Volume IX Winter 1997-98 Number 3
On Campus
LBHC Focuses Upon Building Dreams
Little Big Horn College (LBHC) in Montana has been awarded two major grants to encourage children to build career dreams and to encourage community service. The School to Work grant was awarded to both LBHC and its neighboring college, Dull Knife Memorial College. The $932,960 grant is the largest awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor. The colleges will serve all 5,233 students in schools on or near the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations, helping them to dream of careers and thus make better choices of courses before graduating. The average unemployment rate on the two reservations is 52 percent. The project includes career fairs, mentoring, and a full-time curriculum development person, who will write books for various age levels featuring 20 Cheyenne and 20 Crow people who work in trades or professions.The Corporation for National Service funded the other project--Learn and Serve. Through service learning, students improve academic learning and develop personal skills through structured service projects that meet community needs. Since tribal colleges are built by tribal communities, service learning fits well into the tribal college mission, according to Linda Pease, Learn and Serve Director at LBHC. That grant is for $95,000, which will be matched in full by LBHC.
The service learning project provides leadership development training for 25 students, who will then implement their own summer service projects related to their field of study, such as tutoring for education majors, income tax advising for business majors, and developing home pages for information systems majors. The students will receive college credit, a monetary award for their project, and a sense of empowerment, according to Pease. In addition, any students who are on welfare will be able to fulfill their community service requirements through the program. Through both programs, students will develop a passion for education, Pease says.
Fort Berthold Producing Radio Program
Fort Berthold Community College (New Town, N.D.) staff and students are producing an hour-long radio program to promote activities at the college, offer updates on college events and classes, and present interviews with faculty and staff. The College Corner is repeated nine times each week on the tribal station, KMHA, with support from Station Manager Russell Parshall and Production Manager Kendrick Williams.
Reba Bird conducts the interviews on KMHA
It features two special mini-programs. The Eagle Feather Pen features students reading poetry, essays, and short stories they have prepared for various classes. Cruzin' Cuzins is a car chat program that entertains listeners with subjects such as the many uses of duct tape for reservation cars. "The title of the Eagle Feather Pen refers to the power and the spirit of the eagle, just as good writing and speaking combine the inner power and spirit of the student authors," according to writing instructor Jim Fisher, who doubles as a "cuzin" to Marva Pretends Eagle. Student Reba Bird conducts the interviews.
Crownpoint Trains Welfare Recipients
The New Mexico Human Services Department has awarded a $680,000, one-year grant to Crownpoint Institute of Technology (CIT) to provide employment and training services to 800 residents of the Navajo Nation. CIT responded to the state's request for proposals for training welfare clients. The institute will be assessing clients and training them in job search, job readiness, and urban living skills. They will also try to match them with work experience in the public sector, community service, and paid employment with the private sector, according to CIT Human Resources Director Jay R. DeGroat. The unemployment rate in the Navajo Nation is 45 percent.Several businesses have said they would employ trainees at minimum wage, but many trainees are illiterate. Nevertheless, DeGroat is optimistic about the possibilities, especially in community service. CIT has arranged trades with Navajo chapters (political subdivisions of the tribe) and with veteran programs, for example. The welfare recipients will provide the labor as they are trained in plumbing and carpentry skills, and the other parties will supply the materials to construct needed buildings around the reservation. "Rather than trying to bring them here to Crownpoint, we're taking the training to them," DeGroat says.
"The social evils--alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, despair--that accompany unemployment anywhere are especially pernicious here on the Navajo Nation and threaten to destroy our culture," says CIT President James Tutt. "The institute wants to equip our citizens with the skills to address the challenges that face them."
NIEA Honors Karen Gayton Swisher
At its annual convention in November, the National Indian Education Association named Dr. Karen Gayton Swisher as Indian Educator of the Year. NIEA gives its highest award annually to recognize commitment to excellence in learning and outstanding service to Indian education. Swisher (Standing Rock Sioux) chairs the teacher education department at Haskell Indian Nations University (Lawrence, Kan.) and has over 30 years experience in Indian education.Swisher has written and co-authored groundbreaking articles on Indian education in many journals. Most recently she has involved the Gila River Indian Community tribal council in research on children at risk there. She is known nationally for her efforts to encourage Indian scholars, including organizing the annual Association of American Indian and Alaska Native Professors Conference and annual research forums at NIEA conventions. She received her doctorate in educational administration in 1981. For seven years, she has edited the Journal of American Indian Education.
