Volume XI Winter 1999 Issue #2
On Campus
President names tribal college advisors
President Bill Clinton appointed the first members of the Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities on July 20, 1999. The board will help implement the Executive Order that Clinton signed on October 21, 1996. They are Alison R. Bernstein, Dr. Lionel Bordeaux, Dr. Tom Colonnese, Dr. Verna Fowler, Dr. Tommy Lewis, Jr., Dr. Joe McDonald, Dr. Joseph Martin, Dr. Gerald "Carty" Monette, Debra Norris, Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top, Dr. Anne C. Petersen, Faith Ruth Roessel, Dr. Karl Stauber, Richard Trudell, and Patrick Williams.Under Executive Order 13021, the Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities provides advice regarding the progress made by federal agencies to improve access to federal resources and programs for tribal colleges and universities. It seeks increased recognition of tribal colleges and universities, access to opportunities provided to other institutions, and ongoing commitments of federal resources. The board promotes access to high-quality education for economically disadvantaged students as well as the preservation and revitalization of American Indian and Alaska Native languages and cultural traditions. The board also explores innovative approaches for linking tribal colleges with early childhood, elementary, and secondary education programs.
Dr. Alison R. Bernstein of New York, N.Y., is the vice president for the Education, Media, Arts, and Culture Program for the Ford Foundation. Dr. Lionel Bordeaux of Rosebud, South Dakota, has served as president of Sinte Gleska University since 1973, leading the development of the institution from a two-year college to a four-year, multi-program and graduate university. Dr. Tom Colonnese of Seattle, Wash., is the assistant vice president for the Office of Minority Affairs at the University of Washington.
Dr. Verna Fowler of Keshena, Wis., is the president and founder of the College of Menominee
Nation (CMN), her affiliated tribe. Dr. Tommy Lewis, Jr., of Tsaille, Ariz., is the president of Diné College.
Dr. Joseph McDonald of Ronan, Mont., has served as the president of Salish Kootenai College since 1978.
Dr. Joseph Martin of Flagstaff, Ariz., is an associate professor of Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Gerald "Carty" Monette of Belcourt, N. D., is the president of Turtle Mountain Community College.
Debora Norris of Sells, Ariz., is one of the first two Native American women to serve in the Arizona House of Representatives.
Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top of Crow Agency, Mont., is the president of Little Big Horn College.
Dr. Anne C. Petersen of Kalamazoo, Mich., is the senior vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Faith Ruth Roessel of Bethesda, Md., previously was deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the Interior Department.
Dr. Karl Stauber of St. Paul, Minn., is the president of the Northwest Area Foundation.
Richard Trudell of Oakland, Calif., is the executive director and principal founder of the American Indian Lawyer Training Program, Inc., and its American Indian Resources Institute.
Former Congressman Patrick Williams of Missoula, Mont., is senior fellow at the Center of the Rocky Mountain West and teaches at the University of Montana.
Fort Berthold graduates first teachers
By Katasha Belvin
“Modern day warriors” is what Fort Berthold Community College’s commencement speaker called this year’s graduates last spring in New Town, N.D. “You are truly bi-cultural and have learned to walk in two worlds. Now you must lead your people there,” said Dr. Wayne Stein, who directs the Center for Native American Students at Montana State University. These “warriors” collectively hold 61 new degrees and certificates.Fifteen of them received bachelor’s degrees in elementary education. They will serve as “wisdom keepers” by passing their experiences and education on to a new generation as classroom teachers. The teaching degrees resulted from a collaborative effort of the University of North Dakota (UND) and Fort Berthold Community College, with some funding from a Philip Morris grant obtained through the American Indian College Fund.
Fearing funding might run out, courses were intensified and students worked under enormous pressure. Unlike most teacher training programs, Fort Berthold’s students took full course loads while conducting their student teaching, in addition to raising families and caring for aging elders. “We’d get together for evening classes and have a big pot-luck that usually turned into a feast. But it was great and added to the sense of community. Who has time to cook when you have so many other things going on?” one graduate said.
