American Indian Graduate Magazine Spring 2009

The

American Indian

Graduate Spring 2009

40th Anniversary Edition • 1969-2009

Inside this Issue: • Message from the Director — Happy Birthday • Resistance Through Art • Spotlight on AIGC Alumni • Thank You — Looking Back • Genomics Workshop • Dr. Joe Sando — Then and Now • Loan for Service Program Helping Build the Future • The NINLHE Institute • The Leader Who Makes a Difference

The American Indian Graduate is now available online at www.aigcs.org

Anniversary Messages from Students and Supporters!

Thank you for your support. sible to continue It is your support that makes it pos . my education and brighten my future Tribe Reba June Serafin, Jicarilla Apache

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University congratulates the American Indian Graduate Center on its 40th anniversary.

Thank you for your support.

Terry Aguilar UNM School of Law

Lewis and Clark Law School congratulates the A merican Indian Graduate Center on their 40th A nniversary. The In dian students and the Indian com munity are fortunate to benefit from the wonderful work of A IGC. We are committed to our partnership of providing opportun ity and excellent education as we pr epare Indian students to serve th eir people in leadership roles. w w w.lclark.edu

Thank you for your donation. It has helped me and my family out greatly while attending law school.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sheldon Spotted Elk, Northern Cheyenne – J.D.-2010

Jacob Keys, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma UNM School of Law

Congratulations to AIGC on 40 years of excellent service!

Washington State University seeks graduate students who are creative, analytical, and adventurous: scholars who will benefit from close mentorship with award-winning faculty, access to state-of-the-art technology and facilities, and community-building recreational activities. www.gradschool.wsu.eduw

The Robert Toigo ratulates Foundation cong s of A IGC on 40 year ership. excellence and lead Foundation The Robert Toigo ion.org w w w.toigofoundat

Thank you for your kind donation.

C. West – UNM School of Law

Central Washington University-Resource Management Program The REM program is committed to preparing students as responsible stewards of the earth, focused on problems and opportunities associated with managing cultural and natural resources. This interdisciplinary resource management program helps students develop skills in management, policy analysis and formulation and resource appraisal. Our record of placement in Jobs and Ph.D programs is excellent.

Central Washington University congratulates the American Indian Graduate Center on its 40th anniversary. www.cwu.edu/~geograph/native.html

Table of Contents

The American Indian Graduate Volume 8, Number 1

Volume 8, Number 1 • Spring 2009

5

Board of Directors

6

Message from the Director

by Sam Deloria

A Publication of the American Indian Graduate Center 4520 Montgomery Blvd., NE Suite 1B Albuquerque, NM 87109 Phone: (505) 881-4584 Fax: (505) 884-0427

President’s Message

Website: www.aigcs.org

Happy Birthday

Publisher Sam Deloria Director Susan Duran Stephine Poston Editors Jim Weidlein Production Editor Carolyn S. Tate Design and Layout

8 Resistance Through Art

Powerful Art About Desert Rock

by Desiree Deschenie

10

Spotlight on AIGC Alumni

Director of Indian Arts Research Center at SAR Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Colorado College

11 Thank You

Looking Back

by John A. Haupt

12

AIGC Board of Directors Elizabeth Washburn, President Chickasaw David Mahooty, Vice President Zuni Joanne Sebastian Morris, Secretary Cayuga/Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe Melanie P. Fritzsche, Treasurer Pueblo of Laguna Kathryn W. Shanley Nakota (Assiniboine) Dee Ann DeRoin, M.D. Ioway Tribe of Kansas Grayson B. Noley Choctaw Michael E. Bird Santo Domingo/San Juan Pueblo Rose Graham Navajo

Your Contribution

The Challenge

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by Regis Pecos

Genomics Workshop

Scholars Use Discussion to Explore Governance of Indigenous Genomics

by Judy Nichols

18

AIGC Fellows

20

AIGC Alumni

Congratulations from Past and Current AIGC Fellows

The Alumni Connection

by Susan Duran

Continued on page 4

The American Indian Graduate

Table of Contents

22

Gates Millennium Scholars Program

Contact Us

by Mark Trahant

Mailing List: If you are not currently on our mailing list and would like to receive future issues, please call or write to the address below.

The Leader Who Makes a Difference

26 Dr. Joe Sando

Advertising: To advertise in The American Indian Graduate, please contact Leander Bekaye, or send an e-mail to: leander@aigcs.org

Then and Now

27

28

An Interview with an AIGC Founding Father

by Michelle Pasena

Article Submissions: Submit all articles to Susan Duran, Consulting Editor, for consideration. E-mail: susan@aigcs.org Reprints and Permissions: Reprints of published articles and/or artwork are prohibited without permission of the American Indian Graduate Center.

Loan for Service Program

Helping Build the Future

American Indian Graduate Center, 4520 Montgomery Blvd., Suite 1B, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (505) 881-4584 phone, (505) 884-0427 fax

by Terry Aguilar

NINLHE

The NINLHE Institute

Visit us On-Line! www.aigcs.org

by Louise Chavez

2009 AIGC, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Supplying A Diverse Workforce

Published submissions and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the view of AIGC, Inc.

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American Indian Male Initiative

The Consortium

American Indian Male Initiative

by Shawn Secatero

The American Indian Graduate is now available online at

www.aigcs.org The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management The Consortium congratulates the American Indian Graduate Center on providing scholarships for American Indian and Alaska Native students for 40 years. The opportunities you provide American Indian citizens has undoubtedly changed many lives. Our organization’s mission includes enhancing diversity in business education and corporate leadership by reducing the serious underrepresentation of Native Americans, African Americans and Hispanic Americans in these fields. We believe in AIGC’s vision and look forward to your future successes. www.cgsm.org

The American Indian Graduate

Congratulations!

The Seminole Tribe of Florid a is proud of AIGC’s accomplishments in the education and leadership of Am erican Indian and Alaskan Native for 40 years.

Reaching this milestone is pro of of its dedication to provide great edu cational opportunities to the communit ies concerned.

Happy 40th Anniversar y!

Board of Directors

President’s Message Dear Graduates and Friends:

I

n 2009, the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) will celebrate 40 years of providing scholarships and services to American Indian and Alaskan Native students pursuing graduate and professional degrees.

Prior to 1969, there were few American Indians in graduate school and there was a substantial need for financial assistance to help Indians obtain advanced professional degrees. Therefore, in 1969, a group of Native leaders came together and formed the American Indian Scholarships, Inc. (AIS), later to change its name to the American Indian Graduate Center.

As I read through the list of those that were involved in the early years, such as Robert L. Bennett (Taos Pueblo), Lucy F. Covington (Colville), Ada Deer (Menominee), Overton James (Chickasaw), Joe Sando (Jemez Pueblo) and David Warren (Santa Clara Pueblo), I realize that they were visionaries of their time who saw a need and developed and implemented a strategy that would provide Natives with greater opportunities through education.

Because of the solid foundation laid by these founders, AIGC has enjoyed a long history of success in assisting thousands of Native students who have gone on to be tribal leaders, attorneys, doctors and business leaders throughout the country. Today, AIGC remains the only national non-profit organization dedicated to aiding American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students in all fields of study.

AIGC awards more than $1.8 million annually to American Indians and Alaska Natives pursuing graduate and professional degrees. I am one of more than 8,000 grateful graduate students that have received more than 12,000 scholarship awards from AIGC, in fields ranging from law to medicine, while in school. The AIGC Scholars, a separate program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars program through the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), in partnership with AIGC, awards $7,500,000 annually, primarily to undergraduate students.

Being a part of AIGC is even more poignant for me because, as a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, I am privileged to follow in Governor Overton James’ footsteps

Elizabeth Washburn

In 2009, the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) will celebrate 40 years of providing scholarships and services to American Indian and Alaskan Native students pursuing graduate and professional degrees.

and serve as the AIGC Board President — 40 years after he helped found this great organization.

As AIGC begins its 40th anniversary celebration, I call upon alumni, friends and supporters to help us provide more Native students, from across our nation, with the resources for a first-rate education. Please visit AIGC’s website www. agics and make the most generous gift you can in celebration of 40 years of lasting change for Native students and their communities. ✦ Elizabeth Rodke Washburn, Chickasaw President, AIGC Board of Directors

The American Indian Graduate

Message from the Director

“Happy Birthday!”

I

have always had an aversion to birthdays, even before the time of life when another birthday brings with it a reminder that, well, you know…

Maybe institutional birthdays are another thing. I hope so. But, in a way, they present their own problems; one must trumpet the organization’s lifespan of achievements. Some organizations take to this naturally, making the very act of showing up for work for a certain number of years seem like a downright heroic stand against the Invading Euro-Hordes. I find it awkward. But whatever I learned from my parents about letting other people do the bragging for you doesn’t seem to carry much weight in modern times.

So, with this issue of the magazine, we launch a yearlong celebration of 40 years of various versions of what is now AIGC/AIGCS – celebration, not bragging. And, in keeping with contemporary practice, every event is an opportunity for more fundraising. I am not unhappy with that aspect, since the organization maintains the unbelievable rate of about 95% of the money coming in being spent on scholarships and student support services. (I thought it was a fishy number when I came here, but they have explained it to me a couple of times and I am comfortable saying it publicly. So send us money.)

As we have recounted many times, John Rainer of Taos and Bob Bennett of Oneida, Wisconsin, decided back in the late 60’s, when Mr. Bennett was the founding Director of the American Indian Law Center, to form an organization to provide scholarships for American Indian and Alaska Native students in areas other than law. American Indian Scholarships soon spun off from the Law Center and was given its own identity, and later became the American Indian Graduate Center, providing funding for over 12,000 graduate and undergraduate students over the years. The list of all the founders reads like a Who’s Who of Famous and Important Indians of the day and an entire room in the 20th Century Indian Hall of Fame: Joe Sando, Dave Warren, Lucy Covington, Ada Deer, Overton James, Leah Manning, Chuck Trimble and, of course, John Rainer and Bob Bennett. And subsequent boards of directors have also included distinguished Indian and Native people, as one can see from the masthead of this magazine. Former scholarship recipients include many

The American Indian Graduate

Sam Deloria

One of the purposes of education is, of course, to train the next generation in a variety of useful arts and skills to ensure the perpetuation of the society. people with successful careers, a considerable number of whom are working in Indian affairs.