Karen Gayton Swisher, NIEA Educator of the Year. Photo by Scott R. Indermaur
NIEA also honored three students for their outstanding academic achievements. One of them was a tribal college student, Shannon Hopkins, a student at Fort Peck Community College and the vice president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Congress.
SKC honors Gerald Slater with new center
Students at Salish Kootenai College (Pablo, Mont.) now have a central meeting and eating place, the QaTsa Ka.kin ("Three Wolves") Student Center. The center is named for SKC Vice President Gerald "Three Wolves" Slater, a major figure in the local academic arena for over 20 years. Slater has been with SKC since its inception as a satellite of the Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell. He was an instructor at Montana State University and also helped establish the Two Eagle River school for the tribe in the early 1970s. He received his Indian name of "Three Wolves" from Kootenai elder Alex Lefthand.The center boasts a main room with seating for 110, a smaller conference room that seats 35, and a cafeteria. It is fully wired for computer networking over fiber optic lines to the campus computer system. Students can plug in at various locations in the main room. Video conference equipment is designed into the plan.
The new building was designed by SKC carpentry students, who also acted as general contractor and helped with construction. It gives students a place to study independently, share notes, or just visit. Community groups and organizations can meet there even when school is not in session. Adding to its appeal as a popular gathering place is the food. Three Wolves will offer breakfast and lunch, including grilled food, sandwiches, salads, and baked goods prepared on-site.
Kellogg grant to build family model
A group of tribal colleges in Montana received a grant last summer from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to develop a family-centered educational strategy. The project assumes that tribal college student success depends upon family success. It is designed to serve marginalized populations, such as individuals and families on welfare who may lack high school diplomas, face challenges in reading and writing, and have been unemployed for long periods, according to the project coordinator, Iris Heavy Runner (Blackfeet), a professor at the University of Montana in Missoula.The three year grant includes Fort Peck Community College, Stone Child College, Blackfeet Community College, and Salish Kootenai College. Each college will hire a family specialist who will help coordinate the various services available to families from federal and tribal governments.
The project will focus upon documenting research and developing models with students doing some of the research and writing. "I think we [tribal colleges] have always focused upon families to some extent, but we've never had the opportunity to formalize our work," Heavy Runner says. She will research the theoretical models; and the family specialists will research the local governmental, cultural, and spiritual elements. Eventually the project will develop and share family-centered curriculum and models. Heavy Runner, who is writing her doctoral dissertation on cultural resilience in tribal college students, has already discovered some previously unreported support networks, such as father/son and brother/sister who share grants and transportation.
TEACH project benefits tribal colleges
In a momentous show of support for education in Wisconsin, Governor Tommy G. Thompson signed into law the state's 1997-99 biennial budget. For the first time, it benefits the state's two tribal colleges--Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College and the College of the Menominee Nation. This budget includes a technology initiative as well as scholarships for tribal college students (see separate story in this issue).Tribal college administrators and students worked with the governor and lawmakers to identify the educational needs of rural Wisconsin and strategies to meet them. A multi-year education initiative, "TEACH Wisconsin" (Technology for Educational Achievement in Wisconsin), will provide pertinent technology to Wisconsin students to break down the barriers of distance and allow students to learn at any time and in any place. Distance learning technologies are a critical and cost-effective way of maximizing higher education opportunities across a wide geographic area. Teaching in a technologically advanced environment will allow students to effectively pursue advanced degrees.
Fort Belknap Addresses Water Quality
Residents of the Fort Belknap Reservation can now look forward to a healthier level of water quality monitoring, thanks to a grant received by Fort Belknap College (Harlem, Mont.). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a two-year Community-University Partnership grant of $250,000. The project will enable the Fort Belknap community to address environmental justice, water quality concerns on the southern end of the reservation in a more informed and effective manner.
Fort Belknap participants include top row, left to right; Dan Kinsey, Dr. Liz McClain, and Katherine Halver. Second row: Blake Stiffarm, Dennis Longknife, and Kenneth "Gus" Helegesen. Front row: Scott Friskics, Clarena M. Werk, and Ina Nez Perce.