Mariel Baker-Fox, who graduated Cum Laude, said she never would have earned a degree if it weren’t for this program. “I was working on a secondary education degree at North Dakota State University when I found out I had cancer. I had to come home, and I never thought my dream would come true. But I wanted to teach, and I was determined to finish. Now I have a greater appreciation for life that I can pass onto my students,” she said.
Kelly Bradfield had to leave her studies at UND to take care of her grandmother, an obligation that she said many non-Natives don’t understand. But that’s one of the reasons she wants to teach, “As an Indian teacher, I can see some of the obstacles that Indian children face.” Most of the graduates see formal education as a way for their communities to rise above current hardships. “In today’s society you have to have a piece of paper stating that you know something,” Ruth Short Bull, Cum Laude elementary education graduate, said.
Students thanked Dr. Clarice Baker-Big Back for her 24-hour support. Mary Harris, the academic dean from UND, said without someone like Baker-Big Back who knew the reservation, the students, and the potential, this program would never have been possible. Baker-Big Back is from Fort Berthold and a faculty member at UND. The university is loaning her to Fort Berthold Community College for the teacher-training program.
Sisseton Wahpeton celebrates 20 years
Sisseton Wahpeton Community College (SWCC) celebrated its 20th anniversary last summer. The college was chartered by the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe in August 1979 with the unique mission of providing post-secondary education for members of the Lake Traverse Reservation. The college was first accredited by the North Central Association in 1990. The college’s accreditation was renewed last spring for seven years.
Over 450 people have graduated from the college, according to College President Elden Lawrence. Lawrence, a tribal member, is one of the college’s success stories. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, he started at the college as an adult in 1981. Now he is working on a doctoral program at South Dakota State University.
Educational programs have expanded gradually over its history. The college now offers 13 associate degrees and 4 certificate programs. The college provides other services for the community, including a library, tribal archives, welfare reform training, adult basic education, and career counseling. The college prides itself on its Dakota studies program. Dakota language, Dakota history, and Dakota culture are required for graduation. The college is developing a CD-ROM and a textbook on Dakota studies. The president teaches history himself and conducts a tour of the tribal homelands in Minnesota. The Dakota studies department will be housed in the cultural center, which the college is building with the help of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the American Indian College Fund, and donations from log home and other private businesses.
The college is also proud of its nursing program. Susan Hardin Palmer, SWCC director of nursing, said that 100 students have graduated from the program since it began in 1992. Of those, 69 are currently registered nurses, according to an article in the Sisseton Courier.
To meet the needs of students with children, the college is opening a daycare center, which also will provide experience for students who are studying early childhood education. Eventually, the college plans to offer baccalaureate degrees in Dakota Studies, elementary education, nursing, and in liberal studies, according to the college vision statement. “Those students who graduate from the Sisseton Wahpeton Community College will be able to stand on a firmer foundation of culture. They will know who they are, but also be prepared to live in the next millennium,” the vision statement says.
AIHEC allies with other minority consortia
A new alliance representing the higher education needs of the largest minority groups nationwide has called for urgent and expanded support for the nation’s "seriously underfunded" minority-serving colleges and students. The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education represents 321 colleges and universities that educate one-third of all African American, Hispanic, and American Indian students nationwide, some 1.6 million students.
In the first coordinated effort of its kind, the new Alliance for Equity in Higher Education will promote the interests of the 31 tribal colleges and universities in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium as well as the interests of 175 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and 118 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other predominantly Black institutions, among others. Combined, these colleges educate 42 percent of all Hispanic students, 24 percent of African American students, and 16 percent of American Indian students.