Thinking about the 40-year history of AIGC has also made me think about the education of Indian people, the missionary and colonial roots of which involved taking Native youth to be trained in the “arts of civilization”. It has also made me think about how many of us uncritically accept the idea, based on the same assumptions, that the purpose of “Indian education” is to produce “leadership” for Indian communities. I put all these words in quotes because they all carry such heavy historical and cultural baggage.

One of the purposes of education is, of course, to train the next generation in a variety of useful arts and skills to ensure the perpetuation of the society. But, I remember the patronizing atmosphere surrounding many scholarship programs in the 50’s and 60’s and the assumptions that all of us Indians who were going to school were doing so to “help my people”, bringing beams to the faces of our benefactors. And now that we have scaled the heights of Self-Determination, it seems we have kept the notion that educational assistance for

our young people must be justified on the old missionary and colonial basis. When I was young and rash, I fought a bruising political battle to preserve the right of Indian law students to decide how to spend their careers. To me, our students should have no greater obligation to undertake a life of public service than their classmates. I’m not against public service. I am tired of hearing people, most of whom would not work in their own communities with a gun to their heads, go on and on about what our young people should do, when there are few jobs in our communities to attract them to come back.

I don’t want to be the one who tells a kid that she can’t be a lawyer, even though she has always wanted to be a lawyer, because there are deemed to be “too many Indian lawyers”. I don’t want to tell a kid that he or she should study something they aren’t interested in, only to find that there is no job waiting for them on their own or any reservation or in any Indian community.

This year, as we at AIGC celebrate the 40 years we have been privileged to provide funding to Indian students, we hope, with your participation, to place our organizational contribution in the context of the larger

history of Indian education, and higher education in particular. We welcome reminiscences from people about their higher education adventures. We frequently hear about the counselor who tried to steer a student into a lesser occupation; less frequently do we hear about the counselor or teacher who encouraged a student to aim high. Write and tell us your stories. Give us your views about the larger social policy issues inherent in higher education funding.

And, check our website (www.aigcs.org); send money; lobby your tribal council to contribute to our endowment instead of lavishing money on universities that wouldn’t hire us as janitors before gaming came along. Help us locate alums and get them to contribute. We have several generations in line for help, with an average unmet need of nearly $20,000 per year. ✦

NYU Postdoctoral and Transition Program for

Academic Diversity The Program

Stipends and Allowances

New York University (NYU) is dedicated to ensuring that its scholarly community is ready to compete in a global world and is enriched by individuals who, through their different races and ethnicities, gender identities, age, abilities, political beliefs, economic status, and sexual orientation, contribute to an intellectually challenging and inclusive educational environment. To that end, NYU has created the NYU Postdoctoral and Transition Program for Academic Diversity fellowship program to support promising scholars and educators from different backgrounds, races, ethnic groups, and other diverse groups whose life experience, research experience, and employment background will contribute significantly to academic excellence at NYU.

Fellows receive an annual stipend of $40,000 as well as allowances for housing ($20,000), research ($2,000), and one-time relocation ($3,000).

The University also provides a medical and dental benefits package.

Eligibility The fellowship program is open to all areas of study at the University.

U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are from the following three categories may apply: 1) Graduate students in the final year of their dissertation 2) Postdoctoral students who have completed their dissertation within the last three years 3) Professionals transitioning to academic careers (for those in fields for which the doctorate is not the terminal degree)

Awards NYU will award five in-residence fellowships in 2009. The two-year appointments, which begin September 2009 and end August 2011, have a possibility of a third-year extension. Graduate students in the final year of their dissertation must make significant progress toward the dissertation. Fellows teach a maximum of one course per semester.

Application Procedure Required application materials include (1) a fellowship application; (2) a curriculum vitae; (3) a statement of research and goals; (4) a personal statement detailing the reasons for applying for the fellowship; (5) three letters of reference from individuals familiar with your scholarly or creative work; (6) an official school transcript from the current or last institution attended; and (7) one of the following: a dissertation abstract (postdoctoral applicants), a dissertation proposal (doctoral students), or a statement of how your professional experience prepares you for a faculty position (professionals). Incomplete submissions will not be accepted.

All materials must be received by JANUARY 15, 2009.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received.

Awards will be announced on MARCH 15, 2009.

The fellowship application and instructions for submission are available at http://www.nyu.edu/info/faculty/09

New York University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution.

The American Indian Graduate

Resistance Through Art

Powerful Art About Desert Rock

by Desiree Deschenie

I

can recall, at least twice in the past, when a relative has pointed out to me the highway markers for the “Dooda Desert Rock” campsite as we drove by on Highway 491. My only response was to nod and resume listening to my iPod. I just was not interested.

When I entered artwork into the “Connections: Earth + Artist = A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock” at Fort Lewis College, I was pleased with my minimal effort at a protest of any kind because every teenager wants to protest something. But after viewing the other entries I realized how uninformed I have been about the proposed Desert Rock power plant. I began to think about how the present power plants have already affected the environment. But I also thought about how the proposed power plant might be helpful to the Navajo Nation by providing jobs.

The art show reception, on June 22, featured different artists’ renditions of imagined possibilities if more and more Native lands are used for industrial development.

The winner of Best of Show, James Joe’s painting ‘Bleeding Sky,’ depicted the most shocking scenario. His painting featured a Navajo family of four. However, past their traditional clothing, none of them looked like the typical Diné people: the father’s skin was paper white, to symbolize assimilation into the Anglo culture; the mother was

James Joe’s ‘Bleeding Sky’

The American Indian Graduate

very beautiful, but had to use a oxygen tank to breathe; and the children were vaguely drawn, to depict their loss of individuality and voice.

There are perfectly vertical and horizontal lines that cross in the middle of the painting, signifying the belief in the balance of life. However, in Desiree Deschenie the background there are ‘red blood lines’ flowing downward, symbolizing problems that subtly grow over time. I learned these explanations from Joe’s talk at the reception.

His painting captured the attitude that some feel toward the Desert Rock power plant: resistance. However, this was only one of the many pieces of work that unexpectedly affected all who saw them, me included.

After viewing all of these works, I was disturbed, angered and saddened. What made me finally realize its importance was the art, not the many attempts made by my relatives or tense speeches or literature published.

An amazing result was the possible implications this collection of artworks had the ability to explore. The art needed no explanation; it was up to each viewer to make his or her own conclusions about the creators’ intentions. The works are often ambiguous, with no real definition. One can only react and reflect upon one’s feelings.

In an article in the New Yorker last year, Benjamin Walker talked about how art, in general, has lost its sense of “aura,” because of the technological age we live in. He said that, with the use of digital cameras, the Internet and television, art can be found anywhere with only a click. He discussed how art used to cause a sort of pilgrimage because one had to travel to see it. When art started to be widely available, not anything special anymore, he said it lost its aura. I did not fully understand what he meant until I went to the Desert Rock art show.

There was a real sense of aura around these works.

impact.

Make an

Margo Tamez, (Lipan Apache-Jumano Apache), doctoral student in American Studies, is a poet and scholar whose book Raven Eye was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by University of Arizona Press.

Tamez researches bi-national native women in the North American Sonora-Arizona and S. TexasMexico, W. Texas-Mexico, corridors who lead selfdirected, community-centered actions on issues relevant to strengthening Apache nations.

Lake Valley Sunset by Dez Deschenie

It was interesting to puzzle over what each artist thought about the Desert Rock power plant. There were many emotions behind each artist’s vision. The end result is a visual contribution to a complex discussion.

One might also describe the art show as a desperate cry for help. The art show is explicitly titled “in Resistance to Desert Rock.” The proposed site is situated on the Navajo reservation near hundreds of families that have been there for decades. The main people who would be affected are Navajos, and so why is this not a major issue among a majority of the Navajo people? After seeing all the different artwork, I feel inspired to pay more attention to the proposed Desert Rock power plant. In my case, art made me more aware of what is happening, but it is only a starting point to help someone gain knowledge. I plan to continue informing myself about the developments and about what I can do to help.

If this personal statement has made anyone think twice about the impending power plant, please visit either http://www.dooda-desert-rock.com or http://www.myspace.com/connections_earth_artist, for ways you can get involved. ✦ Dez Deschenie is currently taking a ‘gap year’ off from Dartmouth College to attend Dine College, where she is studying environmental science. She resides in Farmington, NM. Pictures from the art show courtesy of Tatiana Deschenie

Graduate and Professional Studies gradschool.wsu.edu

The American Indian Graduate

Spotlight on AIGC Alumni

Director of Indian Arts Research Center at SAR Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Colorado College

D

r. Cynthia Chavez Lamar received a Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, from Colorado College President, Richard Celeste, on September 1, 2008. A 1992 graduate of Colorado College, the award recognizes Dr. Chavez Lamar’s leading role in promoting Native American arts, artists and scholarships in her career with the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and at the School for Advanced Research on the Human Experience (SAR) in Santa Fe. She has served as director of SAR’s Indian Arts Research Center since August, 2007.

After graduating from Colorado College, Dr. Chavez Lamar received an MA in American Indian Studies from UCLA (1997) and her Ph. D. in American Studies from UNM (2001). Beyond her professional and academic work, Cynthia regularly participates in community outreach. She frequently serves as a consultant on topics ranging from Native perspectives on issues in museum studies to technologies that promote education and preserve tribal culture.

SAR’s Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) houses one of the world’s most significant collections of traditional Southwest Indian arts and artifacts, spanning the 450-year period from Spanish contact to the present.

These collections and a range of associated programs have made the IARC an outstanding cultural and educational resource for the Native American community, researchers, scholars, and the public.

SAR president and CEO Dr. James F. Brooks attended the honoring ceremonies at Colorado College and said,

Dr. Cynthia Chavez Lamar (center)

“even at this early stage of her career, it comes as no surprise to those who work with Dr. Chavez Lamar on a daily basis that her alma mater has chosen her for this honor.

She brings exciting new energy and ideas to SAR, and a consummate professionalism that will serve the Indian Arts Research Center splendidly in the years ahead. We congratulate Cynthia, her parents Richard and Sharon Chavez, and her community at San Felipe Pueblo on this singular and well-deserved recognition.” ✦ (Dr. Chavez Lamar, from San Felipe Pueblo, is an AIGC alumnae.)

