nine semester or quarter credits as a freshman, a fulltime student, have at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA, and be making satisfactory progress toward a degree. The only requirement for teams is that the college must have paid its dues.

Unlike mainstream community colleges and universities, most tribal colleges do not have facilities for intercollegiate athletics such as gymnasiums or football fields. Nor do they have money for uniforms, referees, activities directors, and coaches.

Despite such limitations, some of the tribal colleges have ranked high in regional and sometimes national competitions, including Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute in cross country, Diné College in archery, and United Tribes Technical College in basketball.

AIHEC has sponsored basketball tournaments for 22 years. In the past only basketball and cross country have been AIHEC-sanctioned sports. Now anyone proposing a national AIHEC competition in any sport must have approval by the athletic committee.

For a copy of the athletic competitive polices and guidelines, contact Deborah His Horse is Thunder at AIHEC. Email DHishorseisthunder@aihec.org or call (703) 838-0400.

REACHING OUT. Northwest Indian College Academic Vice President Rissa Wabaunsee steps into classrooms in four tribal communities simultaneously each week to teach "History of Indian Education" via Washington State University's K-20 Educational Telecommunications Network. The tribal college in Bellingham, WA, plans to serve seven additional tribal sites over the next two years. The initiative not only brings degree programs and continuing education to Native students in their own communities. It also increases the number of locally-based Native instructors who teach for Northwest Indian College.

NCA Accredits UTTC Online Associate Degrees

United Tribes Technical College (UTTC in Bismarck, ND) has achieved a milestone in higher education: accreditation to grant degrees to students who take all their classes online. It is one of the first tribal colleges to have been approved to deliver degree-granting programs using entirely online, distance technology, according to Leah Woodke, director of UTTC Online and Distance Education.

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools accredited two of UTTC's associate degree programs -- early childhood education and injury prevention. UTTC plans to seek accreditation for several of its other online Associate of Applied Science degrees -- health information technology, elementary education, nutrition and food service, and criminal justice.

"We're breaking new ground with this," says UTTC President David M. Gipp. "Several tribal colleges have offered individual courses online for some time. This step is accreditation for the full degree program online."

Delivering classes online has expanded the access to higher education for tribal students all across the country, according to Gipp. "Not all Native students can go to a tribal college or come to Bismarck for classes on campus. By working online, they have the potential to earn an accredited UTTC degree from even the most remote locations in the country."

"Accreditation is a voluntary process and a very important one," says Woodke. "To receive accreditation is to be on a par with other colleges. It validates the courses and program offerings, ensures that students can transfer their coursework and that their degrees will be recognized."

UTTC developed its online courses specifically to meet the needs of tribal students, says UTTC Dean of Vocational and Academic Programs Phil Baird. The college shunned the use of pre-packaged online programs and coursework and designed its own technology platform for both academic instruction and student support services.

SHUNNED PACKAGES. Phil Baird says UTTC developed courses specifically for Native students and did not use pre-packaged programs.

"It's very significant to us, and the tribal college movement, that our systems and courses meet both the needs of our students and the standards expected of higher education institutions in this country," Baird says. UTTC is willing to share its model for online and distance education with other tribal colleges.

Information about UTTC's online and campus-based programs and courses can be found at the website www.unitedtribestech.com.

Fond du Lac Developing Degree In Sustainability

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC in Cloquet, MN) is developing a new four-year degree program in sustainable development.

The program will include a unique combination of core courses plus a choice of four specialized areas, including small business entrepreneurship and management, environmental science, renewable energy systems, and American Indian studies.

Students graduating with degrees in sustainable development will be prepared for employment in large corporate and small business settings, natural resources agencies, energy production companies, tribal organizations, and other public entities.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a $1.9 million Title III grant to the tribal college for the new degree program. It runs five years, October 2003 through September 2008. Dr. Jean E. Ness from the University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration is the grant author and will serve as project director and principal investigator.

After developing the curriculum and getting it approved, the college plans to increase the college library collection to include sustainable development and small business management resources and establish a Midwest Woodland Wisdom American Indian Business Leaders Headquarters on campus.

"There are very few colleges and universities across the country offering a program similar to this," says Sr. Therese Gutting, Ed.D., vice president of academic affairs at FDLTCC.

