Volume 18 Winter 2006 Issue No. 2
In This Issue:
Traditional Wisdom Our Strength
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ON CAMPUS
Keweenaw Camp Anishinaabe Focused
Many students explored traditional wisdom about healthy lifestyles at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College’s (KBOCC, Baraga, MI) Summer Science Day Camp. They listened to stories, made crafts, played traditional games, and sampled indigenous foods, while focusing on the central Anishinaabe concept of living in balance and harmony.
The students also formed hypotheses, conducted experiments, made observations, and generally acted like scientists. They discovered for themselves how balancing food, activity, water, and rest can maintain good health.
The rare blend of traditional wisdom and modern science came from the “Health is Life in Balance” curriculum materials being developed by the Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools (DETS) project funded by the National Institues of Health in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and the Indian Health Service.
Together with seven other tribal colleges in the DETS group, KBOCC is developing science curriculum materials, based on a diabetes model, for use in kindergarten through 12th grade.
The camp involved elementary, high school, and college level students. Approximately 70 elementary students got an early preview of the materials along with outdoor activities, healthy snacks, and field trips to the local fish hatchery, waterfalls, and Lake Superior lagoons.
Older students developed mentoring and leadership skills; college students polished their teaching skills as teacher aides; and high school students who served as junior aides experienced a taste of teaching.
Athabascan Musher Hailed by Haskell
by Ellen Lockyer
Thirty years ago, a brash Athabascan villager came out of nowhere to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. That man was Emmitt Peters, Sr., who was honored last April as the first dog driver to be inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame at Haskell Indian Nations University (Lawrence, KS).
In 1975, Peters’ first place Iditarod finish set a speed record and helped change the face of the race for all time. Peters took 14 1/2 days to win the Iditarod then.
That doesn’t seem like a record now, but in 1975, the time shaved almost a week off the race. Peters, now 65 years old, was raised around sled dogs. At their home in Ruby, AK, his dad kept a dog team and dogs in the yard.
The first Iditarod races were not the speed events they are now. In the early days of the race, the mushers were just trying to cover the 1000 miles between Anchorage and Nome any way they could. Peters learned “run-rest” strategy by watching the mushers as they ran along the Yukon River.
In 1974, another Alaska Native musher, Carl Huntington, borrowed Nugget, one of Peters’ dogs, and won the second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. After that, Peters took Nugget back and headed for Nome himself. He put her trail savvy in front of a young dog team.
The move paid off. Peters’ team was so fast that it pulled him into Iditarod legend. “Nugget used to run for Carl Huntington, so I trusted her. She was the grandmother to all these pups I used on that team.”
Now the team has pulled him into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. Peters says he was surprised when he was contacted by the Hall of Fame board.
“That really made my day because all my life I read about Jim Thorpe… he was the all-around athlete for football, baseball, track.”
Peters is already enshrined in the Iditarod Hall of Fame. He got his moniker, “The Yukon River Fox,” by outwitting and outrunning far better-equipped dog drivers. Peters finished in the top 10 seven times in 14 Iditarods.
CCCC Highlights Talent In Students and Faculty
 SHINING STAR AT CCCC. Thalia Esser is awarded for outstanding work for teaching early childhood classes and working with faculty on accreditation. |
Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC, Fort Totten, ND) recently expanded its Talent Search program and recognized an outstanding faculty member.
The CCCC Talent Search program sponsored eight high school students to attend the United National Indian Tribal Youth conference in Buffalo, NY, July 14-18, 2006.
Participants, who were selected for their GPA and participation, included Kareena Whiteshield, Danae Black, Anthony Ironheart, Vernell Jackson, Dancia Jackson, William Black Jr., Cody Shaw, and Alice Wadsworth.
The gathering provided many opportunities for the students to grow spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially. Ironheart and Jackson participated in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and won first place.
The students also attended a pow-wow on the Seneca Nation reservation, visited Niagara Falls, and met Native actors Adam Beach and Gary Farmer. The conference emphasized that students should choose positive pathways for themselves.
Thalia Esser was named CCCC Faculty Member of the Year, an award sponsored by the American Indian College Fund. Esser has been a faculty member for seven years. Now vice president for academic affairs and occasionally acting president, she holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education.