“Even at this early stage of her career, it comes as no surprise to those who work with Dr. Chavez Lamar on a daily basis that her alma mater has chosen her for this honor…”

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The American Indian Graduate

— Dr. James F. Brooks

Thank You

Looking Back

by John A. Haupt

A

lmost twenty years ago, I began law school at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. I was one of three Native American students that would graduate in 1992. My first challenge was completing the Pre-law Summer Institute program and passing the required prerequisites to be admitted to law school.

I’ve always enjoyed academic challenges and seemed to do well when it came to tests and written assignments.

I survived and, in the fall of 1989, I was admitted to the UNM School of Law. The next challenge I encountered, besides being so far away from home, was the financial cost required to attend graduate school.

I grew up on the Makah Indian reservation in Neah Bay, Washington. There were 14 students in my high school graduation class. Leaving the small reservation and going to college was not very common. Our Tribe, however, did provide financial aid for those who dared to take the challenge. I managed to leave the “rez” for 4 years and obtain my bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University. After I graduated, a fellow classmate talked me into taking the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). I was soon contacted by several universities that requested that I submit an application to their institution. I never dreamed that I would actually attend law school but, there I was, with the opportunity to be the first person from my hometown to earn a law degree. I chose to attend UNM because of its reputation regarding Indian Law and the fact that I wanted to experience a new and different place.

After being admitted to law school, I soon discovered that I lacked the financial means to attend. My tribe did not provide financial assistance for graduate school and, to this very day, still doesn’t. I reached out to the American Indian Graduate Center and with their assistance I was able to complete law school, earn my degree and pursue my career. In 1989, I received the Thomas W. Echo-

John Haupt

hawk memorial scholarship for first-year law students and was presented with “The American Indian Graduate Center 20th Anniversary 1969-1989” poster by Sam English. I’ve had the poster framed and it is proudly displayed in our home. It reminds me that having a dream sometimes is not enough. You need organizations such as the AIGC to help you achieve your goals. I owe a big part of my accomplishments to AIGC and the financial assistance with which they entrusted me. “Kleco kleco” “Thank you so much.” ✦ John A. Haupt (Makah Indian Tribe of Washington) earned his JD from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1992. John is member of the New Mexico Bar Association and has spent the past 15 years as a Special Agent for the federal government. Agent Haupt spent 12 years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is currently a Special Agent with the Department of Commerce, working with the Northwest Indian tribes regarding their treaty hunting and fishing rights. John resides in Sequim, Washington with his wife, Shelley, and their two children, Columbia, age 14, and Collin, age 12.

“You need organizations such as the AIGC to help you achieve your goals”.

The American Indian Graduate

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Your Contribution

The Challenge Photo courtesy of the New Mexico House of Representatives

by Regis Pecos

M

y educational journey began in Cochiti, where I was born and raised, then on to Princeton and back to Cochiti. For any young person coming from a small community like Cochiti and going off to one of the world’s elite institutions, there are likely two defining experiences that may occur: You may question your self worth when thrust into cultural shock. Or, the experience can validate and reaffirm that what you have been taught by people, who have no formal education and have never left your community, is equally as important as formal education.

What I brought to Princeton were my core values, as taught to me by my parents, my grandfather, my extended family and community. At the center of those core values was language. But, the things most relevant in my life and the people of Cochiti were not relevant to anyone attending Princeton. Striking that balance would be the ultimate lesson in that experience, which defined my career in public service that spans the last three decades.

At the local level and in my cherished home of Cochiti, after Princeton, my desire to go to law school was interrupted when my elders called upon me to assist in Cochiti’s response to some extraordinary circumstances. I had the honor and privilege to work with my elders and tribal leaders in the return of 25,000 acres of our beloved aboriginal homelands. Simultaneously, I found myself in a pivotal role as one of the chief architects and strategists in a legal fight against the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the United States, to hold them liable for the devastation they caused to one of the most revered places of worship, when they built the 10th largest man-made lake in the world. This construction and the master plan for a community of 40,000 people, on lands leased for 99 years, on half of our reservation hit at the very heart of our existence and literally changed a way of life overnight. But, we prevailed and, today, after lengthy multiple legal battles and settlements, our elders and children have seen a way of life preserved. Unfortunately, that was not the end of threats from the outside.

These events had the potential to destroy our people, our lands, our culture and way of life. None of these issues were relevant to anyone at Princeton but, as a result of the skills developed at Princeton and a network created

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The American Indian Graduate

Regis and grandson, Kuien, at the New Mexico legislature.

there, we made them relevant. As a spokesperson and an interpreter for the Pueblo, the skills I developed allowed me, within the courts and in the halls of Congress, to articulate what had never been explained. As a result, we have a second chance: An opportunity to articulate a new vision for the next one hundred years, consistent with our core values and driven by lessons learned.

Beyond Cochiti, I was blessed early in my career to have extraordinary people in my life. LaDonna Harris, founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity, and Margaret Gover were two such people. They gave me the tools to apply the core values paradigm into policy development and multi-discipline decision making. My career also began with legendary figures: President Wendell Chino (Mescalero), Governor Robert Lewis (Zuni), Governor Frank Tenorio (San Felipe), Vice-President Dale Vigil (Jicarilla), President Peterson Zah (Navajo) and, in education, the vision of John Rainer, Robert Bennett and Joseph Abeyta. The ideas born out of that time were a conscious response for the need to develop our own professional capacity to strengthen our infrastructure and rebuild strong Indian nations by investing resources to develop a critical mass of educated Indian people. I was immensely blessed to learn from these men and women. They were profound visionaries developing the framework and ushering in what history will define as an extraordinary time in the reaffirmation of sovereignty and beginning modern day renaissance of Indian nations and their cultures.

As we celebrate the American Indian Graduate Center’s 40th anniversary, we recall the last 40 years of the organization nurturing the development of an extraordinary brain trust in every conceivable discipline, making a difference throughout Indian country and the nation.

Formalizing this network and creating formal partnerships with these profound individuals and collectively creating new opportunities for our children and communities can write the next chapter of the American Indian Graduate Center. It is my hope and my prayer than on the 50th anniversary, AIGC can bring together all of those who have come through the doors to celebrate and honor the spirit of the vision by engaging them in a dialogue on how AIGC can build upon this bountiful harvest for the next generation of leaders. What can we do to build upon this capacity in a very conscious way? How can those who benefited from this vision and who have a desire to give back become an active part in moving the program to the next level to respond to the challenges and opportunities in a similar fashion as John Rainer and Robert Bennett did when they conceived the need and gave birth to the American Indian Graduate Center.

Our greatest challenge today, internally, in our communities when language and culture are at their most fragile state, is what we do to sustain our core values. The time has come when we must use our human resources and collective experiences to assess where we are in our development, within our respective communities, and articulate our vision of what we want our communities to be like for raising our children and grandchildren.

Defining the most desirable future, identifying barriers and committing ourselves to be champions and advocates are compelling. For example, if we accept that education is important, and that the quality of education our children receive is dependent upon the stability of our teacher corps, why aren’t we developing strategies to steer our children into careers as teachers? Perhaps this is the result of not having a vision for our communities with strategies and blueprints delineating goals of how to achieve those desired outcomes that will be consistent with our core values. It would be ironic and tragic that in this time of selfdetermination, with unprecedented human resources and opportunities, that we collapse from within. Rebuilding our nations from within has never been more important.

What will be your contribution? âœŚ

Here on the South Plains of West Texas we embrace our Native American heritage. Texas Tech University encourages AmericanIndians to join the ranks of our graduate programs and there is plenty to choose from. We offer more than 100 masters programs and over 60 doctoral degrees in disciplines ranging from arts and humanities to engineering, science, and technology. We strive to provide financial support to the majority of our students. www.gradschool.ttu.edu Phone: 806-742-2787 Email: gradschool@ttu.edu

The American Indian Graduate

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AIGC Graduate Funding Opportunities 2009-2010 Academic Year BIE Loan For Service Program Deadline: June 1, 2009

T

he Loan For Service program is a Bureau of Indian Education funded financial aid opportunity administered

by AIGC for American Indian and Alaska Native graduate and professional candidates. This program is offered in an effort to promote opportunities for careers with tribal governments, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Indian Affairs’ funded organizations, on and off the reservations.

Repayment process: Loan paybacks are on a 1-1 basis (one year of service for one year of funding). Fellows must begin repaying through service within six months of degree completion.

To be considered for the AIGC Loan For Service program, the applicant must: •

Be an enrolled member of a United States federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group; or possess _ degree federally recognized Indian blood and;

•

Have a 3.0 GPA and;

•

Be pursuing a master’s, doctorate, or professional (i.e. law, medicine, dentistry) degree as a full time student at an accredited graduate or professional institute in the United States.

Accenture American Indian Scholarship Deadline: June 1, 2009

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he scholarship fund selects the very brightest American Indian and Alaska Native students seeking graduate or professional degrees and careers in the high technology and business fields. Applicants must be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as full-time degree-seeking first-year graduate or professional student. To be eligible you must: •

Be an enrolled member of a United States federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group; or possess—degree federally recognized Indian blood and;

•

Able to demonstrate involvement with or measurable interests in Native American activities or affairs.

•

Have a cumulative average GPA of a 3.25 on a 4.0 scale at the time of application.

•

Have demonstrated character, personal merit, and commitment. Merit is demonstrated through leadership in school, civic and extracurricular activities, academic achievement, and motivation to serve and succeed.

Accenture LLP will provide summer internships for students who will be selected.

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The American Indian Graduate

Wells Fargo American Indian Scholarship Deadline: June 1, 2009

T

he Wells Fargo fellowship was established to build new and lasting relationships between the future leaders and mangers in Indian Country and Indian gaming, tourism, hospitality and financial industries. To be eligible you must: •

Be an enrolled member of a United States federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group; or possess—degree federally recognized Indian blood and;

•

Be pursuing a career and degree in fields relating to BANKING, RESORT MANAGEMENT, GAMING OPERATIONS: MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION, INCLUDING ACCOUNTING, FINANANCE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN RESOURCES and;

•

Be a graduate student at a U.S. accredited institution as full time and degree seeking.

•

Have a cumulative average GPA of a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale at the time of application and;

•

Demonstrate financial need.

Application packets can be downloaded at www.aigcs.org beginning January 2009 or you may call (505) 881-4584 to be placed on a mailing list.

