American Indian Graduate Magazine Spring 2010

The

American Indian

Graduate Spring 2010

Inside this Issue: • President’s Message • From the Director: Obama Administration Indian Education Initiative

Higher Education: Key to Improving Health in Indian Country

• Overcoming Challenges: Clinical Psychology • The DETS Project: Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools • Healthcare Shortages: The Need for More Native Healthcare and Dental Professionals

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

CFC# 11514

President Obama hosts Tribal Nations Conference on November 5, 2009 An easy way for federal employees to donate — 11514 American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC)

NOMINATE AN OUTSTANDING STUDENT FOR THE GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS PROGRAM Scholarships for our Future Leaders Eligibility Criteria Students are eligible to be considered for a GMS scholarship if they: • • • • • •

Are African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American; Are a citizen, national or legal permanent resident of the United States; Have attained a cumulative GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted) or have earned a GED; Will be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as full-time, degree-seeking freshmen in the fall; Have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in community service, extra-curricular, or other activities, and Meet the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria (Eligibility for Federal Pell Grant can only be determined through the submission of a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the U.S. Department of Education).

Dallas Lopez, Pima/Hopi Westmont College "Learn to love learning on your own, then you will find it a joy and a blessing to be learning at college."

To schedule a GMS presentation at your school or in your community for 2010, visit

www.gmsp.org or contact

The American Indian Graduate Center Scholars

4520 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite 1B Albuquerque, NM 87109 (866) 884-7007 • www.aigcs.org

• GMS Partner for American Indians & Alaska Natives •

UNCF- the United Negro College Fund - is the administrator of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS).

Nominator: High school principals, guidance counselors or teachers may serve as nominators. In addition, any professional educator; for example, an educator at a scholarship assistance organization, education assistance agency or educational outreach program may also serve as nominator. The person who agrees to serve as a nominator must be familiar with the student’s academic background.

Recommender: Individual familiar with community service and leadership activities. A supervisor at work, a community group leader or any other adult familiar with student’s non‐academic activities could serve as recommender. If nominator is also familiar with the student’s non‐academic activities, he or she may serve as both nominator and recommender.

Table of Contents

The American Indian Graduate Volume 9, Number 1

Volume 9, Number 1 • Spring 2010

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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

AIGC Board of Directors

Message from the President

Message from the Director

Website: www.aigcs.org

Obama Administration Indian Education Initiative

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

by Sam Deloria

Graduate Horizons 2010

Arizona State University to Host Graduate Horizons

by Michele St. George

AIGC 2009-2010 Academic Year

All Native American High School Academic Team

by Marveline Vallo

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Internships

by Erick Rhoan

Elizabeth Washburn, President Chickasaw

A Blueprint for Success

David Mahooty, Vice President Zuni

by Shawn Secatero, Ph.D.

Melanie P. Fritzsche, Treasurer Pueblo of Laguna

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AIGC Board of Directors

A Unique Opportunity

American Indian Well-Being Model in Higher Education

Overcoming Challenges

Dee Ann DeRoin, M.D. Ioway Tribe of Kansas

Clinical Psychology

Grayson B. Noley Choctaw

by Billie Jo Kipp, Ph.D.

20 Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr.

Michael E. Bird Santo Domingo/San Juan Pueblo

One Man’s Destiny

by Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr., DDS, MPH Assistant Surgeon General (SSPHS) Retired

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Rose Graham Navajo

Personal Motivation

Finding a Cure

by Walter G. Besio, Ph.D.

Continued on page 4

Cover: President Obama hosts Tribal Nations Conference on November 5, 2009 (Photo courtesy of the National Indian Gaming Association)

The American Indian Graduate

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Table of Contents

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40 Diversity in Healthcare

Webster University

Considering a Healthcare Career

by Ellen Driber-Hassall, Gerontologist and Senior Director, Webster University

by Dee Ann DeRoin, M.D.

“Have You Considered…?”