Esser teaches early childhood education courses, and according to student evaluations, she is well-liked and respected. “Ms. Esser is a dedicated and thoughtful faculty member and administrator. I am very proud to work with her and have her as part of the management team,” says Dr. Cynthia Lindquist-Mala (Spirit Lake Dakotah), CCCC president.
As vice president for academic affairs, Esser’s responsibilities are extensive and demanding. She has established a faculty forum, a learning assessment workgroup, and a curriculum committee that engages the faculty in self-evaluation and improvement.
“Ms. Esser was co-chair of the accreditation committee for 2 years wherein we were successfully removed from probation and granted 10-year accreditation status. This is significant for a tribal college and for our community,” says Lindquist-Mala.
For information on Talent Search, contact Imogene Belgarde, director, at (701)766-1112. For general CCCC information, contact Dixie Omen, public information officer, at Dixie_omen@littlehoop.edu or at (701)766-1314.
AT&T Program Develops 2 TCU Student Leaders
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Two tribal college students were among 11 Native Americans in the inaugural AT&T Native American Political Leadership Program at George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC, which was funded by the AT&T Foundation.
Starlynn Tourtillott (Menominee) from the College of Menominee Nation (Keshena, WI) and Marjeanna Burge (Comanche) from Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU, Lawrence, KS) completed the first-of-its-kind political leadership development program for Native American college students.
The students spent their spring 2006 semester in the nation’s capital while taking classes at GW, participating in hands-on internships, and interacting with political leaders and policy makers. Their visits to Capitol Hill focused on public policy issues affecting Native American communities.
“These students will return to their communities knowing what it takes to win elections, form coalitions, pass legislation and influence public opinion,” says U.S.Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who played an integral role in creating the program.
“They will be better informed about how politics works and more aware of how they can influence those processes to improve their tribal governments and their communities.”
The AT&T Foundation grant will provide enough funds for tuition, housing, books, and other expenses for 10 students a year for 3 years, for a total of 30 participants.
“We welcome the opportunity to support the AT&T Native American Political Leadership Program because it aligns perfectly with our commitment to leadership development for underserved populations,” says Laura Sanford, president of the AT&T Foundation. “This is the only program of its kind in the country.”
For more information, including applications for the next session, contact Sean Doles at (512) 495-7163, atsdoles@attnews.us, or visit www.gwu.edu/~siw/.
LPTC Students, Alumni
Awarded Opportunities
Little Priest Tribal College (LPTC, Winnebago, NE) honored 15 graduates, its largest class yet, on June 3, 2006. Some transferred to the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) or Wayne State College. In the past, 75% of LPTC’s transferred alumni have graduated with bachelor’s degrees.
A record number of LPTC students also participated in summer research internships around the country, acquiring professional skills, knowledge, and experience that should help shape their future careers, according to Betty Redleaf Collette, the college’s dean of academics.
Students John Campbell, Natalie Davis, and Teala Connealy interned at the NASA Goddard Space Flight/ Research Center in Washington, DC. Melodie Cleveland attended Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), an undergraduate research program at Rice University in Houston, TX.
Marcelia WhiteGrass attended the University of Nebraska Medical Center NE-INBRE/BRIN Scholars Program. Jillian A. Kelsey and Sharon Redhorn-Chamberlain attended a Pre-Law Institute held at the University of Nebraska College of Law.
The NASA interns researched different areas: Campbell worked with alternative energy; Davis expanded her work on an indigenous plant project that she had started under LPTC’s Native IMAGE program; and Connealy worked with water quality and a satellite mapping project.
The prestigious AGEP program, which targets undergraduate minority students interested in advanced science, technology, engineering, and math, oriented Cleveland to a variety of technology fields. She is studying bio-informatics this fall in the UNL Engineering/Computer Science Program.
Kelsey and Redhorn-Chamberlain prepared for entry to law school at the University of Nebraska.
SKC Provides Online IT Classes at Crownpoint
Jared Ribble and Chris Yazzie, both Navajo, are information technology technicians who work at their alma mater, Crownpoint Institute of Technology (CIT, Crownpoint, NM). Last spring, they enrolled in online courses offered by Salish Kootenai College (SKC, Pablo, MT) and expect to earn Bachelor of Science Degrees in Information Technology (IT) next year.