Graduate Fellowship for American Indians and Alaska Natives

T

he American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, announces the availability of graduate fellowships for the 2009-2010 Academic Year, for American Indian and Alaska Native students from federally recognized tribes.

AIGC was established in 1969 to assist American Indian college graduates desiring to continue their education at the master’s, doctorate and professional degree level who need financial support. American Indians continue to be the least represented of all minority groups in the country in medicine, business, law, science and other fields requiring advanced degrees. AIGC was founded to help open the doors to graduate education for American Indians and to help tribes obtain the educated Indian professional they need; to become more self-sufficient and exercise their rights to self-determination.

Application Deadline To be considered for funding for the 2009-2010 Academic Year, the original application form must be received by the AIGC office by the deadline.

Deadline: Monday, June 1, 2009 To request an application or for further information, please contact: American Indian Graduate Center 4520 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite 1-B Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109 Telephone: (505) 881-4584, Ext. 111 • Fax: (505) 884-0427 Website: www.aigcs.org • Email: marveline@aigcs.org

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Genomics Workshop

Scholars Use Discussion to Explore Governance of Indigenous Genomics

by Judy Nichols Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

A

Photo Courtesy of Judy Nichols, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

dozen scholars from across the globe met recently at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law to discuss the promise and perils of current efforts to transform indigenous people’s governance of genomic research.

“This is a select group capable of drawing on their past experiences to envision the future,” said Rebecca Tsosie, Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program at the College of Law, who is principal investigator of the National Science Foundation grant funding the workshop, “Genomics, Governance, and Indigenous Peoples.”

“Many people are writing about this issue, but you are actually doing things, putting things into practice,” Tsosie told the group as the two-day workshop began on Thursday, November. 6, 2008.

Tsosie and her two fellow organizers – Kim TallBear, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology and Environ-

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mental Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and Jenny Reardon, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Faculty Affiliate in the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz – said they invited participants who were not afraid to seriously engage the issues.

The “no-PowerPoint” format of the workshop had participants share written responses to several questions before convening and then participate in several recorded dialogues that will be used to produce a written document.

TallBear said the format was inspired by work she did on a book, This Stretch of the River, in response to the celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In that book, several Lakota and Dakota writers taped their discussions of the subject.

“The conversations produced knowledge and experience that were not present in our written work,” TallBear said.

And the work to edit and compile the project meant the learning continued beyond the conversations, she added.

Discussion topics at the genomics workshop included: cultural harm and transforming the legal system; charitable trusts, biobanks and partnership governance of genetic research; and tribal-genetic research agreements, indigenous research and governance implications.

Participants included experts in human genetics and the social, legal and ethical aspects of genomics in different national and cultural contexts. They have experience working within existing regimes of governance and see a need for policy innovation and change in relation to genomic research. Some participants are already engaged in experimental efforts Scholars participating in the Genomics, Governance and Indigenous Peoples workshop at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law to create change. at Arizona State University included: seated from left, Nadja The workshop, first conceived as being focused Kanellopoulou, Jenny Reardon, Pilar N. Ossorio, Rebecca Tsosie, on the United States and “tribal” governance of Brian Wynne, Laura Arbour and, standing from left, Phillip S. “Sam” genomics, was broadened to include scholar practiDeloria, Brett Lee Shelton, Nanibaa Garrison, Terry Powell, Paul tioners working in other parts of the world in recOldham and Kim TallBear.

The American Indian Graduate

ognition that strategies for governing genomic research cannot be contained by national borders.

In addition to Tsosie, TallBear and Reardon, participants included: Laura Arbour, Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and the Island Medical Program at the University of British Columbia based in Victoria BC; Philip S. (Sam) Deloria, Director of the American Indian Graduate Center and former director of the American Indian Law Center, Inc., for more than 35 years; Nanibaa’ Garrison, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University working on the genetics of human pigmentary variation; Nadja Kanellopoulou, an academic lawyer who specializes in medical law, intellectual property and bioethics based at the Arts & Humanities Research Council Research Centre for Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; Paul Oldham, a social anthropologist and researcher at CESAGen a research center based at Lancaster University in England;

LEARN INDIAN LAW FROM THE EXPERTS The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University is now accepting applications for the

Pilar N. Ossario, Associate Professor of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who also serves on the Director’s Advisory Council for the National Human Genome Research Institute and as an advisor for the 1000 Genomes Project, the Human Microbiome Project, and for NHGRI-related tissue banking activities at Coriell; Terry Powell, a member of the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board, whose interests include research ethics, health care research, and bioethics; Brett Lee Shelton, a partner in the law firm Shelton and Ragona, LLC, of Louisville, Colo., and who sits on the Oglala Sioux Tribal Research Review Board in Pine Ridge, S.D. and Brian Wynne, Associate Director of the Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics, Professor of Science Studies and Research Director of the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change at Lancaster University in England. ✦

The Buder Center for American Indian Studies promotes the higher education of American Indians, preparing you to assume leadership positions in social service and governmental institutions dedicated to improving the lives of American Indians Among the Buder Center’s special advantages are:

A master’s degree program for highly qualified non-lawyers who do not seek a degree that will enable them to practice law. The M.L.S. program offers qualified applicants the opportunity to study with several of the most prominent Indian law and policy scholars in the country and provides access to unique resources, including the nationally known Indian Legal Program.

Available courses include Federal Indian Law I and II, Gaming Law, Tribal Law and Government, and Economic Development in Indian Country.

FLEXIBLE FULL TIME (nine months) or PART TIME

APPLY NOW

Contact Ann Marie Downes at Ann.M.Downes@asu.edu or call 480.727.0616

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A variety of academic concentrations.

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Course work focused on social work practice with American Indians.

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Fieldwork with American Indian communities in your area of concentration.

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Excellent assistance in job placement.

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Dual degree-programs with law, business, architecture, and health/hospital administration.

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The independent G.A. Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable foundation offers full scholarships to American Indian students who intend to practice social work in American Indian communities.

For more information, please contact: Stephanie Kettler, Program Manager 1 Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130 E-mail: bcais@wustl.edu Phone: (314) 935-4510 *Fax: (314) 935-8464

www.law.asu.edu lawadmissions.graduate@asu.edu - 480.965.1474

The American Indian Graduate

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AIGC Fellows

Congratulations from Past and Current AIGC Fellows!

Delaine Alley MSW-Social Work 2002 _ The Late Dennis L. Alley MSW–Social Work 1979 Christina Anderson MA/JD-Marriage & Family Counseling/Law 2007 _ Heather L. Anderson JD– Law 2005 _ Jessiline Anderson PhD-Clinical Psychology 1999 _ Twyla Baker-Demaray MEd– Education 2005 _ Jennifer Barnes-Kerns JD–Law 2005 _ Diandra D. Benally JD–Law 2005 Loren J. Benally MA-Language Literacy & Sociocultural Studies 2010 _ Tamara Bolding MADivinity & Counseling 2008 & PhD-Clinical Psychology 2012 _ Harriett J. Bowannie-Platero PhDMolecular Biology & Genomics 2006 _ Wynona Bradwell MA-Special Education 1985 Robin A. Butterfield MA-Curriculum and Instruction 1972 _ Daron T. Carreiro JD–Law 2007 Karen Cash-Onco MEd- Counseling 1977 _ Brad E. Chaser MD-Medicine 2008 _ Tamara Clay MSW-Social Work 2002 _ Jack E. Cloud JD–Law 1989 _ Sheila D. Corbine JD–Law 1993 Ann M. Cross PhD-Material Chemistry 2011 _ Yvonne M. Davis MS-Public Health 2004 Gayle Diné Chacon MD-Medicine 1993 _ Mark Dodd JD–Law 2006 _ Michael E. Douglas JD– Law 2006 _ Lore’K Elliot MS-Psychology 2003 _ Affie Ellis JD–Law 2007 _ Katie Anglin Ethridge MA-Counseling 2007 _ Jaina C. Fisher JD–Law 2009 _ Jennifer Fowler MS-Social Work & Legal Studies 2008 _ Sharon E. Fredericks PhD–Education 2008 _ Felicia Y. Frizzell DDS–Dentistry 2011 John L. Garland PhD–Counseling 2009 _ Gabriel Galanda JD-Law 2007 _ Rita V. Gascon-Seeman MSW-Social Work 1994 _ Olivia George PhD-Molecular Biology & Genomics 2007 Veronica Geronimo MSW-Social Work 1984 & JD-Law 1994 _ Wesley R. Gray PhD-Finance 2010 Shelley Hanson MBA-Business Administration 1996 _ Rodney C. Haring PhD-Social Work 2007 Miranda J. Haskie EdD-Education 2002 _ John A. Haupt JD-Law 1992 _ Jared Hautamaki JD-Law 2007 _ Wendy L. Helgemo JD-Law 1995 _ Adrian N. Holiday MA-Architecture 2008 Stacey J. Horn MS-Urban and Regional Planning 2008 _ Regina E. Hovet JD-Law 2002 Althea L. James MS-Health Administration 2010 _ Jill Jim MS-Health Care Administration 2008 Monique R. Jonaitis PhD-Native American Studies 2009 _ Dawn M. Jordan MS-Social Work 2009 Debora Juarez JD-Law 1987 _ Kristine A. Kalbfleisch MD-Medicine 2004 _ Julie Sabotta-Kane JD-Law 1989 _ Robbi M. Kesler (Smith) JD-Law 2006 _ Jill D. Kessler MS-Counseling 2007 Sandy Kewanhaptewa-Dixon EdD-Education 1996 _ Douglas Kiel MA–History 2007 & PhD-History 2013 _ Laura Ann A. LaFrance MUR-Urban & Regional Planning 2008 _ Steven T. Leask PhDBusiness Administration 2003 _ Elizabeth Little Elk MS-Social Work 1980 _ Evelina Z. Lucero MAEnglish 1989 _ Laverne G. Lyons MSW-Social Work 2006 _ Jeffrey L. Madison JD–Law 2005 Matthew J. Martinez PhD-Philosophy 2008 _ Andrew McCoy DC-Chiropractic 2008

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The American Indian Graduate