The primary objectives of the grant are to: 1) develop and enhance local water quality monitoring capabilities; 2) establish a Water Quality Resource Center, which will serve as a clearinghouse for data collection; 3) provide training in water quality monitoring methods and water quality issues to the Fort Belknap community; 4) increase community awareness of and participation in potential environmental and human health impacts of water quality degradation.
Scott Friskics, Fort Belknap College natural resources instructor, will direct the project, which will be housed at Fort Belknap College and will include lab facilities. Two Fort Belknap College graduates who went on to complete their bachelor's degrees, Dennis Longknife and Dan Kinsey, will also participate in the program. Fort Belknap College collaborated with the Fort Belknap Community Council, the Tribal EPA office, and Island Mountain Protectors to develop the proposal.
SIPI's First Satellite Uplink Conference a Success
Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (Albuquerque, NM) staged the college's first satellite uplink video conference on Careers in Science and Technology last September. Facilitated by SIPI Distance Learning Technician Gary Garrison, the conference was sent to the 30 other colleges in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) system. It was made possible by a grant to AIHEC from the Federal Aviation Administration.The conference panelists focused on the availability of advanced technology jobs and the necessary academic background to secure those jobs. Panelists agreed that a strong foundation in college level mathematics (calculus), science (chemistry, physics), and computer programming are crucial.
Panelists included Anita Abrego (Lummi and Quinault), an aerospace engineer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.; Sandra Begay-Campbell (Navajo), a senior technical staff member at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.; and Mel Yawakie (Zuni), a member of the technical staff at U.S. West Communications in Denver.
New Fund to Honor Lionel Bordeaux
Sinte Gleska University (Rosebud, S.D.) has created a special fund to honor Lionel Bordeaux, who has served as president for 25 years. The Wakinyan Wanbli (Eagle Thunder) Fund will be used to develop and operate a buffalo education program at Sinte.Bordeaux has been a major supporter of American Indian issues throughout his 25 year tenure at the university. He has served on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, A U.S. Presidential Appointment; as co-chair of the White House Conference on Indian Education; as president of the National Indian Education Association; as president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium; as board member for the Native American Rights Fund; as a member of the National Congress of American Indians; and as a Rosebud Sioux tribal councilman for 12 years. In 1988 he received the prestigious National Indian Education Association Educator of the Year award.
"We think it's important to recognize all the work President Bordeaux has done. He has been instrumental in the passage of important legislation on American Indian education at all levels, but most significantly for tribal colleges," says Phil Baird, associate director of the Northern Plains Bison Education Program. " Wakinyan Wanbli is Bordeaux's Lakota name. To contribute to the Wakinyan Wanbli Fund or for more information, contact Cheryl Crazy Bull, Sinte Gleska University, P.O. Box 8, Rosebud, S.D. 57570 at (605) 747-2263.
Menominee Initiates 2 New Programs
Building on a century and a half of Menominee expertise in forest management, the College of the Menominee Nation (Keshena, Wis.) is continuing to develop its Sustainable Development Institute. Two new academic initiatives will extend the Menominee sustainable forestry approach beyond the borders of the reservation. Both initiatives offer associate degrees. The mastery and technical associate degree program is a three-tiered training program focusing on timber harvesting. The first round of courses will be offered this spring.An associate of arts and sciences degree in sustainable development has been developed using a theoretical model based on the eight millennia of Menominee occupancy of the Great Lakes forests. The model promotes sustainability as a multi-dimensional process with six distinct but inter-related areas: land and sovereignty, economics, technology, environment, institutions, and human perceptions and activity. Students enrolling in this degree program will take core courses in each of the six areas and work on a faculty-mentored research project aimed at implementing sustainable development.
Support for both of these programs comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service Division and the Menominee Nation. (For more information, see Tribal College Journal, Fall 1996.)