Courses last 10 weeks each, but students can log into the program 24-7. “Classes are fast paced, with reading material,” Yazzie says, “and you have to keep up, just like for regular classes.”
Ribble enjoys the online class discussions. “We’re already doing the work some are only studying in courses,” he states. “Right now we’re working on the Internet to Hogan project, we’re setting up a supercomputer to bring wireless network to reservation communities.”
Yazzie admits he’s struggled with some course content and sometimes wishes he had an instructor to meet with face-to-face. “E-mail questions are dependent on when the instructor responds,” he says.
Yet he says, “We took ‘History of Indians in the U.S.’ from one of the best instructors. I gained a totally different perspective, and our texts, First Peoples and American Holocaust, were really eye-opening.”
SKC is one of a few tribal colleges offering a 4-year program online using the Lotus Notes Learning Space and SKC Pathway. The National Science Foundation’s Tribal College and University Program (TCUP) funded SKC’s online IT baccalaureate degree program as well as tuition, books, and fees for the CIT staff.
SKC offers online courses and degree programs to Indian students in the United States and to indigenous students in Alberta, British Columbia, and Australia.
CIT Dean of Instruction Tom Davis was instrumental in getting the two sites connected. He has also mentored CIT IT Director Jason Arviso (Navajo), who is now working on an online master’s degree from Capella University.
“It was our desire to offer this program because computer technology assistance is so needed in Indian country, and we’re very pleased that the program is growing, with students enrolled from several different tribal areas,” says SKC President Dr. Joe McDonald.
For information on the CIT Information Technology projects, call Tom Davis, Dean of Instruction at 505-786-4100. For information on SKC’s online computer technology program, call (406) 275-4800 or visit: www.skc.edu.
Students, Administrator Explore Prairie, Plains
 NORTHERN PLAINS LEADER. Russell Swagger, UTTC Dean and Meadowlark Project participant lends his ideas to a social change effort. |
An administrator at United Tribes Technical College (UTTC,Bismarck, ND) is contributing to a Northern Plains leadership initiative, and elementary students at the college’s on-campus elementary school found prairie treats in a camp there.
Russell Swagger (St. Croix Chippewa), dean of student and campus services at UTTC, is one of 26 leaders invited to participate in the Meadowlark Project: A Leadership Laboratory on the Future of the Northern Great Plains. The project, organized by Northern Great Plains (NGP) Inc., is an intensive, 18-month social change effort designed to find new ways to address long-standing, systemic problems in the region.
The selected team members represent a range of community interests (industry, agriculture, media, arts, government, religion, and non-profit), the states in the NGP region (North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska), as well as the growing diversity of the region.
“I’m honored to be selected to serve on such an important project,” says Swagger. “To have a voice in the future of our state and the region is a rare opportunity. I plan to be a strong advocate and positive role model for all people.”
In a different opportunity, students trained their eyes to spot the foliage of the prairie turnip so they could enjoy a taste of the edible root. Cory Johnson, son of Lynette and Thomas Crows Heart (Three Affiliated), now has the skill, thanks to a summer camp and some tribal experts.
 YUM! A PRAIRIE TURNIP! Cory Johnson knows his prairie turnips these days. |
Johnson, a spring 2006 graduate of Theodore Jamerson Elementary School on the UTTC campus, attended “Nakota Horses on the Prairie” this summer.
He and other students presented the findings of their final camp projects at the college. “If you find one, you’re going to find lots of ‘em,” says Johnson, who gained his traditional plants knowledge from his mentor, UTTC Tribal Arts Instructor Butch Thunderhawk. The camp was coordinated by Jen Janecek-Hartman, director of UTTC STEM programs and education, and funded by a science enhancement grant from NASA, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the Rural Systemic Initiative.
For information on the Meadowlark Project, visit www.ngplains.org. For information onUTTC, contact Dennis J. Neumann, public relations director, at (701) 255-3285, ext. 1386, or at opi@uttc.edu
Brazilians and Africans Learn from CMN Visits
During the summer of 2006, the College of Menominee Nation’s (CMN, Keshena, WI) Sustainable DevelopmentInstitute (SDI) hosted two indigenous groups, one from the Brazilian Amazon and one from Africa.
In May, indigenous leaders from the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COAIB) gained insight on how the Menominee Nation has preserved its tribal forest and land base. COAIB is an association of 34 indigenous organizations based on ethnic divisions in the Brazilian Amazon.