Melody McCoy JD-Law 1986 _ Joanne McDonald MSW-Social Work 2008 Anya McKinney (Furman) MS-Information Science 2008 _ Nazune Menka MS-Environmental Technology Management 2009 _ Robert J. Miller JD-Law 1991 _ Calvin M. Moniz MBA-Business Administration 2008 _ Darryl T. Monteau MSE-Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Higher Education Administration 2009 _ Caryn E. Montoya MA-Special Education 2004 Raquel Montoya-Lewis JD-Law 1995 _ Marilyn Morris PhD-Clinical Psychology 2011 Christa Moya MCRP-Community and Regional Planning 2008 _ Dorothy Nason PhD-Ethnic Studies 2008 _ Curtis J. Norvell MS-Public Health & MS/Business Administration 1987 Sahar A. Nouri (Kinney) MD-Obstetrics & Gynecology 2004 _ Geraldine L. Ortiz MBA-Business Administration 2006 _ Tassy Parker PhD-Registered Nurse 2001 _ Robbie Paul MA–Psychology 1994 & PhD–Psychology 2007 _ Marilyn J. Phelps JD-Law 2009 _ Meredith Presley JD-Law 2009 Randy Quinn MBA-Business Administration 2006 _ RaeAnn Red Owl JD-Law 2007 Hillary Renick JD-Law 2008 _ Renee A. Roman Nose MA-Interdisciplinary Studies 2008 Joel Rosette JD-Law 2006 _ Shawna D. Samuel MS-Business Administration 2006 Cherokee R. Screech Owl (Pettis) MS-Social Work 2004 _ Laurie Sison MS-Education 2007 Kimmie Smith MS-Psychology 2008 _ Shelia Southard JD-Law 2007 _ MacArthur L. Stant II MATeaching English as a Second Language 2007 _ Ronald P. Stiffarm MEd-Educational Leadership 2008 Adam Sturdevant PHD-Psychology 2009 _ Dawn (Tato) Tallchief PHD-Educational Leadership & Policy Studies 2006 _ Kevin Teehee MD-Medicine 1997 _ Sean K. Teuton PhD-English Language and Literature 2002 _ Kerry F. Thompson PhD-Anthropology 2009 _ Frances Tiger MHR-Human Relations 2005 _ Yvonne N. Tiger MA-20th Century Native American History 2008 Yolandra G. Toya MS-Public Health 1991 & MD – Medicine 2003 _ Georgia L. Tsingine MS–Public Health 1999 & MD–Medicine 2003 _ Anna Tsouhlarakis MFA-Fine Arts 2002 _ Mary Walker MS-Educational Leadership 2005 _ Janice C. Warner MS-Social Work 1975 _ Darlene Waseta MAOrganizational Learning & Instructional Technologies 2002 _ Barbara W. Watson MEd-Educational Psychology 1979 _ Roberta S. Whitlock-Baeta PhD-Philosophy 2008 _ Emily R. White Hat JD-Law 2007 _ Marlinda White-Kaulaity PhD-Philosophy 2007 _ Sweeney Windchief MA-Counselor Education 2004 & EdD-Higher Education Administration 2011 _ Angela Wiley MHR-Human Relations 2005 _ Lori Workizer MA-Audiology now a PhD 1993 _ David Yarlott Jr. EdD-Adult, Community, & Higher Education 1999 _ Naomi J. Young MD-Medicine 2009

AIGC is proud of the over 7,000 past and current students who have benefitted from our services. We thank them for their continuing contributions and support.

(Visit our web site, www.aigcs.org, to participate in the August 2009 congratulatory page.)

The American Indian Graduate

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AIGC Alumni

The Alumni Connection

by Susan Duran Class of 2012 Tamara Bolding (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) Master’s in Counseling Psychology (Currently working on Ph.D.) Pacifica Graduate Institute “AIGC fellowships and awards have enriched my life and education and have allowed me to help others through my degree in Counseling Psychology. I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, which will allow me to assist even more individuals. Thank you!”

Class of 2008 Adrian N. Holiday (Dineh) Master’s in Architecture, Arizona State University “I am currently working for the Gila River Indian Community and taking the architectural registration exam to become a registered architect. AIGC has provided opportunities toward assisting Native American tribes with the opportunity to advance in design and construction, work that is culturally sensitive and creates a sustainable environment while mentoring to the community.”

Class of 2001 Michelle L. Sauve (St. Regis Mohawk) Master’s in Public Policy, Harvard University “Receiving the AIGC Fellowship helped defray my costs for attending Harvard. I wouldn’t have been able to go without financial support. Thank you.”

An Open letter to AIGC: “I am a Waccamaw-Siouan Native American, employed

by Southeastern Community College in Whiteville, NC. I have recently made a commitment to finish my four-year degree and obtain a Master’s in Counseling. I received your Spring 2008 magazine in the mail at SCC. I don’t know why but, for some reason, I could not trash the magazine. It contained so much information that helped me keep my focus on education. Thanks to the American Indian Graduate magazine, I am not going to let my dream just be a dream but, instead, become reality. Thank you.”

— Andrea Jacobs

Notes: To insure that we have all your current information, please take a minute to visit our web site (aigcs.org) or send an email to Leander Bekaye (leander@aigcs.org) or Susan Duran (susan@aigcs. org) to update your information (be sure to include your previous address so we know we have the right individual).

We’re very proud of all our alumni, so… while you’re updating your information, please let us know what’s been going on with you. Also, if you would like to submit an article for our magazine, about your educational experience(s) and/or how education has changed your life, we would welcome your story.

The Four Directions Summer Research Program would like to wish the American Indian Graduate Center a Happy 40th Anniversary!

Four Directions Summer Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Brigham Women’s Hospital www.fdsrp.org

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The American Indian Graduate

Indian Law

Summer Program May 26 to August 3, 2009 Lewis & Clark Law School Portland, Oregon law.lclark.edu/dept/indianlw We offer the only summer program dedicated to training lawyers to navigate the complex legal issues facing Native Americans. Our program incorporates classroombased learning with opportunities for the development of practical skills and exposure to Native American culture.

Our courses are taught by renowned Indian law scholars from around the country. A typical summer consists of two five-week sessions offering courses such as Federal Indian Law, Contemporary Issues in Indian Law, Themes in Sovereignty, and the Clinical Internship Seminar and intensive courses in Native American Natural Resources, American Indians and International Law, and Alaska Natives and the Law. Please contact us at 503-768-6740 or indianlw@lclark.edu for more information. Scholarships are available.

The American Indian Graduate

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Gates Millennium Scholars Program

The Leader Who Makes a Difference (This is a reprint of a keynote speech given to 1,000 Gates Millennium Scholars at a recent conference in Los Angeles.)

by Mark Trahant

W

hen I was about the age of most of you, I was editor of my tribal weekly, The Sho-Ban News, in Fort Hall, Idaho. One of my favorite events was the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe’s “general council”, the annual meeting of the community at a traditional round log structure named “Buffalo Lodge”.

During these sessions, every tribal member held firm to the right to speak. Sometimes the lines would be long, while people waited for their turn and their say. Some, when they would get to the microphone, would thump it a few times with their thumbs as a mike-check.

Thump, thump, thump.

Then people would launch into what they had so say.

I love to think of this as an intersection: Two streets crossing, technology and tradition. The technology of the microphone is new, but the conversations that occurred were about tradition, community and my tribe’s future. I was witnessing a respect for a discourse that was ancient.

I liked the thumb on the microphone — the intersection — because it demonstrated that ideas about free speech transcend the arrival of Europeans or the American Constitution. Think about what that very notion means to you, think about the sound of the microphone being tapped.

Whether you are American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic or African-American, this means that we have our unique way of thinking. What we think of as culture, is as valid as any in the Western Canon. This is what we must all add to the American experience.

The late Bob Maynard, one of the few African-Americans to own a major daily newspaper, put it this way: “This country cannot be the country we want it to be if its story is told by only one group of citizens. Our goal is to give all Americans front door access to the truth.”

Front door access — that’s the reason we’re here — and you’re here. You have something to contribute to that American experience. Then, by now, you should know that.

Since the presidential election is on many of our minds, let me start with another post-election story: I was editing this tribal paper, the Sho-Ban News. We printed community news — success stories from basket-

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The American Indian Graduate

Mark Trahant

ball, a community event. It was our job to write about the community in a way that would be clipped out of the paper and taped on the ‘fridge’. Still I wondered why we couldn’t do what other newspapers did.

In December of 1977, I heard that Vice President Walter Mondale was planning a tour of Idaho. I thought this would be a great opportunity for The Sho-Ban News to cover a national news story and make it interesting for our readers. I found out how to get press credentials and decided the Sho-Ban News would cover the Vice President’s trip.

I was curious. I had a few questions I wanted to ask.

A few weeks later, I showed up at the hotel where the Secret Service was clearing reporters. At the credentials office, an old hotel in downtown Lewiston, Idaho, I noticed that all the other reporters were dressed up in suits and ties. In those days, my wardrobe consisted of jeans, t-shirts and cowboy boots.

I stood out — and I knew it. And I was afraid I looked so out-of-place that I might not be included in the Q&A with the Vice President.

I couldn’t afford a suit, though. My salary at the Sho-Ban News wasn’t a lot. But one of those funny lightbulbs went off behind my head and I had a scheme. I went to J.C. Penney’s in Lewiston, Idaho, and bought a shirt, a tie and a gray overcoat. (I think the total was about $30.) I figured if I wore the coat all the time, then no one would know that I didn’t have a suit or sport coat underneath.

Early the next morning, I jumped on the press bus and followed the Vice President-elect’s group to the campus of Washington State University, where he was spending the morning. I fit right in.

Even on the bus, even with my coat off, I looked like the other reporters. Slick. But, by the time we got to WSU there was a glitch. It was the warmest winter day in memory. It was hot. And here I was running around in a gray overcoat, looking like Lt. Colombo. No matter. I refused to take it off the coat. I had some reporting to do.

The final news conference was held in a secluded area of the Lewiston Airport at the end of that busy day.

I did shout a question to Mondale asking how Indian water rights would be protected under the proposed Carter Administration’s new federal water policy.

Mondale looked for a moment. He paused, as if he was ready to answer my question — the one I felt so sure my readers wanted to know.

Then turned to next Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus, and replied, “I think I had better let the expert answer that.” And he stepped back away from the microphone.

I should have shouted, “hey, I bought a rain coat just to ask you this question …”

For the record, Andrus answered the question by saying that Indian water rights are independent rights and not part of the federal claim. It was a good quote and one that I used in the next week’s edition of the ShoBan News.