Sisseton Wahpeton to Administer Welfare
The Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe has enlisted the help of its tribal college in its response to the new federal welfare reform mandates. The tribe is one of a very few tribes in the country that has chosen to administer the program on its reservation in northern South Dakota on its own terms rather than allowing the state of South Dakota to administer the program to tribal members. Under the law, Indian tribes with an approved tribal family assistance plan may directly receive federal block grant funds. (See other articles in this issue for details.)Sisseton Wahpeton Community College will provide educational and job readiness training to its clientele. The training will include developing critical thinking and decision making skills, increasing self-esteem, and adjusting to the changing demands of a working world, according to Academic Dean Elden Lawrence. The college will also provide training in nutrition, health, child care, and other life skills. Clients will be taught about their cultural inheritance and their traditional roles and responsibilities.
Lawrence acknowledges that the tribe faces a tremendous challenge. "We're second and third generation welfare people. It will be hard to change habits," he says. Many of the clients have not finished high school and thus will not be ready for college training. While the unemployment rate now on the reservation is 37 percent, he believes it will leap back to over 80 percent if the tribal casino is forced to close. Already the reservation suffers from one of the highest homelessness rates in the state. With more and more non-Indian people getting off welfare in South Dakota cities, the first jobs will go to the non-Indians, he believes.
Nevertheless, Lawrence believes the tribe made the right decision. "The tribe can't do any worse than what the state will do. The last thing we want is to let our people fall into the hands of a state that is known to discriminate against Indians," he says. He believes it is also important for the tribal college to participate. Referring to Abraham Mazlow's hierarchy of needs, he says, "Educating a people out of poverty is difficult because their physiological needs must be met first. They must have food, clothing, and a roof over their heads before they can consider education."
Fond du Lac Launches Collaborations
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (Cloquet, Minn.) has announced two far-reaching collaborative efforts with other colleges. One collaboration is with Hibbing Community College (Hibbing, Minn.) to increase the number of American Indian students graduating from professional nursing programs and becoming registered nurses. Titled Ninda-gikendaan--The Endeavor Program, it will identify, prepare, and assist potential and qualified nursing students. Ninda-gikendaan translates as "I endeavor to learn."The project intends to recruit all interested students, especially American Indian students, into appropriate high school classes to give them the foundation they need for studying nursing. It will also establish a registered nursing program site at Fond du Lac. The program received the grant for the program from the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office.
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has also signed an articulation agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Superior, which is one of the first between institutions in different states. The agreement will facilitate the transfer of college credits from FDLTCC to UWS for students pursuing degrees in human service and social work programs. Thirteen college courses offered at FDLTCC are specifically listed in the agreement, and credits earned in these courses will directly transfer to UWS as equivalent course work and credit to courses offered by UWS.
NWIC Initiates Environmental Degree
Northwest Indian College (Bellingham, Wash.) will be offering an associate degree in tribal environmental and natural resource management next fall. Funded through an Advanced Technology Education (ATE) grant from the National Science Foundation, the program will emphasize tribal environmental and cultural issues. NWIC is collaborating with Evergreen State College and Western Washington University's Huxley and Fairhaven Colleges to develop the degree.Sixty of the 90 course credits will be delivered through multi-disciplinary, integrated courses that encompass fields such as biology, chemistry, economics, and English. The program content is presently being developed with the assistance of the Pacific Northwest tribes, industry, government, and academia. Upon graduation from the two-year program, students will be able to work as a technician or transfer to one of the partner universities to seek a bachelor's degree.
Between 20 and 30 students will be admitted for the fall classes. For more information, please contact Dan Burns at Northwest Indian College at (360) 676-2772 or e-mail at burns@cc.wwu.edu
Nebraska Colleges Team up with UNO
The NASA Nebraska Space Grant and Experimental Program to Stimulate Research (EPSCoR) has initiated the Nebraska Native American Outreach Program (NNAOP). The NNAOP focuses on the use of aeronautics to improve the math, science, and technology skills of K -12 students as well as higher education students, according to Dr. Hank Lehrer of the UNO Aviation Institute. The program makes its learning activities both useful and fun. For example, children at public schools are learning about aerodynamics by constructing kites. The program also set up weather stations to document the microclimates at each campus, information that a tribe could use if it moved into specialty agriculture.The Nebraska Native American Working Group (NNAWG) for the program includes the superintendents of the four Nebraska reservations' school districts and the presidents of Nebraska Indian Community College and Little Priest Tribal College. Future joint South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska tribal college-related educational projects are planned.