The group came to learn about natural resource management and community structures in Native America. They plan to form an ethno-environmental department within COAIB to provide technical assistance to communities in their homeland.
In June, three other leaders from the Brazilian Amazon indigenous communities visited from the regions of Rondonia, Mato Grosso, and the Southern Amazon. They were investigating issues related to the sovereign rights of indigenous peoples by meeting with North American tribes, non-governmental agencies, and U.S. government representatives.
They also looked into the relationships between Native American tribes and local, state, and federal governments and agencies. They examined environmental protection and resource management activities of Native communities with particular focus on forestry, fisheries, and sustainable development. They also discussed tribal cultural and historic preservation issues.
The SDI organized tours of the Menominee Forest and the five communities on the Menominee Reservation. The visitors saw, firsthand, sustainable forestry management and the ability of the Menominee to maintain a reservation land base. The Brazilian groups learned how reservations were established in the United States and the resources needed to preserve the culture and land in the face of pressure from outside forces.
The Brazilians are especially concerned about retaining sovereignty, controlling resources in their respective regions, and holding on to their traditional lifestyles.
Educators from South Africa also visited CMN in July 2006 to examine, in their own words, “what is common in our histories on how our cultures can survive in a Western world and discuss the tensions of living in two worlds -- the Western way of knowing the world and the traditional ways.” The South Africans were also interested in the challenges of preserving indigenous culture.
For more information, contact Melissa Cook, director, Sustainable Development Institute, at CMN, P.O. Box 1179, Keshena, WI 54135, at mcook@menominee.edu, or at 1(800) 567-2344. For more information about Menominee sustainable development practices, see TCJ, Vol. 17, N.2.
Jones Gets Distinguished Person of Color Award
Dan Jones, Anishinaabe Language and American Indian Studies instructor at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC, Cloquet, MN), received the 2006 Distinguished Person of Color of the Year Award from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Jones, a member of the Nicickousemenecaning First Nation from Ontario, Canada, has taught language courses at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College since 1997 and at UW-Superior since 2002. He received the award during a ceremony held last May.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs at UW-Superior presents the award annually to a person in the greater Duluth-Superior area who is connected to the university and who works diligently to enhance the lives of persons of color in the region.
Jones was recognized for his ongoing commitment to diversity and his cultural involvement with the campus community, the Native community, and to the Northland.
In addition to his college instruction duties, Jones has provided weekly language immersion sessions at the Fond du Lac Tribal Center for the past 5 years.
Previously, Jones has received the Outstanding American Indian Post Secondary Teacher of the Year Award on three occasions from the Minnesota Indian Education Association and was twice named Outstanding American Indian Post Secondary Counselor of the Year.
For more information about Dan Jones, see TCJ, Vol. 17, N.3, page 34.
Lannan Institutes Give Instructors Inspiration
The Newberry Library’s D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History enrolled 16 individuals in its 2006 Lannan Summer Institutes for teachers in tribal colleges.
Kimberly Blaeser (Anishinaabe), professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, taught “Teaching American Indian Literature.” Jacki Thompson Rand (Choctaw) of the University of Iowa directed “Federal Indian Law & Policy and Your Community History.”
“The literature institute was one of the most enlightening and valuable academic experiences for me,” says Reeze LaHonde Hanson who teaches Native American Rhetoric classes at Haskell Indian Nations University. She researched original Native speeches and background material that precipitated the speeches.
She adds, “I’m madly working to integrate those speeches into my classes, and I plan to present a paper on my research this fall at the convention of the National Communication Association.”
Diné College English and Arts instructor Karen Willeto (Navajo) discovered art from the early 1900s and called the entire institute “wonderful.”
“At the Newberry Library, I found a copy of the 1855 Blackfeet Treaty with the United States and an actual journal kept by A. Hatch, the first agent for the tribe who was present at the treaty signing,” says Lea Whitford (Blackfeet). She adds, “Everything I copied, I turned over to our college library so our students can have access, too.”
She found the historical Cherokee cases leading to early federal court decisions very eye opening. She will share her new insights in classes at Blackfeet Community College starting this fall.