The larger lesson learned, though, was that the ShoBan News, small as we were, could be excellent. We could cover the news exactly the same as any other newspaper.

A few years later, I found my way to Navajo country where I was editor (and later, publisher) of the Navajo Times. When I was at the Sho-Ban News, I thought, why shouldn’t we be a weekly. Every other community newspaper in Idaho is a weekly – why are we a monthly?

Just by asking the question, I knew the answer.

Of course right now: Our focus on the American experience is on the election.

“Historic” is one of those words we too often toss about lightly. We who practice journalism are particularly guilty: we tap out the word on a keyboard and then set out to prove our thesis.

“This election is historic”, or so we write. Immediately, our readers know it to be true because it’s been

written often. You could say that journalists get away with such ideas because most of our readers don’t have a deep sense of history.

The 2008 election is a game-changer in Indian Country because at least a half-dozen candidates paid remarkable attention to Native issues throughout this campaign visiting rural Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico and Arizona. This election was different because the candidates were asked, “What would you do about Indian health care, the trust litigation, or even, can you define tribal sovereignty in the 21st century?”

This is striking. The next President is paying a little attention to at least a few American Indian issues. It’s too easy to think of that very notion as a “first.”

Many Northwest tribes have an honoring ceremony that starts with laying down woven blankets. One layer.

Then another. And another. And another. The metaphor is simple: We are all standing on the ground that someone has prepared.

Last year, I went to such a ceremony for Claudia Kauffman. Claudia is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe and, two years ago, was elected to the Washington State Senate. That wonderful event included two powerful symbols that demonstrate how far we’ve come and why this one-less first still matters.

It was, like this election, historic. Yet, the story that could be told through those threads of the layers of woven blankets, are rich and compelling, ranging from the violent conquest of the West to the state’s more recent fish wars. Indeed, in many ways, it’s hard to imagine this first occurring in Washington state because it was not that long ago that this state was widely known as “the Mississippi of Indian Country,” the frontline in the war over salmon, tribal sovereignty and culture.

But Washington found balance — and today there is a partnership between tribes and the state’s government that works together on issues ranging from salmon recovery to the health of Puget Sound.

But that’s why the power of those stories — the ones symbolized through those blankets — is so significant because of other leaders who came first. Yes, Claudia Kauffman was a “first.” Like Sen. Obama. But that first is only so because of the blankets already on the ground.

One of the most powerful of those stories is about a woman named Lucy Covington. This story starts in the

Many Northwest tribes have an honoring ceremony that starts with laying down woven blankets. One layer. Then another. And another. And another. The metaphor is simple: We are all standing on the ground that someone has prepared.

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Gates Millennium Scholars Program early 1960s. The federal government had decided that it could get rid of the “Indian problem” by redefining its relationship. It would terminate Indians, divvy up the resources on a reservation and end of story. The so-called promise was that the tribes that chose this route would be “freed” from federal interference.

In October 1966, the Confederated Colville Tribes of Washington state polled its members on that very policy. A “yes” vote meant ending the tribe’s relationship with the United States and the liquidation of timber and other tribally-owned assets. Everybody would get a check. The result of the poll was one-sided; more than two-thirds of the membership voted for termination.

The federal government was keen on the policy of termination and it was decided that it would be a good thing for Indian people. The Klammaths, some Utes and the Menominees had already been pushed down this path. If a few more tribes could be convinced, then termination could proceed as national policy.

But, on the Colville Reservation, the policy was already decided. Done deal. BIA Commissioner Robert L. Bennett testified that he would “honor and carry out any decisions that are made by the people of the tribe, whether or not this may be in agreement or disagreement with what may happen to be particular policy of the Bureau.” The U.S. Senate had passed several Colville termination bills and the House was expected to do so again. The solid pro-termination majority on the Colville tribal council was ready for this question to be decided.

However, Lucy Covington was not convinced. One person on a tribal council; just one vote.

She decided to follow the tribal chairman around.

Every time he would speak about termination — and the promise of a quick reward — she would follow and ask about jobs and a future for the tribal community. She cited statistics that showed bleaker conditions on the reservation: only 20% of the membership had high school diplomas, the on-reservation population was substantially below non-Indian neighbors in health, housing and income. “The point was being made that these people would suffer immeasurably from termination,” she said.

The reservation had some 676 adults — only 89 full-time jobs. She argued that the tribes needed a future

based on it own power and sovereignty. But first, she said, “the present fever and fervor for termination has to be quieted.”

This argument went on and on for five years. Every year the tribe moved closer to termination — until 1971 when Covington’s side won. Through the leadership of one person, the Colville tribes, in a practical way, terminated Washington’s experiment with termination — and “freeing the Indians” from the BIA, land money, culture and government. Because of this one leader, the people on the reservation were more powerful than policy makers in Washington, DC. One more story. This is a hip crowd, right? We all have MySpace pages.

I try to be — at least I experiment with these new ways of communicating. Yes, I have a MySpace page, but my main experiment is I write daily “news” poems on Twitter.

One of my “friends” on both twitter and MySpace is “Indigenous Flygirl.” Perhaps, at first, the page looks ordinary. She’s 99 years old (a common MySpace age).

She says: “I’m thinking of cheese fries. Yummy”.

Pretty much what you would expect on MySpace.

But then you might go a little deeper and see that she has extraordinary photographs, capturing urban life.

She lists 4,708 friends and receives thousands of comments posted to her home page. This year alone she’s had 62,000 page views. (“Who is looking at that?”, she asked.)

Flygirl’s real name is Alyssa Macy. She’s from Warm Springs but lives in Milwaukee (and like Ellsbury went to Madras High School). Here is what she writes about herself: My parents met through their work with the American Indian Movement in the early 70’s. They instilled in me a strong understanding of who I am as an Indigenous woman and of my people and our traditions. They encouraged me to pursue my education and fed my creative appetite through photography, art and music.

Growing up on the rez taught me how to survive in a tough world, to laugh until your sides hurt and to make just about anything out of commodities. These lessons, the grace of the Creator and tenacity have carried me to where I am today.”

What I really like about both Alyssa and her MySpace page is her sense of responsibility. She knows that young people here in Oregon are looking at her pages and what she says about herself. “You put yourself out in a public way,” she says, “so do something good.

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MySpace is not just where Indigenous Flygirl plays, but it’s where she organizes people, specifically young people. The medium is the Web and hip-hop.

About a dozen years ago, while living in Phoenix, Macy was helping organize an urban Indian summit. A group started a listserv — an email mailing list — to communicate with each other. But, much of the time, the same information was shipped over and over, to the same people.

Macy says she needed a way to expand her network.

“I signed up for MySpace in February of 2005. It was never meant to be anything more than a way to stay in touch with friends, house my photography and to talk with the reservation community,” she said.

But it was the network that she had been looking for.

Macy said, “The nice thing about MySpace is that I would send something out and people would respond to it. People are thinking in terms of what you are thinking.”

Sure, “MySpace is kind of weird,” she admits. Some people create online identities that are different from their real life. “I try to put stuff on MySpace that reflects who I am as a person.”

Macy started a marketing effort for hip-hop on MySpace and that led to a fundraising campaign for

Graduate Fellowships in Resource Management

the Native American Rights Fund. That effort reached a whole new audience — at an Indian Market in Santa Fe, there was a hip-hop shop, playing a NARF song.

Young people were saying, “Hey, NARF, yeah.” These young people thought NARF was “cool.” It was branded through hip-hop. Did the effort work? “Well”, Macy says, “we exceeded our fundraising goals. By a lot.”

What I really like about both Alyssa and her MySpace page is her sense of responsibility. She knows that young people here in Oregon are looking at her pages and what she says about herself. “You put yourself out in a public way,” she says, “so do something good.

Talk about the challenges in a good way — or you can put out a lot of garbage. I choose to not do that.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A new way of communicating our stories. A time of great change. A few days ago, Sen. Joe Biden said the new President would be tested. I think he has it backwards: There will be a test. But it’s a test of our generation, how do we meet the challenges of this time in history. It’s not just a test for the President. It’s a test for all of us. ✦

Central Washington University’s Master of Science in Resource Management uniquely combines the study of natural and cultural resources. Our record of placement in jobs and Ph.D. programs is excellent.

Native Americans, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians may qualify for a monthly stipend and tuition (up to $15,000 per year); and summer research support. The fellowships are supported by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and renewable for a second year. All undergraduate majors are considered, but the sciences, engineering, geography, anthropology, economics, biology, geology and political science are most appropriate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND APPLICATION FORMS CONTACT: Dr. Morris Uebelacker Dept. of Geography and Land Studies 400 East University Way Ellensburg, WA 98926-7420 Phone: 509-963-1188 FAX: 509-963-1047 www.cwu.edu/~geograph/native.html

CWU is an AA/EEO/Title IX Institution. TDD 509-963-2143

The American Indian Graduate

25

Dr. Joe Sando

Then and Now

An Interview with an AIGC Founding Father

by Michelle Pasena

I

visited with Dr. Joe Sando as he recalled his memories of the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC), the employees and Board of Directors associated with the inception of AIGC. When Robert L. Bennett, an Oneida from Wisconsin, was Commissioner of Indian Affairs, he used to visit the states in which the area offices were located. To his disappointment, no office he visited was headed by a Native American. Bennett knew something had to be done to change or improve the situation. He knew that meant education beyond the ordinary Baccalaureate degree. Now, the rest of the story.

Let’s go back a few years. The seed for the future program was planted when John C. Rainer, Sr., of Taos Pueblo, met Robert Bennett and Will Rodgers, Jr. in the Arrow Inc. project, which was sponsored by Will Rodgers, Jr. It was at that time that Bennett and Rainer met to establish the first office of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Washington, DC, of which Rainer became Executive Director. As the two men met often in Washington, they lamented the lack of Indian professionals in all fields due to insufficient tribal funds and the unavailability of money from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Indian graduate study. Up to this point, the BIA had primarily funded Indian education only though high school, with little being spent for a few undergraduate college students.

The two men set out to remedy the situation. Their dream of a graduate scholarship program became a welldocumented success story for the thousands of recipients and Indian communities that the new professionals now serve.