These institutions provide greater access to low-income and underserved populations and have higher student success rates than mainstream colleges, despite underfunding, according to the alliance. Alliance member colleges awarded almost 188,000 degrees in 1996 yet alliance member colleges receive 36 percent less revenue per student than other U.S. colleges. Meanwhile enrollments of people of color in higher education are projected to soar: by 2015, Hispanic student enrollments will jump by 73 percent, and African American enrollments will increase by 20 percent, while enrollments of white students will rise by only 5 percent.
The alliance is comprised of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. The alliance is coordinated by The Institute for Higher Education Policy, a Washington, DC-based non-profit education group. In the next several months and years, the alliance will: work on common public policy goals. It will address student financial assistance, fair admission standards; teacher preparation, faculty development, and institutional infrastructures. Several reports and studies will be released by the alliance in the coming year. The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education has received start-up funding from the W.K. Foundation, which also supports alliance member institutions through targeted grant programs for Tribal Colleges, HSIs, and HBCUs.
ACE selects tribal college dean as fellow
The American Council on Education (ACE) has selected Dr. Betsy Laverdure-McDougall as one of 34 fellows in the 1999-2000 class. All are college and university senior faculty and senior-level administrators. Established in 1965, the ACE fellow program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising faculty and staff members for senior positions in college and university administration. During the fellowship year, participants focus on an issue of concern to the sponsoring institution while spending time working with senior officers at a host institution.
McDougall is currently the academic dean of the White Earth Tribal and Community College, the newest member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). McDougall also directs the Head Start program on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Through her fellowship, McDougall plans to improve the networking of American Indian education communities. She will work closely with University of New Mexico President William C. Gordon, visiting UNM for 12 weeks of the next year. She will also visit four tribal colleges for one week at a time. Her fellowship will be supported in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Native American Higher Education Initiative. The foundation has agreed to assist a maximum of two persons from tribal colleges each year if they are accepted into the ACE Fellowship. McDougall is the second American Indian to be selected for the fellows program in its 35-year history. In 1994-95, the fellows included Michael J. Hill, then director of institutional research at Salish Kootenai College.
McDougall played a significant role in laying the academic foundation for White Earth Tribal and Community College. Prior to that, she lectured at the University of North Dakota’s Indian Studies Department, where she developed classes on a variety of multicultural issues. Her experiences provided the basis for her dissertation, A Critical Study on Informal and Incidental Learning Resulting from Civil Action within an American Indian Community. She also developed the two-volume text, Healing the Sacred Circle: A Case Study on Anishinabe Women. A graduate of the University of North Dakota, McDougall received her doctorate in higher and secondary education in 1998. She also holds an master’s degree in general studies and bachelor’s degrees in both Indian studies and in secondary education. A member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe, McDougall is married to Jim McDougall, a member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe.
Packard Foundation gives $2 million
Dramatically increasing its support of American Indian education, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced a $2 million grant to the nation's tribal colleges. The gift to the American Indian College Fund is the largest donation ever received by the 10-year-old College Fund, the tribal colleges' scholarship and fundraising arm. The Packard Foundation's gift will support the construction of science and mathematics classroom facilities on tribal college campuses. Serving 26,000 Indian students in 12 states, these colleges have received growing, national acclaim for successfully providing education that combines accredited academics with Native culture. Tribal colleges have enjoyed educational success despite operating in unsafe, substandard facilities, according to Richard Williams, executive director of the College Fund.
"The Packard Foundation's grant will greatly enhance learning at tribal colleges," said Williams, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. "Indian students deserve safe, up-to-date classrooms--not the trailers and condemned buildings that many tribal colleges operate in now.” The grant represents an expansion of the Los Altos, California-based Packard Foundation's support of the tribal colleges. Since 1994, the Foundation has supported math and science programs at 11 individual institutions, as well as scholarships for tribal college graduates who are pursuing four-year degrees in math, science, and technology. In 1999, for example, Packard is providing $2.5 million in addition to its $2 million construction grant. "Without exaggeration, monies from the Packard Foundation have provided the very life-blood of our programs," said Scott Friskics, an instructor at Fort Belknap College near Harlem, Mont. "The Packard Foundation is supporting its belief in the important role played by tribal colleges in the scientific and technical education of Native people," said Dr. Kenneth Ford, the foundation's director of science programs.