“This was my second experience – the information and the resources are always excellent,” says Garrett Big Leggins (Assiniboine-Sioux), instructor at Fort Peck Community College. “In the law institute, I learned the national narrative taught in K-12 America is not our real history,” he says. “The impact of what happened to us Native people shapes us even today, we all need to know what really happened.”
Other participants represented Leech Lake Tribal College, College of Menominee Nation, Little Big Horn College, Comanche Nation College, Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Tohono O’odham Community College, Sinte Gleska University, and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College.
For information on the Lannan Institutes, call (312) 255-3564 or visit www.newberry.org.
Reclaiming Chippewa-Cree History at Stone Child
Putting the “tribal” into tribal history is the focus of current efforts at Stone Child College (SCC, Box Elder, MT). With a one-time-only appropriation from the Montana Legislature, the Rocky Boy Tribal History Project began work in the fall of 2005 to produce materials that would help teach Chippewa-Cree history to Montana's public school children.
Now in its second and last year, the Rocky Boy Tribal History Project is already significantly amplifying the Chippewa Cree tribal voice in matters of history and culture.
From the start, the project sought total community involvement. Last fall, tribal elders, community members, SCC students, and college faculty and staff took part in unprecedented community gatherings to establish the direction and priorities of the project.
The gatherings featured a keynote presentation by historian and photographer Celeste River, who spoke on writer and ethnographer Frank Linderman and the formation of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation.
The Western Heritage Center's American Indian Tribal Histories Project is training SCC personnel in oral history interviewing techniques and in digital video production. This collaboration will help the college move one step closer to becoming a research institution better able to serve the intellectual and cultural needs of the community.
Last summer, the Rocky Boy Tribal History Project hosted a cultural forum on Verne Dusenberry's The Montana Cree: A Study in Religious Persistence. Offered for college credit but also open to the general public, this event featured a panel of elders discussing the history and relevance of Dusenberry's work, one of the very few book-length studies ever conducted on Chippewa-Cree culture.
Because of the forum's overwhelming success, the Rocky Boy Tribal History Project planned to launch a cultural forum series during fall semester addressing specific topics on Chippewa-Cree history, culture, politics, and society.
College staff members hope to continue the momentum their project has generated toward greater community involvement in the academic affairs of SCC.
Instructors Get High In the Bolivian Andes
While earning their doctorates, several students visited Bolivia for 10 days last year. The graduate students represented the following tribal colleges: Sisseton Wahpeton College, Nebraska Indian Community College,Oglala Lakota College, and United Tribes Technical College. The Prairie Ph.D. Program of South Dakota State University (SDSU) made the trip possible for the participants.
Wanda Agnew, one of the students, shared highlights from the exciting multi-cultural international learning trip high into the mountains of South America. In the Andes, at elevations over 15,000 feet, the group visited a private college, Unidad Academica Campesina-Carman Pompa (UAC-CP).
There they found indigenous people justifiably proud of their educational facility, which provides training for teachers, nurses, and office workers, as well as agriculture and environmental science professionals. The people spoke Spanish and their native languages: Quechuan and Aymaran.
Agnew was particularly excited to see huge gardens maintained by the university community, where research is conducted on traditional plants, and produce is shared with community members. The college is in the process of building a coffee bean roasting facility and a meat processing plant.
Because many cultural traditions associated with living in the rain forest and mountains have been lost, the university is working to re-establish indigenous knowledge and life ways, particularly those relating to wellness and healthy diet using traditional, locally grown plants.
The visiting students attended a festival that commemorated a significant event in the country’s self-determination. In 1952, Native people in Bolivia regained their land after years of Spanish colonization and Hacienda slavery.
Agnew says it was humbling and enriching to learn how an educational mission, based in learning from the land like the tribal college Land Grant Programs, can revitalize community life.
Dawn Frank (Oglala Sioux), director and chair of graduate studies at Oglala Lakota College, also a program participant, says, “The diversity within our cohort group and the learning we share and acquire together are what makes the program exceptional.”
LLTC Trains Law Officers, Lauds Goodwin Sculpture
 SCULPTOR SEEKS IMAGES IN STONE. Dewey Goodwin, LLTC faculty member is recognized as an international artist by Minnesota Rocks! |
Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC, Cass Lake, MN) is expanding its Law Enforcement Program (LEP), and a faculty member’s reputation is expanding in Minnesota art circles.