Rainer began work as Director of the newly established American Indian Scholarships, Inc., in August of 1969. At that time, the office was located in a trailer on the University of New Mexico campus. Pawnee, Lucille Echohawk, accepted the position of Secretary of the fledgling organization. After five years in Albuquerque, Rainer asked the AIS Board of Directors to allow him to retire or move the office to Taos. The board approved the move to Taos, where it relocated to a makeshift two-car

26

The American Indian Graduate

Louisa and Joe Sando

garage converted into an office. Faye Davis became the new secretary for the Taos office.

The AIS office remained in Taos for nine years, following Rainer’s retirement on December 31, 1983. He had worked for the scholarship program for fourteen years.

When the office returned to Albuquerque it was located where it remains today, 4520 Montgomery Blvd, NE, Suite 1-B, Albuquerque, New Mexico. With the change of address it also changed its name to American Indian Graduate Center, Inc., and Lorraine P. Edmo, a Shoshonee-Bannock from Idaho, was selected as the new director.

Some of the early board members were Lucy Covington, Chuck Trimble, Ada Deer, Joe Shando, Jim Cox, Overton James and David Warren. Subsequent directors following Edmo included Oren Lapointe, Reginald Rodriquez, Robert Sutton, Hilton Queton, Norbert S. Hill Jr., Louis Baca and the current Director, Sam Deloria.

The program had a slow start but, once word spread and the “moccasin telegraph” started operating in high gear, the office was flooded with requests for scholarship aid. By the end of the 1987 academic year, AIGC had awarded 180 fellowships to graduate students, representing 81 tribes from 22 states. Of the recipients, 163 were studying for graduate degrees in the areas of health, education, law, business, engineering and natural resources.

The other 69 were studying in fields such as anthropology, nursing and ministry. Unfortunately, due to a limited amount of available funding, AIGC was able to finance less than half the fellowship applicants.

Continued on page 29

Loan for Service Program

Helping Build the Future

by Terry Aguilar

S

hortly after high school, I enlisted in the Navy and it was during those two years in the military that I decided to go to college. In 1996, I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in political science and a minor in communications. Politics captivated my interest because it was politics that I knew was at the center of the nation’s decision-making process, law and policy. Upon receiving my degree in political science, I moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, a tribe that was engrossed in national politics as an Indian political powerhouse. It was truly a privilege to see a tribe assert such a political influence within the Washington political arena.

After working in Washington, my degree brought me back home to New Mexico, where I was appointed Lt. Governor and then Governor of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso, at the extremely young age of 25. At that point in my life, my degree in political science and communications proved invaluable for preparing me to deal with the non-Indian, outside world. More importantly, the experience I attained in college taught me the importance of possessing strong writing and reading skills.

While I was a tribal official, I used these skills on a daily basis reading contracts, business letters, attorney memos, writing excerpts, etc.

As the years passed, while working with tribes, I soon realized that there was a pattern of dependency upon the legal profession. In one sense, the tribal attorneys unintentionally ran the tribe because they retained so much information for the tribe as a whole - in water rights, land claims, tribal codes, court systems and virtually any area of tribal government. I decided to apply to law school and learn the law rather than have someone explain it to me.

When I was accepted by the University of New Mexico, School of Law, I contacted the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) in an effort to try and figure out how to get help to pay for law school knowing that the average debt of attending law school is estimated at approximately $60,000.00. I learned that AIGC offered the “Loan for Service” program, which defrays the cost of tuition and living expenses in return for work with

a tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, on a oneyear for one-year basis.

I am now completing my third and final year of law school while also being an active recipient of the AIGC Loan for Service program. The Terry Aguilar program has been very beneficial because, for law school students, it was recommended that students refrain from working due to the high demand of class work. If it were not for the efforts of AIGC and its staff in making certain that funds were available for students, the additional financial stress of not working would have been unbearable.

Whenever I am asked how AIGC has assisted me, I respond that AIGC has become an integral part of my law school education because the organization has remained actively involved in my personal development and future goals within the legal field.

Thus, when I think of what I have learned with my experience from the military, undergraduate, tribal politics and now law school, I wish I had taken the time to learn more about the fundamentals of reading, writing and scholarship opportunities. I am grateful for AIGC and the resources that the program offers because they assist in building the foundation for future Native lawyers who will represent tribes and indigenous people. ✦ Terry Aguilar is a member of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso in New Mexico and is currently enrolled at the University of New Mexico School of Law in the Juris Doctorate program.

Terry will graduate with his JD Law degree in the spring of 2009.

The American Indian Graduate

27

NINLHE

The NINLHE Institute

by Louise Chavez

F

or those who work in higher education – as students, as staff or as faculty – both the opportunities as well as the challenges confronting Native students are well-known.

Several studies have shown that Native students – and students of color in general – can usually trace their persistence and success back to one person; one person at their chosen institution who took a vested interest in their lives and their well-being. Yet, even for those colleges and universities that offer explicit support for Native students – be they tribal colleges or mainstream institutions, American or Canadian – resources are often stretched precariously thin. Campus resources for Native students are too often inadequate, while funding is limited and often fought for tooth-and-nail.

Native program staffs are small – often limited to one person. Many of the professionals tasked with providing support to Native students have multiple responsibilities rolled into one job. At various points throughout a given day they may serve as recruiters, event-planners, advisors, counselors, surrogate family members, retention strategists, financial aid specialists, housing officers, mediators, social activists and educators. Many may not have even deliberately chosen the field as a career track.

Many may be the only Native person on their campus.

Many have moved seamlessly from rolls as students to roles as professionals or have done both simultaneously. Many have simply stepped up because no one else was doing it. As a result, most professionals can feel an intense isolation fighting battles on their respective campuses in their effort to support students, and some have received little formal training in the fields in which their institutions now expect them to be expert.

The National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education (NINLHE) was founded to address exactly this need among the constituency of those who serve Native students in higher education.

Legend has it that the idea for NINLHE first saw light around a holiday dinner table more than fifteen years ago. Jim and Colleen Larimore (Comanche) – brother and sister and, at the time, working in the Native American Programs at Stanford University and Dartmouth College – were comparing notes on the

28

The American Indian Graduate

Since its official founding in 1993, NINLHE has offered an Institute every summer to bring together professionals from colleges, universities and tribal education programs across North America who are engaged in the work of supporting Native students in higher education.

challenges they faced at their respective institutions.

They both arrived at the conclusion that surely others in higher education must be dealing with similar issues and concerns. They discussed the possibility of creating a place where all of those people could come together, share ideas and learn from one another. An opportunity was born.

Since its official founding in 1993, NINLHE has offered an Institute every summer to bring together professionals from colleges, universities and tribal education programs across North America who are engaged in the work of supporting Native students in higher education.

The first and only organization of its kind, NINLHE’s goal for the Institute has always been two-fold: 1) to offer professional development and 2) to offer an opportunity for personal and spiritual renewal.

My own experience with NINLHE began more than ten years ago now. My first experience with the group was so transformative and left such a lasting impression that I have not missed an Institute since. Having attended many conferences and workshops prior to (and hundreds more since) my first NINLHE Institute, I was not sure what to expect. What I found was much more than I could have imagined.

Rather than a rigid series of concurrent sessions that people might or might not attend, there was a genuine effort to create a community during the days of the NINLHE Institute. People did everything together and at the same time. There were no sessions to choose from and there was no ‘show-up-from-8-to-4’ attitude. Rather, everyone participated in the same workshops and shared their own experiences – both personal and professional.

There was no keynote speaker, but there was an Elder-inResidence that helped put the events and discussions of the day into perspective.

At the time, I had reached a breaking point in my then-current position and was ready to leave. The encouragement, support and fresh perspective that I found at NINLHE allowed me to persevere and continue with new ideas and with new enthusiasm.

I have never forgotten the people I met during that first Institute and many of them, too, still come around every year. The colleagues I have met and friends I have made at NINLHE have become a daily resource for me, as well.

NINLHE is always a blend of first-timers and oldtimers, of research and culturally-based best practices and innovative ideas. In its fifteen years, it has served almost a thousand representatives from more than one hundred different colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. Most importantly, though, the information and individuals involved with NINLHE have gone on to serve thousands of Native American students in higher education.

In a field where those who endeavor to support others often find themselves dramatically unsupported, NINLHE offers a unique opportunity to find new ideas, renewed dedication and an outstanding network of colleagues continent-wide. âœŚ For more information on NINLHE, please visit: http://ninlhe.unm.edu

Congratulations on 40 years of excellence!

From the Staff of AMERIND Risk Management Corp. “Tribes Protecting Tribes,�

AMERINDRisk.org

Then and Now Continued from page 26

Today, AIGC awards more than $1.8 million annually to American Indians and Alaska Natives pursuing graduate and professional degrees. As of 2008, AIGC has awarded more than 12,000 scholarships to graduate students, in fields ranging from law to medicine. The AIGC Scholars, a separate program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars program through the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), in partnership with AIGC, awards $7,500,000 annually, primarily to undergraduate students.

The American Indian Graduate Center would like to thank Dr. Sando for sharing his memories of the inception of AIGC and the individuals that have impacted the success of the American Indian Graduate Center as an employee or Board member. Each and every contribution, large or small, has had a positive impact on current American Indian or Alaska Native students or former students who are now professionals throughout the country.

Today, forty years later, AIGC is proud and honored to have played a part in many undreamed success stories. âœŚ

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The American Indian Graduate

29

Supplying A Diverse Workforce

The Consortium

I

n the 1960s, times were turbulent. Amid the general air of civil unrest there were many concerns needing to be addressed. For Professor Sterling Schoen, the underrepresentation of minorities in business schools and American business resonated as a problem.

While Professor Schoen ignited passion in others, his efforts came to fruition with the support of like-minded change agents. These individuals conducted a feasibility study, determining the need for an organization. Armed with the impetus to move forward, they raised funds, recruited students and defined this new entity. Those courageous representatives personally knocked on doors to bring the organization to life and the Program for Graduate Study in Business for Negroes was born and officially began operations in 1966.

Over the next several years, the organization redefined itself. It went first from a program for African American males, to one for African American males and females and finally, by 1973, included African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans.