FDLTCC recently expanded its mission to include offering a limited number of four-year, baccalaureate degree programs. In the first part of 2003, the college received approval to provide bachelor's degrees in elementary education from the Minnesota Legislature and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. The college hopes to gain the necessary approvals for the sustainable development degree during 2004.

Writer Inspires Student Creativity At Blackfeet

by Meg Kearney

A unique community outreach project designed to promote reading and writing as a means of preserving American Indian culture brought fiction writer Patricia Henley to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwest Montana last fall.

Her visit as a writer-in-residence was co-sponsored by the National Book Foundation's American Voices program and Blackfeet Community College (BCC, Browning, MT). She talked and gave writing workshops for college and high school students, faculty, and members of the community as well as a reading at BCC's library.

All participants received a free copy of Henley's book, Worship of the Common Heart, in preparation for her visit.

In one talk, Henley explored the role of place in stories. She encouraged audience members to write stories of their homeland -- stories only they can tell. During sessions with English and journalism classes, she asked students to write about their landscape or turning points in their lives. "As students read what they wrote, I sat in awe listening to the beautiful, descriptive language she had elicited," says Colleen O'Brien, English instructor at BCC.

"The program inspired more talk on campus about starting a 'traveling reading series,' hosted by other tribal colleges, with people from that location presenting their work," says Sarah Balk, BCC student who works part time in the library and helped to organize the residency. "In the wake of her visit we're organizing a book club and investigating opportunities to hear readings," says O'Brien.

Meg Kearney is the acting executive director of the National Book Foundation. For more information, see the foundation's web site at www.nationalbook.org.

Menominee, USDA Create Forest Research Center

Forty-four tribes own over 16 million acres of forestland in the United States. To provide leadership for managing these forests for future generations, the Menominee Nation and USDA Forest Service have created a first-of-its-kind research, education, and extension center at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN, Keshena, WI).

The Research and Education Center will focus on three areas: education, research and technology transfer; and extension and outreach. The tribal college envisions baccalaureate and graduate degree programs in sustainable development. It also plans to host conferences and workshops to disseminate "best practices" knowledge in sustainable forest management.

At ceremonies commemorating the partnership in January, College of Menominee Nation President Dr. Verna Fowler, said, "This is truly a unique partnership that will blend the traditional knowledge and values of the tribes with the management and research expertise of the Forest Service. We believe the center will benefit the partners, the surrounding communities, and private landowners who rely on healthy forests."

Forest Service National Tribal Relations Director Dale Kanen stated, "The Menominee Nation is nationally recognized for leadership in sustainable forestry. This agreement expands our partnership and formalizes avenues to transfer technical expertise between forestry professionals and students pursuing degrees in natural resource management. Through this relationship we'll help assure wise forest management for the future."

Tribal and private landowners will also benefit from dissemination of "best practices" in forest management and utilization of forest products. In addition, the center will host conferences, workshops, and continuing education courses to communicate and demonstrate sustainable forest management principles.

Fort Belknap Students Learn High Tech Skills

After more than a year of planning and preparation, Fort Belknap College (FBC, Harlem, MT) now offers courses as a certified Local Cisco Networking Academy Program. The program is an integral part of the college's microcomputer technology degree, and student interest continues to grow. Students who earned Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA) certification through the program have now put their skills to use in jobs on the Fort Belknap Reservation.

With grant funds from NASA and donated equipment from Cisco, FBC set up a Technology Classroom for Cisco Academy training courses and began certification classes in winter 2003. Participating students received training stipends through the college's Native American Vocational and Technical Education Program funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The national Cisco Networking Academy Program is a comprehensive e-learning program providing students with Internet technology skills. It delivers web-based content and assessment, hands-on labs, instructor training and support, and preparation for industry standard certifications. Started in 1997, the academy serves over 260,000 students enrolled at nearly 10,000 locations worldwide.

Since summer 2002, FBC's Manager of Information Systems Harold Heppner and Information Systems Specialist Robert Scheaffer have been attending Cisco Academy instructor training courses at Montana State University in Billings and College of Technology in Great Falls, MT. They are both former FBC students, and now as certified instructors, are able to provide certification training locally at FBC.

The tribal college offers Cisco certification classes every semester and plans to expand the program in the near future.

For more information about the Cisco Networking Academy Program at FBC, contact either Heppner (hheppner@mail.fbcc.edu) or Scheaffer (rscheaffer@mail.fbcc.edu).