The college is undergoing the lengthy process of becoming designated as a provider of peace officer training. The requirements include justifying the need and articulating course outlines to meet specific objectives and credentials for producing a Minnesota Peace Officer.
In its first step, the college trained social workers, police officers, and prosecutors during a 3-day session that focused on Forensic Interviewing of Children. The First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center from Duluth, MN, assisted with the training.
The college also brought to campus Gang Resistance Education and Training, G.R.E.A.T., a federally funded program which trains officers how to teach life skills to students and help them avoid delinquent behavior and violence.
The program attracted students from the Crow Creek Reservation, Leech Lake Reservation, Red Lake Reservation, White Earth Reservation, and even from municipal agencies as far away as Florida.
In July, LLTC hosted a briefing on terrorism, which provided sworn officers and criminal justice professionals with skills to help them detect terrorism on tribal lands.
The college desires to bring the highest quality training to police officers serving in the Leech Lake area and on reservations throughoutMinnesota.
Dewy Goodwin (White Earth Band of Ojibwe), a faculty member at LLTC, is concerned about quality in another area. Over the summer, he created a life-size sculpture as part of Minnesota Rocks! — the International Stone Carving Symposium held May 22-June 30 at St. Paul College. He was among 14 international artists commissioned to create works from Minnesota stone for public places in the Twin Cities.
Goodwin’s sculpture design utilized his technique of bringing living spirits out of the rock. He sketched the figure of a grandmother (modeled after his wife, Bambi, and their grandkids).
He encourages people to experience his work up close and personal. “A sculpture is supposed to be touched. You go up and feel the texture.”
As a teenager, Goodwin tried his hand at stone carving. “I started carving pipestone and just took to it. I was 17,” he says. After a stint at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, Goodwin developed his style of sculpting to bring out the forms and movements of animals and the spirits of people from blocks of stone.
“Things that people can relate to,” Goodwin says. “My concept is the less I can take off the stone to come out with the image, that’s my objective, to bring out the spirit and the image. That’s what I do.”
For information, call LLTC at (218) 335-4200.
NWIC Offers College Prep And Indigenous Studies
Summer education opportunities abounded on the campus of Northwest Indian College (NWIC, Bellingham, WA) with a college prep program and a tutorial collaboration for high schoolers and the annual Indigenous Studies Symposium.
There was little time to bask in the sun, hang out with friends, or lounge around the house for 65 Indian students, ages 15-18 years old, who took part in a summer program offered by NWIC. Organizers hope that the students were not only inspired to go to an institution of higher learning but were also prepared to succeed there.
Cheyenne Ballew (Lummi) liked the fact that he rubbed elbows with college students while learning more about biology.
High school students could enroll in two of the following NWIC summer classes: science education, English/reading, cultural arts, Lummi language, drama, and physical education. Participants either earned credit toward their diplomas or retrieved credits needed to complete their required courses.
The PE classes included a 5-part sailing program, hosted by Western Washington University. Students also learned golf basics from a certified golf teacher.
Three graduates of the NWIC Oksale (means teacher in Lummi) Teacher Education Program were recruited to teach in the summer program. All three hold a teacher certification in Washington state, a master's degree, and are in the process of earning their principal's credentials.
NWIC also collaborates with the Ferndale High School’s WASL Academy, which provides Lummi students with daily tutoring at the academy. Four tutored students re-took the math section of the WASL, a state mandated assessment, this summer.
“Over 60 students will receive tutoring in basic skills throughout the coming year,” says Sharon Kinley, director of the Coast Salish Institute at NWIC. “Ultimately, we want them all to pass the WASL.”
Indigenous scholars converged on NWIC July 27-29, 2006, to honor the work of the late Vine Deloria, Jr., one of the nation’s foremost authors and intellectuals. Topics ranged from sovereignty to spirituality and religion. Deloria authored 25 books, produced numerous other writings, and received many awards throughout his lifetime. “Any time you are focused around thinking of Vine, you are going to draw interest from many walks of life,” says NWIC President Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota).
Rissa Wabaunsee, NWIC vice president for Instruction, adds, “This type of forum for Indian scholarship adds to our efforts to preserve and enrich Native American studies in higher education.”
For more information, contact Aaron Thomas, director of public relations at NWIC, (360) 392-4211.