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World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

by Michael Jerue

This is Our Tradition

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The DETS Project

by Susan Duran

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An AIGC Alumnus Serving Others

by Daniel Nagasawa

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Healthcare Shortages

by Ken Lucero

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Oweesta

Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools

My Gift of Service and Education

The Need for More Native Healthcare and Dental Professionals

Financial Education as the Foundation for Personal Growth and Economic Development for Native Nations

by Heidi Davis

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Public Media

by Kim Baca

Filling in the Gaps for Public Media

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Indian Health System

Trahant: The Business Model for an Indian Health System

by Mark Trahant

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40th Anniversary Celebration

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Opportunities

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AIGC Fellows Update

AIGC’s 40th Anniversary – A Huge Success 2010-2011 Academic Year Alumni Connection

47 UNM School of Medicine

Native American Enrollment Doubles at UNM Medical School

by Luke Frank, UNM Media Relations Manager

Contact Us 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.

Advertising: To advertise in The American Indian Graduate, please contact Leander Bekaye, or send an e-mail to: leander@aigcs.org Article Submissions: Submit all articles to Susan Duran, Consulting Editor, for consideration. E-mail: susan@aigcs.org

The American Indian Graduate Now available online at

www.aigcs.org

Reprints and Permissions: Reprints of published articles and/or artwork are prohibited without permission of the American Indian Graduate Center.

American Indian Graduate Center, 4520 Montgomery Blvd., Suite 1B, Albuquerque, NM 87109, (505) 881-4584 phone, (505) 884-0427 fax Visit us On-Line! www.aigcs.org 2010 AIGC, Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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The American Indian Graduate

AIGC Board of Directors

Message From the President

by Elizabeth Rodke Washburn

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s I write this final letter as President of the Board of Directors for the American Indian Graduate Center magazine, I find myself reflecting on an incredible number of memories. The past seven and a half years have been a remarkable personal experience.

I would like to let all of you know how thankful I feel to have had this opportunity to represent such a great organization. Along with my fellow board members, I witnessed many goals accomplished and faced several interesting challenges. With the help of my board colleagues, none of the challenges proved insurmountable. The responsibilities shouldered by boards are incredible – members often work very hard behind the scenes without recognition or accolades. I would like for all of these wonderful individuals to know they are deeply appreciated.

It has also been a privilege knowing and working with Sam Deloria, as well as the rest of the dedicated people staffing the organization, an impressive group of scholarship recipients and alumni, and our generous and dedicated supporters, contributors and volunteers. I’d like to express my appreciation to all of these people for making my tenure an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

This past year, we celebrated our 40th Anniversary and we awarded our 15,000th scholarship! I take great pride in being part being part of the organization that has accomplished so much in 40 years. Without exception, the successes at AIGC are tied directly to the excellent work done by our Director and staff members.

It’s bittersweet to think of not being directly involved with AIGC after this year, but as an alumna, I will always

Elizabeth Rodke Washburn

be a part of this fine organization, its mission and the very special people who make it work and I look forward to hearing about new programs, new approaches and new adventures in the future! I am also confident that the board will be in good hands with David Mahooty and will continue to plan and manage strategically for the future.

Please rest assured that I will continue to support AIGC’s mission and ask that you continue your support as well. ✦ Sincerely yours, Elizabeth Rodke Washburn

This past year, we celebrated our 40th Anniversary and we awarded our 15,000th scholarship! I take great pride in being part being part of the organization that has accomplished so much in 40 years.

The American Indian Graduate

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Message from the Director

Obama Administration Indian Education Initiative

by Sam Deloria

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recently attended a meeting called by Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Larry Echo-Hawk, that included Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, along with a host of their top staff members (and Kim Teehee from the White House), to talk about what the Obama Administration can do to improve education for Indian students. The non-governmental people attending the meeting included a cross-section of people working at charter schools, public schools and universities, and representatives of tribal colleges and Indian education organizations.

Before anyone gets all excited about who was there and who wasn’t, I want to caution everyone to think carefully about how we are going to respond to the Administration’s promise of consultation – we must have a workable and useful consultation system. No one presumed to speak for anyone but themselves and their organizations at this meeting, nor did the government people seem to be laying the groundwork for claiming, at some future time, that we “spoke for” the Indians.