"We are grateful for the Packard Foundation's recognition that tribal colleges can be successful as Indian institutions,'' said Ron McNeil, president of Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, N. D. "With enrollment increasing while federal funds are decreasing, we must build on Packard's partnership with tribal people by seeking even more support for Indian education.” McNeil also serves as chairman of the College Fund's board of trustees. Few tribal colleges receive state funds; and federal monies are limited. In 1998, enrollments grew, but the colleges' federal budgets remained stagnant.
The American Indian College Fund, which is based in Denver, distributed nearly $4 million in scholarships and other support to the tribal colleges in 1998. The College Fund also supported endowments and public awareness, as well as college programs in Native cultural preservation and teacher training. Fully- operating since 1989, the College Fund’s supporters include more than 200 corporations and foundations and 90,000 individuals.
NWIC building education for new millennium
Northwest Indian College (NWIC) has selected Dr. Jeffrey L. Boyd to direct the college’s Native Teacher Preparation Program (Oksale). Oksale (pronounced oxs-al-uh) is a Lummi Coastal Salish word meaning “teacher.” He expects the NWIC program to help solve one of the most critical issues facing Indian education today, the shortage of well-qualified Native teachers. In collaboration with Washington State University, NWIC offers a bachelor of arts in elementary education with K-8 teacher certification. NWIC is in the process of gaining approval for an independent program. The program is supported by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Boyd relocated to the Lummi Reservation in Washington from Tucson, Ariz., where he received his doctorate degree in comparative cultural and literary studies in December 1998. Boyd also holds a master’s degree in American Indian studies as well as certification in both elementary and high school teaching. He is an enrolled member of the Menominee tribe in northern Wisconsin.
NWIC itself expects to benefit from the new teachers as the college continues to fulfill the role of providing higher education to several tribes in the region. The NWIC Board of Trustees and the NWIC Foundation Board of Directors have launched a major capital campaign to develop a permanent campus in several phases. The future success of the college depends on providing a residential campus with regional appeal. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded an extensive feasibility study.
The NWIC leadership set an aggressive campaign goal of $44 million; $36 million will be dedicated to the construction of a permanent residential campus. The main campus on Lummi Reservation will be linked to new education centers on tribal reservations throughout the Pacific Northwest utilizing the NWIC telecommunication satellite network. $6 million for new scholarships and endowed faculty positions will be raised. The remaining $2 million will complete the purchase of a 1,200-acre living laboratory in the Arlecho Creek basin and old growth forest by the Lummi Nation, The Nature Conservancy, and Northwest Indian College.
NWIC’s campus campaign officially began at a Wayne Newton benefit concert held April 15.
Wayne and his wife, Kathleen, are the honorary co-chairs, lending their name and personal efforts to the campaign. The campaign has received a pledge of $100,000 from the Handsel Foundation and a $200,000 matching gift from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Seven tribal councils in the region have passed resolutions supporting the campaign. A circle of tribal elders named “Si>am Selalexw’, is forming to help honor donors and provide support to the campaign.
SKC to double local Native teachers
Salish Kootenai College (SKC) has created a partnership with Western Montana College to recruit and graduate Indian students in Elementary Education. Of an approximate pool of 450 teachers on the Flathead Reservation in northern Montana, less than 12 are Native American. The 12 Indian students in the teacher training program at Salish Kootenai College will double that pool within the next two years.
The program is a 2+2 program in partnership with a state institution (Western Montana College), meaning students will attend SKC for two years and then transfer to Western Montana College. All course work is on the SKC campus. Students take Western courses in the evening and on weekends, creating a rather grueling schedule for them, according to Julie Cajune, teacher training program coordinator.