Fort Peck Now Offers 4-Year Business Degree

Students at Fort Peck Community College (FPCC, Poplar, MT) can now earn a four-year business degree without leaving home. FPCC has an agreement with Montana State University (MSU) in Billings, MT, and MSU-Northern in Havre, MT.

"This agreement enables students to have dual admission status at FPCC and at Northern, making for a seamless transfer of credit," says Ilene Standen, business program coordinator at FPCC.

"Input and instruction from other institutions also broadens the horizons for the student. It makes them more employable," she explains.

Classes are taught at FPCC in Poplar and Wolf Point by adjunct faculty through video conferencing or by videotape. Students can complete a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Technology with a minor in small business management.

Haskell Joins Students Across Kansas Prairie

Haskell Indian Nations University has launched a distance education program. Using modern technology, about 60 students on the Haskell campus in Lawrence, KS, and on the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation in northeastern Kansas now are taking classes together even though they are located 70 miles apart.

Haskell believes in a hybrid approach to distance education. The university combines a web-based computerized classroom system (Blackboard) with face-to-face interactivity via the Internet (Tandberg).

"It is our conviction that students want real-time interactions, like in a regular classroom or student-teacher conference. We have sought to do everything possible to make what happens in this classroom just like any other classroom at Haskell," says Dr. Smokey McKinney, Haskell's director of distance education.

The students are taking four classes (American Indian Experience in the 20th Century, Chemical Dependency Among Native Americans, Computer Operations, and Introduction to Algebra).

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation funded the two video teleconferencing (VTC) classrooms, one on the Haskell campus and one on the Potawatomi Reservation. The VTC technology combines the locales into one, using full, two-way, high-quality video and audio feeds traveling over the Internet. Students use wireless laptops for accessing the Blackboard electronic classroom system

Haskell's five-year strategic plan, published last year, sets a goal of 1,000 distance education students at Haskell by 2008. To attend Haskell, students must be enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe. Within five years, Indian students will be able to gain Haskell degrees while remaining at home and maintaining important family, professional, cultural and community ties.

SGU Combines GIS, Lakota Language, Space Images

Sinte Gleska University (SGU, Mission, SD) and an industry partner have developed an interactive community mapping compact disc that incorporates GIS data layer maps, historical aerial photography, imagery from space, and Lakota language.

The Sicangu Policy Institute at the university initiated the project to establish the relevance of GIS and related information technologies to a broad range of learners on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. They worked closely with an industry partner, Spatial Data Technologies (SDT).

"This demonstration of multi-media mapping is already widely acclaimed as an example of how Native America can better utilize the spatial and spectral technologies to extend ancestral philosophies of land stewardship and cultural preservation," according to James Rattling Leaf, land and natural resources planner for the institute.

"Native Americans are comfortable working with aerial or satellite images, because these images show a world without political boundaries," says Jhon Goes In Center. "That's how we've always viewed Earth," he says. Goes in Center is the industry liaison for the policy institute.

Rattling Leaf sees the Rez Mapper as a tool to reconnect Lakota young people with their land and culture, as well as technology. It adheres to science, math, engineering, and technology educational standards. The university has placed copies of Rez Mapper in area schools and in the reservation's 20 communities, and teachers are developing curriculum for using it in the classroom.

For more information, contact James Rattling Leaf by email jamesrl@sinte.edu or by phone (605) 856-4262. The project is highlighted at the following website, www.atniedc.com/newsevents/items/geotech.htm.

Keweenaw Bay Relocating Campus From Downtown

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC, Baraga, MI) has launched a $25 million fundraising drive for a new campus. Currently, the college buildings include a small academic classroom and library (former Post Office building), an administration building (former two-story home), a computer lab installed at the Ojibwa senior citizens center, and a student fitness center (leased building space).

The new campus will be relocated from the small downtown area of Baraga to a cleared 15-acre parcel on the reservation, just north of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community's governmental operations. The site overlooks Keweenaw Bay.

In September, the college broke ground for its technology resource center. The center will include administrative and faculty offices, computer lab, GIS lab, distance learning classroom and a classroom.

Working with the tribe, the college plans a multi-purpose building to house the student fitness center, game/activity room, kitchen, commons area, locker rooms, and gymnasium. The gym is designed for community functions such as the college's graduation ceremony, presentations, performing arts, powwows, honoring ceremonies, basketball tournaments, community feasts, and funeral services.