To the degree the meeting might have been helpful, it would be to orient the Administration people on some of the issues in Indian education and some of the things that are going on in the field at the moment. Over the years, we have become so focused on consultation and representation at every meeting that the result has been government people too often coming to subsequent real consultation meetings unprepared because they have been reluctant to have meetings like this. Then they feel blind-sided when tribal representatives turn out to have their own views and opinions. Elected leadership has the power to speak for the communities and to represent them and they decide what “the Indian position” is. But, we also have a lot of experienced people who have much to offer and, because they are not elected officials, their views are often not sought in the policy process.

At times like this, my nearly 50 years experience in the field must be packaged in a useful and not cynical way if I am to add something helpful to the discussion, something at which I’m not always really good. I have always been

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Sam Deloria

somewhat impatient and, some feel, too direct. I have been working in Indian affairs at all levels since the Kennedy Administration, sometimes in education, sometimes in law and policy, sometimes for tribes, the government, universities and non-profits. I have often been wrong, but I try to be wrong in a clear and instructive way. I have seen administrations come and go, and each one, at some point, says it wants to provide a first-class education for Indian students; but it must be said that despite their best efforts, things don’t improve all that much over time. The failure to achieve hoped-for results is sometimes the result of the notoriously short attention span in Washington but, even if we were governed by Zen masters, this particular set of problems is horrendously complex. So, while I came to the meeting with an open mind, I also came with 50 years of skepticism as well.

What does one look for at a meeting like this? Well, for starters, is it going to be a drop-in on the part of the Big Shots, a welcoming speech and hasty departure, leaving us with the same nice, hard-working people we can and do meet with any time? Not this one. It is rare, indeed, that two cabinet Secretaries, an Assistant Secretary, their top staff members and the Senior White House Advisor on Indian Policy are there and listening for one and one-half hours. Second, are they setting us up for some Good Idea that they want to promote? Not that I could tell. They presented no solutions, threw ideas out freely and listened to what we had to say. The next step,

and next clue, is whether there will be follow-up and what form it will take. I’m sure all the non-governmental people at the meeting would be eager to assist in shaping a new initiative and, at the same time, the Administration’s effort to come up with something will eventually involve many additional people and organizations as well.

What are my hopes? Well, to be a little self-serving, I have to make our case. Our organization provides what can only be called token funding to Indian and Native grad students – you know, the people who will work for the tribes to achieve all this self-determination we have been promised. Our average grant is only about $4,000 and our students average an annual shortfall of $18,000!!! Among other things, this means that their ability to work at low-paying tribal jobs upon graduation is constrained by the need to pay back their educational loans. Yet, we can’t seem to get a budget increase out of the system – BIE, the Department, OMB and the Congress. Indian students are shovel-ready, if that is still an operative phrase. A lousy $2 million increase – chump change in Washington – would DOUBLE the scholarships we are able to give out! So, I hope that somewhere along the line someone will conclude that adequate scholarship support for students at all levels is an important component. But, nationally, we also have the leakiest pipeline in the country, the worst dropout rate at all levels; we have systemic issues to address.

On the larger scale, I hope, as the process continues, a distinction can be made between the technical governmental issues and the more abstract issues of substantive educational policy. Curriculum, teacher training and all that are very important and require attention. But, we also need to understand that delivery systems are important – the structure and cultures of federal agencies and how they relate to each other and to Indian tribes and educational organizations. We need to look at the impact of contracting schools and how that affects any educational initiative the Administration develops. We need to look at the vast resources of the Department of Education, not only in terms of funding, but also the educational expertise they have and have access to and can make available in a more focused way to the BIE system and to community-controlled schools and public schools serving our students. Sometimes, the people running the government agencies in Indian affairs get caught up in the metaphysics of policy and neglect the day-to-day job of running the agency – the regulations, the forms, the enforcement and accountability. I hope that won’t happen here. I hope the government will look closely at what it can and should do, and do it. For BIE/BIA, running the agency is like pushing a chain: you only control

or even influence the few links you have in your hand.

Moving the rest of the chain is another story.