Special curriculum components set it apart from other 2+ 2 programs. During the first two years at Salish Kootenai College, students must take Native American studies classes, including Salish or Kootenai language and history of Indians in the United States. This provides students with content knowledge they would not receive in a standard teacher education curriculum. In addition to integrating these courses into the program, SKC has funded an experimental course that integrates the physical sciences and includes traditional knowledge.
Field experience courses and student teaching take place in reservation schools. The pre-service teachers are taught to watch for specific needs of Indian students and to address the impacts of culture on learning. The pre-service teachers gain valuable experience in observation, reflection, and dialogue about Indian students in the classroom. The program will help fulfill the need for Native teachers in Montana. From 1991-1995, the Montana University System Teacher Education Programs graduated 2,189 students, but only 70 were Indian.
Bay Mills Community College constructs heritage library
Bay Mills Community College has constructed a three-level log heritage library supplied by local donor Hiawatha Log Homes of Munising. It is one of 29 cultural learning centers planned by the American Indian Higher Education Consoritum (AIHEC). Bay Mills’ multi-use facility provides classroom space, offices, and a new home for Bay Mill’s ever-expanding media and print resources. In addition, the new log building will house the Keene Collection--Native American art and artifacts donated by the late Bill Keene of Detroit.
Bay Mills Community College President Martha McLeod was on the site, drill in hand, during the stacking of the logs. “Bay Mill’s number one priority is to expand our campus to make room for the influx of new students, both on-line and in attendance, who have been enrolling in our programs these past few years. This heritage library not only creates new classroom space, but it frees up our old library for alternative use and creates a beautiful setting to display the Keene collection.” The college is located in Brimley, Mich., on the shores of Lake Superior.
Two tribes, the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians, joined forces to offer financial underwriting to the library, which will benefit the diverse communities situated there. Additional support from the Herrick Foundation and the Binda Foundation enabled the college to prepare its new facility for immediate use.
Also celebrating the opening of a new log facility was Sinte Gleska University, which opened the doors to its log cultural center donated by Authentic Log Homes in November. Sinte Gleska President Lionel Bordeaux, Authentic Log Homes President Jim Davis, and National Director Gail Bruce dedicated the new facility.
The Kellogg-funded national initiative has celebrated groundbreaking activities at many other tribal colleges. Cankdeska Cikana College, Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Fort Peck College, College of the Menominee Nation, Institute of American Indian Arts, and Sisseton Wahpeton Community College are among the colleges that began work on their cultural learning centers this past fall. Joining in support of this project are numerous building material donors such as Fabral, Inc., a roofing company out of Lancaster, Penn.; Boise Cascade of Idaho, and Owens-Corning of Ohio. For more information, contact Anne Edinger at (212) 206-6580.
SGU pilots theater and writing projects
Sinte Gleska University is participating in two collaborative projects intended to increase students’ creative potential, and both are pilots for other tribal colleges. Project HOOP provides theater classes. The Sicangu Writing Project improves the teaching of writing.
Project HOOP (Honoring Our Origins and People through Native Theatre, Education and Community Development) is a collaborative project between Sinte Gleska University and the University of California at Los Angeles American Indian Studies Center, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. They developed curriculum, including introduction to Native American theatre, development of Native American theatre in tribal communities, and a theatre practicum.
College of the Menominee Nation has joined Project HOOP as the first dissemination site for the new classes. Other tribal colleges that want to introduce Project HOOP Native American Theatre courses on their campus should contact Jeff Kellogg at Sinte Gleska University, PO Box 8, Mission SD 57555-0008 or by e-mail at <jkellogg@rosebud.sinte.edu>
Through its participation in the Ford Foundation-funded Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI), Sinte Gleska University has moved toward becoming the first writing project site of the National Writing Project (NWP) located at a tribal college. Founded in 1974 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and headquartered at the University of California-Berkeley, the NWP seeks to improve the teaching of writing (and thus impact student retention and academic success) in all subject areas and all grade levels, kindergarten through university.