OLC Increases Endowments To Mark 35th Anniversary
Oglala Lakota College (OLC, Kyle, SD) celebrates 35 years of service in 2006. OLC, a 4-year tribal college with nine college centers on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and a learning center in the Black Hills, serves over 1,300 students a semester. It is chartered by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.
OLC recently entered into an agreement with the Johnson Scholarship Foundation for the establishment of an endowment fund that will support student scholarships and a business center.
The Johnson Scholarship Foundation will provide $200,000 annually for 4 years as long as OLC matches this amount with $300,000. There is now $500,000 in the Johnson Scholarship Foundation account. However, no interest distribution will be made until the account reaches its goal of $2 million.
OLC also received a $20,000 matching grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation when it raised $80,000 for the Calvin Jumping Bull Scholarship. The funds raised for this scholarship will remain in the investment portfolio of the South Dakota Community Foundation, and OLC will receive $5,000 annually for distribution to its students.
“I know that this investment by the Johnson Scholarship Foundation will lead to greater entrepreneurial accomplishments on our reservation. The financial support leads to greater self-determination for our people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” says OLC President Thomas Shortbull. “With the matching grants from the two foundations, OLC is making progress on meeting its goal of raising $6 million in student scholarships by 2011.”
On June 25, 2006, OLC graduated its 33 rd class of 166 students with masters, baccalaureate, and associate degrees and certificates.
“We are extremely proud of our graduating students; they serve as role models for our future generation,” says Shortbull. “We believe that Oglala Lakota College has played, and will continue to play, a major role in rebuilding the Lakota Nation, one student, one graduate at a time,” he adds.
For information, contact Marilyn E. Pourier, development director, at (605) 455-6045 or visit www.olc.edu for student scholarship information.
Janine Pease Appointed to MT Board of Regents
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has appointed Dr. Janine Pease (Crow) to the Board of Regents for Montana’s University System.
Pease is known for her deep commitment to Indian education, specifically higher education. She has received numerous honors for her work in developing Little Big Horn College (Crow Agency, MT) and for her supportive role in the tribal college movement.
“Tribal college presidents often serve as higher education ambassadors in both Native and non-Native communities. Few have done this better than Pease,” according to a National Indian Education Association (NIEA) press release about her appointment. “She has expressed with complete clarity to mainstream universities the unique needs of tribal students.”
One of her goals as an incoming regent is to bridge the sometimes difficult gap for Native students between tribal college graduation and access to state universities in Montana.
Costs for attending major colleges continue to rise, while federal funding, through financial aid, continues to decrease. These economic challenges pose profound challenges for Native learners. They also pose challenges to Indian sovereignty. Without a critical mass of prepared professionals, colleges cannot run vital tribal programs nor solidify the infrastructure of Indian Nations, according to NIEA.
Research Grant Partners Include Tribes and TCUs
Oglala Lakota College (OLC, Kyle, SD) and Sinte Gleska University (SGU, Mission, SD), among several other partners, will benefit from a new $7.4 million grant awarded to The University of South Dakota (USD) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Center for Disabilities.
According to their press release, USD will serve as the lead institution on a 5-year grant that will create the Center for Health Research with tribes in South Dakota-Montana-Wyoming. The grant was awarded by the Department of Health & Human Services NationalCenter of Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health.
The grant partners expect to advance the science to decrease health disparities for American Indians. Through a mentoring program at SGU, the number of researchers and professionals from minority populations trained in biomedical and behavioral research will increase. Also the dissemination and utilization of scientific and health information relevant to health diversity populations will be increased.
The effort to increase researchers and professionals in biomedical and behavioral research will allow for the creation of health disparities research projects based on tribal needs and will result in the development of associated resource materials specifically tailored for American Indians, according to the grant objectives.
Specifically, the grant will (1) help fund a study on Cultural Resilience and Adolescent Risk Behaviors by young Indian people, (2) fund an investigation into the role of prenatal alcohol exposure in the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), stillbirth, and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) by tracking American Indian children through age four, and (3) create the opportunity for a different pilot project to be conducted each year of the grant.
The grant will also help provide technical assistance, training, and support to tribal health and physical activities programs to conduct needs assessments and to develop tribally-tailored programs to prevent and reduce childhood obesity. Health information dissemination will also be an on-going aspect of the grant.