The facility's main entrance will provide an information center and Ojibwa cultural display. Beneath the entrance's skylight, a circle will represent the four sacred directions. It will also include the tribal logo. Carved wood pillars will represent the seven original clans (eagle, crane, loon, fish, bear, martin, bird).

Future plans include a cultural learning center, day care/indoor playground, student housing, library, auditorium, student services center, and building trade center.

The goal of this new campus project is to increase the number of students from 60 to 150. When the entire campus complex is complete, the enrollment goal is to reach 500. The Waakaa'igan Project has received funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, USDA Rural Development, and $1.5 million from the Keweenaw Bay Tribal Council.

LBHC Creates Camp To Prepare STEM Students

To better support science, technology, engineering, and math students, Little Big Horn College (LBHC, Crow Agency, MT) attained a $2.5 million five-year Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUP) grant from the National Science Foundation.

The tribal college will use the funds to support a six-part program with components in curriculum development, reform, undergraduate research, community service, student recruitment, technology infusion, and faculty development.

LBHC faculty created a six-week math and science, residential academy for incoming freshman designed to help students enter LBHC with college level math and science skills. The camp will be an introduction to the various science, math, technology, and math (STEM) fields.

Experts in each field will make presentations to the students. The program staff plans to recruit students from area high schools as well.

In addition to recruitment and retention the program also seeks to help ease student transition to four-year institutions.

Program Director Alden Big Man, Jr. says students are sometimes intimidated by these fields but really shouldn't be. "I think that we as an entire population think STEM fields were introduced by Europeans, and that is not true at all," he says. "We had to have knowledge in these areas in order for our ancestors to survive out here."

"The tipi is a perfect example of the knowledge of mathematics Plains Indians demonstrated. Plains Tribes had to estimate the number of buffalo hides needed for the tipi covering and how to sew them together to make them fit around the conically shaped lodge," Big Man says.

"And in the sciences, plains tribes had to have knowledge of medicinal plants such as mint or Nez Perce root to treat their ills. They also had knowledge of dietary needs allowing them to supplement their buffalo meat diet."

Big Man tells the story of several fur trappers being plagued by scurvy who approached some medicine men, hoping they could cure them. After examination the healers immediately gave them fruit and root vegetables. Within a few days of treatment the fur trappers were well enough to travel and trap again.

Armed with this story and others Big Man is willing to recruit students the old fashioned way, by including all direct family members.

NEW DEVICES, OLD SKILLS. Students Bethyanna Pease, David Blaine, and Susan Horn practice their Global Positioning Satellite skills at a pilot camp last summer in the Big Horn Mountains. Photo by Carrie Moran McCleary

Diné College Provides Video Training for CHRs

Community health representatives (CHRs) often provide a lifeline for sick people in isolated areas of the reservation. Traveling hundreds of miles to provide basic health care services to Navajo people, they link sick people with the Indian Health Service system.

Now the Navajo Nation wants them to advance their skills. The nation is transforming the Navajo Division of Health into a department of health with major responsibilities for assessing health, developing public health policy, and implementing programs in the area.

It would be difficult for these health care workers to take time away from patients and travel to a distant college for professional training. Thus the Navajo Division of Health has asked Diné College at Shiprock, NM, to provide courses by video-conferencing at four of the college's satellite campuses.

The college is offering Introduction to Public Health by video-conferencing to about 75 community health representatives at Shiprock and three Arizona campuses -- Tsaile, Tuba City, and Window Rock. The students don't see just a monitor but see each other as one monitor splits its screen to show an overview of each of the four sites.

The program uses WebCT to communicate about the course. WebCT is a web site environment dedicated to a particular class. Students get a password to log onto the site to read updates, check course calendar, download or print handouts, articles, upload their assignments, take quizzes, email each other or the instructor, or post questions or discussions.

After taking the course herself, Community Health Representatives Director Mae-Gilene Begay encourages her entire staff to get training.

For more information, contact Mark Bauer at Diné College in Shiprock, NM, (505) 368-3589 or email mbauer@dine.edu.

MBA Graduates to Take Entrepreneurship Home

This summer, five business instructors from four tribal colleges will graduate from Gonzaga University with Master's of Business Administration (MBA) degrees. Funded by the Theodore and Vivian Johnson Scholarship Foundation, faculty members from Salish Kootenai College, Fort Peck Community College, Blackfeet Community College, and Diné College have worked the last three years toward the degrees with a specialization in American Indian Entrepreneurship (MBA-AIE).