The NWP has local writing project sites in nearly all 50 United States and its territories. The Dakota Writing Project, located at the University of South Dakota-Vermillion, is the NWP site in South Dakota. Kim Karaff and Todd Williams, Sicangu Writing Project (SWP) co-directors and English instructors at Sinte Gleska, attended the 1999 Dakota Writing Project for one week in early June and gave presentations on their teaching techniques.
Later in June, they held the first Sicangu Writing Project. Thirteen participants from the two school systems serving the Rosebud Reservation, Todd County School District and St. Francis Indian School, presented their best practices for teaching writing. Sicangu Writing Project participants learned fresh strategies for teaching writing. Future plans include inviting participants from other tribal colleges to share this model. For more information, contact Todd Williams at Sinte Gleska University (605) 856-2321.
Fort Peck increasing Native teachers
In 1991, Fort Peck Community College (FPCC) established a bachelor’s degree in elementary education through articulation agreements with local state institutions. Today, as a result of this program, the Fort Peck Tribes have 33 Indian teachers in the five school districts, which employ 221 teachers, according to Donna Buckles-Whitmer, the distance learning coordinator and administrator for the teacher training program. The bachelor’s degree program is part of a comprehensive effort by Fort Peck Community College to improve education on the reservation by offering certificates and degrees—associate, bachelor’s, and master’s.
The bachelor’s and the master’s program courses are delivered to the remote reservation in northeast Montana by telecommunication from other institutions (see TCJ, Vol. X, N.4, pp. 14-18). Forty students are now enrolled in the bachelor’s elementary education program. They earn 64 credits from Fort Peck Community College, and Rocky Mountain College (RMC) delivers the upper division courses in methods and materials via interactive television. RMC is a small, private, liberal arts college in Billings. Each student needs 124 credits, including student teaching, to graduate with a bachelor’s degree.
Freshmen are encouraged to first enroll in the new paraprofessional education program. All of the credits earned from the paraprofessional education program are accepted at RMC. FPCC used a grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 1997 to establish the paraprofessional program, which was designed also as a one-year certificate program for the 109 teacher aids and substitutes employed in the five school districts. Fort Peck Tribal Education Department provides incentives for tribal members, issuing monetary awards for each educational accomplishment (GED, high school diploma, one and two year certificates, etc).
Both the paraprofessional certificate and the associate degree in education require 40-45 hours of field practicum, and the bachelor degree requires student teaching. Thus the FPCC Elementary Education students have three separate exposures to the classroom. This exposure prepares the FPCC students for their first year of teaching. The need for field experiences was a major concern of the state of Montana in its recent inquiry into the preparation of educators in the state.
Through articulation agreements with Montana State University-Northern in Havre, Fort Peck will be offering two master’s degrees (learning development and school administration) and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education via interactive television. Other tribal colleges in Montana will be included.
Stone Child accreditation reaffirmed
The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges has reaffirmed the accreditation status of Stone Child College, the tribally-controlled community college of the Chippewa Cree Tribe on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation in north-central Montana. The accreditation decision is based on a focused interim report, resulting from an evaluation visit to Stone Child College on April 23, 1999, by a team from Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
Stone Child College was chartered by the Chippewa Cree Business Council on May 17, 1984. Tribal leaders agreed that a college was necessary for the preservation and maintenance of the Chippewa Cree culture and for the post-secondary education and training of its tribal membership. Off-reservation vocational training programs and general college study programs were not adequately meeting the needs of the Rocky Boy community. Stone Child College received candidacy status in June 1989 and initial accreditation in May 1993. This reaffirmation of accreditation is for 10 years, assuming Stone Child College will continue to meet the eligibility requirements and maintain the standards set by the Commission on Colleges.
Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges is one of six similar regional associations in the United States that accredits schools and colleges. The Northwest region includes Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Montana. All colleges are required to meet several eligibility requirements and standards to become accredited as well as maintain accreditation. Accreditation is very important to Stone Child College, particularly in transferring college credits to other accredited colleges and universities. Accreditation can also assist in obtaining certain types of student financial aid and other core funding for the institution.
Stone Child College staff and Board of Regents had to address four recommendations of the Commission on Colleges concerning faculty evaluations, college deficit, assessment, and maintaining accounting expertise. In the focused interim report, Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges states, “Stone Child College is commended for the successful implementation of the Faculty Evaluation Policy and their success in reducing the deficit in unrestricted funds by 74 percent over the past year, which reverses a three year trend of increasing deficits.”
Stone Child College President Steve Galbavy stated, “We are continually striving to improve and strengthen the long term stability of our institution. We appreciate the guidance from the Commission of Colleges, as accreditation is critical to the ongoing growth of Stone Child College.”
IAIA developing youth outreach program
The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund has awarded the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) a $673,000 grant to develop a Native American Youth Art Outreach Program. Through collaborations with community organizations in Albuquerque and Denver, IAIA will increase young Native Americans’ access to high-quality arts experiences, including educational activities, performances, and exhibitions. Students enrolled at the IAIA will serve as teachers and mentors to the young people. Thus this program will also help the next generation of Native artists develop skills in engaging audiences.
IAIA President Della Warrior said the award from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund enables the Institute to establish community arts partnerships that will develop artists and help Native youth resolve identity issues using art as a vehicle to positively reinforce their self-concepts. Using the grant, IAIA will serve urban Native youth and build a recruitment pool for the future. The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund invests in programs that enhance the cultural life of communities and encourage people to make the arts and culture an active part of their everyday lives.
Also in July, IAIA received a $100,000 grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, which increases the Hearst Foundation’s endowed scholarship fund to $200,000. Interest from the endowment has supported the educational costs of 16 students in the past. The recent award will benefit additional students’ education at IAIA. The Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development was founded in 1962 as a congressionally chartered, two-year arts college.
AIHEC network presents law, history, art
During academic year 1998-99 nearly a full day’s courses each quarter were offered over the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s Distance Learning Network. Salish Kootenai College in Montana produced the tribal law class. Haskell Indian Nations University produced the American Indians in the twentieth century class, which presented an overview of the century’s legal developments impacting Indian Country, combined with interviews of elders who actually lived through each era.
Three of the AIHEC colleges cooperated to produce a new class, appreciation of American Indian art, with Northwest Indian College coordinating the material. The course segments are based on major cultural areas, and the classes are being presented by experts from the Southwest, Woodlands, Great Basin, Plateau, Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska/Tlingit regions. Various tribal colleges are preparing other classes, including developing a culturally appropriate curriculum, teaching to a camera, developing a tribal language program, and using class management software.
The network connects the AIHEC colleges via satellite communications so the colleges and their communities can share classes and teleconferences. In June, they broadcast “Working for a Healthier America: the White House Conference on Mental Health.” In March, the network broadcast a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) teleconference, which originated from Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque. It was sponsored by SIPI, the National Center for Resource Innovations, the Intertribal GIS Council, Inc., and the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Various federal agencies, such as the Center for Disease Control, Social Security Administration, and the Indian Health Service, are planning teleconferences using the AIHEC network to provide information and training to remote Indian communities.
Clinton visit to benefit tribal colleges
When President Bill Clinton visited the Pine Ridge Reservation in July, he encouraged his listeners to utilize their tribal college, Oglala Lakota College (OLC). The president of the tribe, Harold Salway, who shared the podium with Clinton, was a recent graduate of the college. The visit was designed to bring national attention to the poorest spot in the nation and to stimulate job creation and housing construction. Clinton was the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to visit an Indian reservation, according to the Washington Post.