I also hope that, somehow, we come out of this with a stronger sense of our own responsibilities. Ultimately, the federal government can’t give our young people hope and pride: we have to do that. The Pre-Law Summer Institute that my old organization, the American Indian Law Center, runs is the most successful program in history (with a 90% rate of law school completion) because we demand and get maximum effort from the students and they finish the program and continue their lives saying it was the most rigorous program they ever attended. All of our schools and programs should approach our students with the same high expectations and the same confidence in their abilities. Those bogus “scholars” and administrators, who have a stake in portraying Indian students as incompetents with their language and culture like millstones around their necks, should be called out. And we need to look at the accountability of our own programs and institutions. I am tired of seeing school boards politicize the schools, hire their unqualified relatives and rip off the funds. We fought hard battles to establish our right to run our own affairs 40 years ago and we have not made the most of those opportunities. We should have no dropouts and no suicides. No kid should feel alone or abandoned.

We brag about our traditional social support system – where is it for these kids?

Rapid strides in improving Indian education are only going to be accomplished by our people in the communities demanding it of their own institutions, as well as government agencies, and bringing it about. High-level people in Washington can help; they can support our efforts and they can run their own programs better, but we can’t look to them to do our jobs. For the sake of our young people, we need to lay off the rhetoric of culture and sovereignty and get to the hard work of running the best school systems in the world for them. (I know. I know. Culture and sovereignty are important. But they are too often used as a distraction and an excuse rather than the positive forces they can be).

I welcome the Obama Administration’s interest in helping us. If they fail, as so many others have in the past, it is because we didn’t help and, in so doing, we will have failed. It will be our responsibility. ✦

The American Indian Graduate

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Graduate Horizons 2010

Arizona State University to Host Graduate Horizons National Pre-Graduate Program for Native American Students

by Michele St. George

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ciplines. American Indian educators and partner organizations, including the American Indian Graduate Center, Princeton Review Foundation, Consortium for Graduate Study Management and the Graduate Management Admissions Council will also be attending.

“When students finish the 4-day graduate workshops, they will have a completed a statement of purpose, personal statement, resume or curriculum vitae, test preparation strategies, financial aid resources and will have determined a graduate program of study and career opportunities,” says Carmen Lopez, College Horizon’s new Executive Director, a citizen of the Navajo Nation. “This program not only provides direct services to students on the graduate process, but also contributes Photo courtesy of Kevin Leonard

rizona State University will host Graduate Horizons 2010 on their Tempe, Arizona campus, July 17-20, 2010. Graduate Horizons (GH) is a 72-hour “crash course” for Native American college students and graduates, on preparing for master’s, doctoral or professional school graduate studies. GH is part of College Horizons, a pre-college program for high school students.

This year’s GH attendees on the ASU campus will represent over 50 tribal nations, Alaska villages and Native Hawaiians, from over 20 states throughout the nation. Working alongside the students are professors, deans and university admissions officers, from over 40 graduate school programs, representing hundreds of dis-

Part of a Graduate Horizon Event

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The American Indian Graduate

for this “crash course” program are specifically designed for American Indian students and provide them with the meaningful tools and strategies needed to be successful in their pathway to graduate work.”

ASU partnerships with tribal communities have resulted in some significant programs designed specifically for American Indian students, including law, education and nursing, as well as numerous academic and social support groups.

Arizona is home to 22 federally-recognized tribes, whose communities comprise over a quarter of Arizona’s land. ASU partnerships with tribal communities have resulted in some significant programs designed specifically Photo courtesy of Kevin Leonard

to the capacity of Native nations by developing a new generation of professionals with advanced degrees.”

“Graduate Horizons was the most inspiring and informative event,” says Crystal Curley, an ASU student who attended a 2008 Graduate Horizons program. “You will be surrounded by Native students who have a dream to better their community and by faculty who want to guide and support you in making that dream a reality.”

Crystal, a Gates Scholar, who will graduate in May 2010 with a Bachelors of Science degree, says the program gave her the motivation and information she will need to continue to graduate school.

ASU, this year’s conference site, is one of the largest public universities in the nation, with over 1,400 Native students enrolled, including over 250 master’s and doctoral students. Thirty faculty members and over 150 other professionals and staff are also Native American.