The Johnson Foundation, Gonzaga University, and the instructors themselves designed this new program to address economic development in Indian Country. With the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained in the MBA-AIE Program, these teachers will return to their schools and students. They will share their new ideas to promote tribal entrepreneurship, enhance resources management, and strengthen local economies.

The next class of participants will include tribal leaders, managers, and other instructors who will, with full financial support from the Johnson Foundation, spend six weeks during the next three summers on the Gonzaga campus taking classes and attending workshops. Courses taken at distance by computer during the rest of the years will complete the degree requirements. Native American leadership, team building, and business issues unique to Indian Country complement the usual curriculum.

"Enrichment, commitment, and acknowledgement all add up to a rejuvenated enthusiasm in my teaching and personal life, which is the most valuable thing I have gotten out of the program," says second year student Alfred DeRoche, (Blackfeet) an instructor at Salish Kootenai College. "Gonzaga University provides quality instruction and an environment that puts people first. This spirit is something I hope to incorporate into my work with students."

The Theodore and Vivian Johnson Scholarship Foundation has supported both economic development and higher education for many years. Native American entrepreneurship has benefited from the foundation's partnership with many tribal colleges; students in tribal colleges receive foundation scholarships on an annual basis.

For additional information or application documents contact Stacey Chatman, Program Coordinator, School of Business Administration, Gonzaga University, AD Box 9, Spokane, WA 99258, (800) 986-9585 or email chatman@jepson.gonzaga.edu.

New DOE Job Provides Liaison Between Tribes and Government

Steve Grey, program manager for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's American Indian Program, has been confirmed as the director of Indian affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Historically a political appointment, Grey's job will be a full-time career position with the DOE.

As the director, he serves as an advisor on high priority program and policy issues of national interest involving state, local, and tribal governments. He also is the principal liaison between the DOE and tribal governments, enabling him to influence policies affecting American Indian nations.

"Tribes own 15% of the natural energy resources in the United States," Grey says. "Our office will be able to help direct policy on how the department can best work with and assist the tribes." One of his first tasks is setting up a major tribal summit meeting between the tribes and the DOE.

Grey, a Navajo, was born and raised in Kayenta, AZ, on the Navajo Nation and graduated from Monument Valley High School. He attended Diné College, received his Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering and also earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration.

In his work at the lab, he played a leadership role in American Indian outreach and education programs. He went on to manage a DOE field office at Diné College in Shiprock, NM. Grey will divide his time between DOE headquarters, the laboratory, and New Mexico where he and his wife reside.

Tom Brokaw Contributes To OLC Endowment Fund

Tom Brokaw has donated $25,000 to the Nursing Faculty Endowment Fund at Oglala Lakota College (OLC, Kyle, SD). The tribal college needs $675,000 to endow one faculty position.

OLC's goal is to raise $225,000 from South Dakota donors for the Nursing Faculty Endowment Fund and then challenge its donors nationwide to match 2 to 1 the amount raised in South Dakota.

With the Tom Brokaw donation, OLC has raised $203,000 from South Dakota donors for the Nursing Faculty Endowment Fund. College administrators hope to raise the remaining $23,000 within the next year.

The OLC Nursing Faculty Endowment Fund is very important due to the critical shortage of nurses in the nation, South Dakota, and especially on American Indian reservations. The life expectancy of Lakota men and women on the Pine Ridge Reservation is the lowest in the United States and lowest in the Western Hemisphere except for Haitians. The life expectancy of an Oglala Lakota man is 61 and 70 for a woman, far behind the 77.5 and 83 years in the rest of the country.

The Pine Ridge Reservation has a higher rate of diabetes, alcoholism, heart disease, infant mortality, and tuberculosis than all other races.

On the Pine Ridge Reservation, 36 of the 71 nurses working at the Pine Ridge Hospital and Kyle Health Clinics are graduates of OLC's Nursing Program. There are few, if any, nursing programs in the United States that can match the number of nurses OLC has produced for the Indian Health Service.

"Funding support for the Nursing Program is critically important to sustaining this program, and that is the reason why we are so pleased with receiving a donation from Tom Brokaw," says OLC President Thomas Shortbull.

For more information on OLC's Nursing Faculty Endowment Fund, call Marilyn Pourier, development director, (605) 455-6045 or write to Box 490, Kyle, SD 57752.