Motivating students and enhancing curriculum are both essential elements of the program. Several educational activities have been funded, including organizational enhancement grants for the two tribal colleges, a global positioning receiver, and two weather data collection stations. Teacher workshops for science and mathematics enhancement begin early in 1998.
Cankdeska Helps Welfare Recipients
Cankdeska Cikana Community College (Fort Totten, N.D.) is creating a program to help welfare recipients in Spirit Lake Nation communities. Using an equity grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the college is creating a 12-month project. It involves course work in life skills such as budgeting, time and stress management, communication, and decision making as well as attaining or enhancing basic academic skills. The project also will set up a database matching volunteers to organizations, agencies, or individuals throughout the community.Under the work participation requirements of the federal welfare reform law, clients who cannot find work must do community service in order to continue receiving benefits. The project intends to have positive impacts beyond the one-year term of the grant, building community involvement and leadership through a "snowball" effect, according to Ione Swenson, workplace literacy director at the college. Cankdeska Cikana was previously called Little Hoop Community College.
Bay Mills Creating Virtual College
Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) has created a virtual college design based upon an Asynchronous Learning Environment (ALE) model first suggested by the Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. The Bay Mills virtual college, Nishnaabek Kinoomaadewin or Indian teacher, initially was housed at a temporary working address, 199.178.28.2Courses have included a 2-credit course, Learning on the Internet, taught online by Tom Davis and two, 3-credit courses, Learning on the Internet and Organizational Decision-Making. By summer the college expects to have an entire child development associate certificate program online, according to BMCC President Martha McLeod. By fall, virtual college students will be able to earn an entire associate degree without a campus residency.
The BMCC site features online admissions, financial aid, and registration areas. It also includes a number of different technologies designed to appeal to different learning styles. These technologies, technically called educational environments, include the CouncilFire Chat Environment and the CouncilFire Discussion Board. The technical staff at BMCC is currently working on an Internet telephone conferencing capability that will allow up to 70 students to be online talking at the same time.
AIHEC, College Fund Create Database
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and the American Indian College Fund have launched a joint project to create a national database on tribal colleges. It will also enhance each college's research capabilities. The three year initiative will collect data on tribal college enrollment, budgets, curricula, facilities, services, and student outcomes.Such information has often been sought by lawmakers, policymakers, and funders. While there is considerable anecdotal evidence of tribal college graduates' success, comprehensive data were not available on the 31 colleges in the consortium. Since agencies' reporting forms differed, it was difficult to compare data.
The project will develop uniform reporting formats and train college personnel. It will help colleges comply with the reporting and the self-study requirements of regional accrediting agencies as well. Two grants will fund the initiative--one from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Native Americans and the other from Pew Charitable Trusts. AIHEC is the organization of tribal colleges, which is based in Alexandria, Va. The College Fund is the non-profit organization based in Denver, Colo., that raises funds for the colleges.
D-Q welcomes Rev. Jesse Jackson
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson brought his "Save the Dream" campaign to D-Q University (Davis, Calif.) last October. Jackson's visit was part of a 10-day swing through California to speak out against Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action issue passed by California voters and later upheld by the courts. Speakers at the D-Q University rally also supported Indian higher education and tribal sovereignty. After the rally, protesters marched 10 miles to a park in downtown Davis.Joining Jackson at D-Q University was a coalition of 14 tribes and reservations from northern California. A group of runners made a 170-mile run from the Coyote Valley reservation in Ukiah to D-Q University for the rally.
Sitting Bull starts construction
Last July Sitting Bull College launched a non-profit construction company. While some colleges help graduates find jobs, SBC is actually employing students. It was intended to provide an incentive for students to stay in school. "A lot of our students are faced with the choice of going to school or feeding their families. This program allows them to do both," according to Project Coordinator Dave Luger. SBC Construction Company is fully licensed and bonded with the state, just like any other company. The company works closely with the Tribal Employment Rights Office to hire locally.The college offers a two-year, building trades degree program which includes academic classes as well as classes in specific building trades such as cabinetwork and framing. Luger encourages students to start their own businesses.
The company has completed two garages, put a new floor in the head start center, built a day care center, and constructed a dock for the commodity warehouse. The building trades program constructed a house, which has been sold. Two more houses are scheduled this year.