SGU Institutional Relations & Development Vice President Georgia Hackett says initial project work is already taking place on the campus.
For more information, contact Kenyon Gleason, USD director of communications, at (701) 677-6258 or kgleason@usd.edu.
White Earth Radio Show Provides Opportunities
The seed for a unique tribal college radio program was planted when White Earth Tribal and Community College (WETCC, Mahnomen, MN) needed an advertising campaign to promote its academic programs and services.
Pierre Callies, WETCC head of Business and Information Technology, says, “We wanted more people to be aware of the wonderful opportunities here.” One day he walked across the street to the KRJM 101.5 radio station and gained owner Gary Weber’s support for a radio show.
Next WETCC got lucky when the University of Minnesota organized the Minnesota College Goal Sunday, an information campaign on college financial aid, and selected the Mahnomen Shooting Star Casino as one of its sites.
Judy Swanson, financial aid staff member at the University of Minnesota, immediately embraced WETCC’s efforts and offered to sponsor the first five shows. NASA, Arvig Communication, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium followed shortly after as sponsors.
“We wanted a radio show that was fun, entertaining, interesting, self-supported, and promoted WETCC without sounding like a television infomercial,” says Callies.
Jeff Jentz and Scott Ebsen, WETCC faculty members, offered to help develop and host the radio show. Jentz suggested short indigenous and intercultural readings, and Ebsen proposed the concept of an open conversation.
“We wanted the White Earth Tribal and Community College Radio Show to allow people to get together and discuss the bright future of the White Earth Reservation and the Anishinaabe culture,” Callies explains.
In January 2006, Doreen Stone, WETCC financial aid specialist, participated in the first show, which received a large number of calls afterwards.
Today the White Earth Tribal and Community College Radio Show is a reality and a part of the White Earth Reservation cultural initiative. The college hopes to receive enough sponsorship to air the show every week this year. Possible ways to broadcast over the Internet are also being explored.
SGU Graduate Education Serving Lakota Students
Dorothy LeBeau and nine other women earned the first graduate degrees at Sinte Gleska University (SGU, Mission, SD) 17 years ago in 1989. The class included seven Sicangu Lakota women from the Rosebud Sioux reservation who, along with Dr. Archie Beauvais (Sicangu Lakota), helped design the program curricula.
Beauvais was an instructor/chair/dean of graduate and tribal studies at SGU for 20 years. SGU was the first tribal college to be accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLC) and the first to offer a Master’s of Education degree.
Many of those same women graduates continue to teach and work in the two reservation school districts: Todd County and St. Francis Indian School. These teachers, and many others who have followed in their footsteps, help Lakota youth imagine teaching as a possible profession.
LeBeau is the school improvement coordinator/curriculum director for the Todd County School District (TCSD) where she began her career 14 years ago as the bilingual director. TCSD’s student population is comprised of a majority of Sicangu Lakota children, but the number of Lakota teachers is low.
However, LeBeau says that the district is “growing their own” by paying for teacher aides to take classes at nearby SGU. The intent is to increase Native teachers in the district.
The district’s formal documents are interwoven with recognition of its responsibility to the Lakota children’s cultural foundation. LeBeau believes that academically successful Lakota children must be thoroughly grounded in Lakota language and culture and that they must learn standard English skills.
An example of a learner outcome reads, “All students will be self-directed learners who strive for woksape (wisdom), wacantognaka (generosity), woohitika (courage), and wowacintanka (fortitude.)”
The mission statement says, “The Todd County School District is a partner with families, communities, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and other education groups. We pledge to prepare our students for success academically, socially, culturally, and spiritually in an ever-changing world.”
 INDIGENOUS WOMEN OF THE WORLD, RESPLENDENT IN REGALIA AND RICH IN CULTURE. Left to right: Mae Britt Utsi and Ellen Haetta (Salmii of Norway), Lin Chun Feng and her daughter (Taiwanese), and Cynthia Lindquist-Mala, (Spirit Lake Dakotah) CCCC president. The women were immersed in Chippewa ways while also participating in international discourse on higher education with 125 others from six countries: United States, Norway, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) was sponsored by the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, MN on August 7-9, 2006. Photo by Tom Urbanski, Director of Public Information, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. |