In that same period of time, the number of schools grew from the original three (Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University - Bloomington and University of Wisconsin - Madison) to six (University of Rochester, University of Southern California and University of North Carolina, respectively). The name of the organization also changed several times during that period, finally sticking with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. In 2005, The Consortium again changed its mission to become even more inclusive, offering those of any race the opportunity to apply. Candidates of any ethnic background must demonstrate a commitment to The Consortium’s mission of enhancing diversity in business education and corporate America.

Over the years, stellar institutions have demonstrated their commitments to the mission of The Consortium by becoming members. We now boast 14 Member Universities consistently ranked among the top business schools in the country.

Since 1966, The Consortium has grown, from an inaugural class of 21 African American males, to an incoming class in 2008 of more than 275 male and female students of various races and ethnicities, produced more than 5500 alumni and provided diverse talent to American businesses.

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The American Indian Graduate

Our goal continues to make the business environment more inclusive, diverse and accessible.

Native Americans have become an integral part of this group. Community leaders, including Cherokee Nation Principal Chief, Chad Smith, are proud Consortium alumni. Today, as our corporate sponsors look for a truly diverse workforce, American businesses value the contributions of Native American employees. The voice of this population will only strengthen corporate America as companies compete in our increasingly diverse country.

Our goal continues to make the business environment more inclusive, diverse and accessible. Our member schools have championed our mission throughout The Consortium’s history. As we continue to grow in number, there is no doubt that we will continue not only to meet the needs of the present, but will improve the ability of future generations to meet their needs. âœŚ For more information about full-tuition, merit based scholarships, networking and professional development opportunities and access to top companies, please call (888) 658-6814 or email recruiting@cgsm.org. You may also visit us online at www.cgsm.org.

Happy 40th Anniversary, American Indian Graduate Center!

Texas Tech University Graduate School wishes you many more years of expanding the educational horizons across the Southwest and across the United States. www.gradschool.ttu.edu

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Four Directions Summer Research Program Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts Our vision is simple... that a handful of talented Native American college students will leave with new skills, experiences, and knowledge that can be used to help themselves, their communities, and future generations of Native peoples from all of the Four Directions.

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The American Indian Graduate

31

American Indian Male Initiative

American Indian Male Initiative

by Shawn Secatero

T

he leadership and academic roles for American Indian males in higher education can be described as a mixture of complexity and change. According to the latest enrollment figures provided by the National Center for Educational Statistics (2006), American Indian males in college constitute only 39 percent of American Indian college enrollment as compared to the female college enrollment at 61 percent.

In addition, recent trends by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) and other data sources report that the numbers of American Indian males attending college are slowly declining. In 1976, American Indian males and females were nearly equal in degree attainment at fifty percent. However, in 2006, at the national level, 15,300 American Indian females were awarded college degrees compared to 8,700 males.

To address the declining numbers of American Indian males the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC), along with the Gates Millennium Scholarship program, have endorsed a Male Initiative Project, established in 2005, to attract and retain males in their pursuit of a college education. Several workshop sessions were initiated to collect data and disseminate information to AIGC partnerships. Conference workshops included the Minnesota Indian Education Conference, Johnson O’Malley Conference and the National Indian Education Association Conference. Participants varied in tribal affiliation and the gender population was equal. Levels of education included elementary students, tribal officials, college students, professional practitioners and elders.

The workshops were designed as an open session and all participants included their perceptions of American Indian males in higher education. I shared basic statistics

American Indian/Alaska Native Male Female

32

The American Indian Graduate

Total 23,936 8,658 15,278

from the National Center for Educational Statistics (2006) with conference participants, such as the number of conferred degrees among American Indians and Alaskan Natives during the 2005- Shawn Secatero 06 academic school year.

According to NCES, 23,936 American Indians and Alaskan Natives earned their degrees in 2006 and the numbers continue to grow at a steady pace. (See table below.)

For example, in 1977, only 67 American Indian males earned a doctorate degree nationwide and the figure has steadily improved to 105 doctorate recipients in 2006. I also explained that the lack of educational attainment is detrimental to our future as American Indian people and there is a dire need for males to fill professional career positions, act as positive role models and serve as future leaders of tribal communities. It is also important that American Indian educators put their minds together to develop a foundation of ideas to encourage more studies in educational attainment for American Indian males in higher education.

We formed small talking circles of 6-10 members who were asked to provide insight on the positive and negative traits of male behaviors. Conference participants chose a speaker to share their talking points with all workshop participants.

The salient issues derived from these workshops included: leadership, hardships, negative stereotypes, role model status, success stories and community best practices.

Associates Bachelor 8,552 10,940 2,774 4,203 5,778 6,737

Masters 3,504 1,244 2,260

Doctorate Professional 230 710 105 332 125 378

Leadership

Success Stories

According to our conference participants, an important leadership trait for Native males is to ensure that everyone is involved in the decision making process and to listen to the needs of the people. Another characteristic involves cooperative learning – a leader is expected to learn from colleagues – and developing good communication skills. Other traits included: a strong sense of self, honesty, integrity, compassion, knowledge and strong moral character. One participant commented, “A great American Indian leader is a defender of culture, tradition and language; he knows his identity and is actively involved in the community.”

Conference participants eagerly shared success stories about successful American Indian males in their community. Several examples included: 1) men who serve on the tribal council and stress the need for educational opportunities for their tribal youth, which ultimately leads to college degrees, 2) men who care for their families and fathers who support their children financially and emotionally, 3) males who complete their education no matter how long it takes to persevere, 4) fathers who see the important of education and are personally involved at school and home, 5) males who take part in ceremonies and become more involved in academics and their communities and 6) males who have overcome obstacles in their lives and moved forward to better themselves and their communities.

Hardships Conference participants also included a list of hardships that contribute to the low number of American Indian males in college. The lack of social, economic and family support systems was the most prevalent hardship mentioned in the workshops. Others included the absence of guidance from elders, lack of employment, a limited number of positive role models and a very small number of father figures. In addition, several participants indicated that many males are first-generation college students who lack mentors and experience culture shock. One participant commented, “American Indian males must provide for their families through employment rather than attend college.”

Positive Male Traits As for positive male traits, conference participants listed the following: sobriety, one who looks after others, a person who listens and male elders who provide a positive approach towards overcoming life’s obstacles. The most salient issue involved males who practice sobriety and those who have a strong spiritual foundation and maintain tribal traditions. One elementary student pointed out, “I look up to male athletes in my community who have earned their degrees. They are my role models.”

Negative Male Traits The predominant negative male traits that conference participants described were the negative influences of alcohol and drug abuse. Almost all of the conference participants indicated that the Native culture is being replaced by negative role models, gangs and a lack of individuality. One elderly lady commented, “Many of our young men lack positive role models and have become disinterested in life, which leads to lack of self respect and respect for others.”

Best Practices I asked the question, “When you work with American Indian male students, what best practices would you like to share in this workshop?” The responses included: • Individualized counseling • Building character (love, honesty, courage and trust) • Follow up with males to ensure that you are involved in their goals • Develop a support system (Circle of Males) in the community such as a talking circle, sports and other activities that interest them • Mentorship to bridge the gap between younger males and elders • Conduct surveys in the community with males on their perceptions of themselves and the community • Create community job opportunities to keep males employed, financially stable and busy • Bring academic opportunities to the community and schools • Network with local, state and national programs that focus on male well being • Train community practitioners who work with males • Good role modeling • Self acceptance • Spirituality, which may involve the elderly males in the community • Helping males make good choices through individualized interaction • Generate and promote videos of elders, successful Native males and rising leaders • Develop sports programs to endorse healthy lifestyles • Bring arts and crafts projects to the community Continued on page 34

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33

American Indian Male Initiative Future Implications The participants indicated that more research and more dialogue are needed to fully address the issue of the declining numbers of American Indian males in college.

In addition, several upcoming projects with the male initiative include: 1) publishing male college graduates and their recipes for success, 2) developing a video project that highlights American Indian males in various careers, 3) organizing an American Indian mentor match on a computer website and 4) sponsoring future American Indian male seminars that can encourage others to envision college aspirations.

Acknowledgements The participants in these workshops were excellent contributors and communicators in sharing their perceptions of American Indian males within their respective communities and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their wonderful insight and active involvement

in this project. I would also like to thank the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars (AIGCS), the Gates Millennium Foundation and the conference organizing committees for providing this invaluable opportunity.

One elder kindly spoke about males of yesterday and shared his story, “One must have the heart in reaching our young males. I know my grandfather had a way of teaching young boys to grow up and be good men by teaching them to first, value themselves, second, love their families and, finally, give back to their community.

Our young men must have a strong sense of identity and we can still reach them. If it was taught that way a long time ago, it still can be taught today.” ✦ SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2007, based on 2005–06 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2006.

New AIGC Board Member Rose Graham (Navajo)

R

ose Graham is the Director of the Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance (ONNSFA) in Window Rock, Arizona. ONNSFA is one of 12 programs under the Department of Diné Education, the Navajo Nation’s education regulatory agency. ONNSFA serves more than 10,000 Navajo students pursuing postsecondary education. It is largely funded by a P.L. 93-638 contract with the BIA/DOI. Approximately 35 percent of its funds come from the Navajo Nation, corporate and private donations.

Prior to her work with ONNSFA, Rose worked with the Navajo Nation Council for 9 years as Legislative Services Director, Legislative Advisor, and Interpreter during Council sessions.

Rose Graham Rose was appointed to serve on the Board of the American Indian Graduate Center because of her significant experience and dedication to education issues. Accepting the appointment,she said, “I believe our young people will inherit a society, environment, and world that will be increasingly and wonderfully challenging, competitive, and complex. To meet the challengesof this future society, our young people need higher education.. I am honored to be appointed to this distinguished board and I will strive to help AIGC with its mission to prepare our young Native people for this future.” ✦ Rose received a B.A. in Humanities from Fort Lewis College. She is also a Certified Navajo Court Interpreter.

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The American Indian Graduate

Celebrating AIGC’s 40th Anniversary in 2009 Please Join Us: 40th Anniversary Kick-Off Event Saturday, February 7, 2009 (Space is limited; RSVP at the AIGC web site, www.aigcs.org, or call our office 505.881.4584)

Amerind Golf Tournament and Gathering of Nations Miss Indian World Reception Thursday, April 23, 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Event October 2009

Visit www.aigcs.org for updates

The American Indian Graduate Center 4520 Montgomery Blvd., NE Suite 1-B Albuquerque, NM 87109

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit NO 8 Topeka, KS