The New Market Initiatives that Clinton announced will result in several specific programs for tribal colleges, according to Carrie Billy, executive director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities. MetLife will create a Young Entrepreneurs Fellowship Program with the Oglala Sioux Tribe that will benefit two members of the tribe each year for five years. Microsoft will donate $300,000 worth of computer software to the Oglala Lakota College. Gateway Computer company will work with tribal colleges in South Dakota to develop data processing and computer programming courses. Gateway also will donate $50,000 to OLC. Owen Corning will work with instructors at all of the nation’s tribal colleges to offer students training in energy efficiency and current construction technologies in order to build reservation housing. Three firms will help establish job training courses at tribal colleges in steel framing of housing and other buildings. The firms include the North American Steel Framing Alliance, Worthington Industries, and Amity, Inc.
Teacher education workshop shares knowledge
For the first time ever, teacher education program directors from tribal colleges and universities gathered in July 1999 in Santa Fe, N.M., to trade ideas. A total of 19 colleges were represented, three by their presidents. Some of the colleges just designing their curriculum and others very experienced; Sinte Gleska University began offering accredited bachelor degrees in education more than 13 years ago and now provides education degrees to four other tribal institutions through articulation agreements.
Although tribal colleges and universities share very similar missions and obstacles, they rarely have the opportunity to discuss curriculum and program together due to geographic distances and lack of resources. Participants at the Santa Fe workshop described their programs and brainstormed with one another using both standard and innovative methods such as story telling and early morning walks to establish ties and to inspire their thoughts. Some have resolved difficult issues, such as designing a program that incorporates Native American culture while also meeting state and regional accreditation requirements.
Ben Barney and Dan McLaughlin of Diné College and Karen Swisher of Haskell Indian Nations University coordinated the networking conference, which was organized by the American Indian College Fund and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. McLaughlin said the collaboration was exciting. “We need to be setting the agenda. What does teacher education driven by tribal priorities look like?” he said. A second workshop was held in October in conjunction with the National Indian Education Association meeting. Organizers hope to continue working together if they can find the resources to do so.
Planning for the workshops began in October 1998 with a grant from the Philip Morris Companies. Since 1995, Philip Morris has been helping to support teacher education at tribal colleges through grants to the American Indian College Fund. The assistance from Kellogg was part of the foundation’s Native American Higher Education Initiative. In 1997, Kellogg committed more than $22 million to its initiative through the year 2001.
TMCC, SKC create peace maker program
By Dorreen Yellow Bird
One of the weaknesses of the tribal courts on reservations is the lack of training. Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, N.D., and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont., are working with University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop curriculum to train tribal court staff through a program called Project Peace Maker. The curriculum will eventually be available to other tribal colleges as the basis for developing their own peace maker programs.
The project will benefit both the tribal court and UCLA. It will help tribal courts give staff some guidelines to help them become more effective. Project Peace Maker will provide experience for the staff of UCLA that will broaden their experience with tribes and tribal courts, and it may lead to future law students at UCLA.
Many of the people who work in court systems are not trained, said Carol Davis, vice president of Turtle Mountain Community College. On reservations, court staff may be former police officers, secretaries, and others who receive minimal training from the Department of Justice or Bureau of Indian Affairs. Untrained staff creates problems in the court and tribal system, resulting in a backlog of unheard cases.
Project Peace Maker addresses this problem by providing legal training. When the program is developed, students will receive two-year associate degrees in tribal law, Davis said. “ We don’t want the program to be a dead end for the students so we are articulating with other schools,” she said. This means students can use their two year degree as the foundation of a bachelor’s degree elsewhere. The next step may be degrees at the tribal colleges for pre-law, she said.
To launch the program at the tribal colleges, UCLA received a grant from the Department of Education’s Fund for Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE). Turtle Mountain Community College is initially offering one course per semester. The program has funding for a part-time instructor and, with the help of UCLA, they are looking for more funds for full time instructors. A summer program at UCLA is slated for next year to train ten people. Project Peace Maker will meet the needs of the community, and that is what the tribal college is all about, Davis said.