“We are thrilled to host the Graduate Horizons program this year and welcome American Indian students and faculty, from tribes across the nation, to ASU,” says Maria T. Allison, ASU University Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate College. “ASU and the Graduate College are firmly committed to supporting the success of all students interested in graduate education. The workshops

College Horizons includes test preparation workshops.

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Graduate Horizons 2010

Photo courtesy of Scott Troyanos

for American Indian students, including law, education and nursing, as well as numerous academic and social support groups. Each year, ASU is consistently ranked highly

by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, for the number of graduate degrees awarded to Native Americans.

“We are extremely proud and excited to have Arizona State University host our program,” says Lopez.

“They are investing in the future leadership of Indian Country and offer strong graduate and professional programs that focus on Native issues.”

Khia Grinnell, who attended a 2007 Graduate Horizons program, is currently studying Indian Law at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. “I strongly recommend Graduate Horizons to anyone who needs help in choosing schools, completing the application process or getting an idea of the program they are interested in,” she says. “It was great to get some one-on-one time with admissions representatives from law schools.”

Students attending Graduate Horizons 2010 will be housed at ASU’s Barrett, the Honors College; the nation’s first comprehensive four-year residential honors college at a public university. Barrett has a new sevenbuilding campus featuring housing, classrooms, faculty offices, a fitness center, computer lounge and dining hall, with covered terrace and garden. Built around six court-

The Hayden Library at the ASU Tempe Campus

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yards, Barrett also contains an outdoor fireplace, space for performances and recreation and a student-designed sustainable living community, with low-consumption plumbing fixtures, enhanced energy monitoring, recycled gray water, a green roof and organic garden.

Although the deadline to apply for this summer’s Graduate Horizons is February 1, 2010 (1st round) and February 26 (2nd round), applications might be accepted until June 1st, on a space-available basis. “We also have financial aid available for students who qualify,” says Lopez.

College Horizons, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1998 to provide college counseling to Native American students from across the country, with a particular emphasis on first-generation students and those from rural communities who may not have access to expert advising. The graduate program was established in 2003, for those who want guidance in applying to graduate school. To date, more than 1,550 students have completed the high school program and 425 have completed the graduate program. ✦ For more information about College Horizons, please visit www.collegehorizons.org, contact 505.401.3854 or e-mail info@collegehorizons.org.

Honor. Respect. Tradition. Pride.

Education empowers you.

University of Phoenix understands the deep need to give back to one’s people and to get a good education. The kind of empowerment that comes from a good education can go a long way in helping you and your nation along the road to self-determination.

With our flexible scheduling, you can earn your degree while earning a living and fulfilling your family and tribal commitments. Depending on your program, you can attend class at convenient times at a location near your home or work. Or you can attend online, wherever or whenever you choose.

Classes are designed to allow you to collaborate with peers in small, interactive groups and are taught by faculty members who hold advanced degrees and have substantial experience in the fields they teach.

This is high-quality, higher education made highly accessible.

Just a few of our degree programs include:*

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Associate of Arts in Human ServicesManagement Associate of Arts in Sport Management Bachelor of Science in Business/Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science in Communication Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Master of Business Administration/Accounting Master of Business Administration/Public Administration

University of Phoenix believes that everyone should have access to higher education. Increasing accessibility is our mission. We graduate more Native American master’s degree students than any educational institution in America.** Our graduates are putting their education to work everyday in the gaming industry, information technology, public administration and more. They are helping themselves and their nations create a better tomorrow.

Empower yourself and learn more today!

800.520.4056 | phoenix.edu *While widely available, all programs may not be offered in both the online and on-campus formats. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative. **Top 100 Graduate Degree Producers 2008. Retrieved Oct. 3, 2008 from Diverse Issues in Higher Education: http://diverseeducation.com/top08/top100_graduates.html?appSession=11239810818774 The University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association (ncahlc.org). The University’s central administration is located at 4615 E. Elwood St., Phoenix, AZ 85040. Online Campus: 3157 E. Elwood St., Phoenix, AZ 85034. University of Phoenix is approved to operate in most U.S. states. Approval-related statements required by specific jurisdictions are as follows: Florida: Licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education, License No. 2308. Georgia: Authorized under the Nonpublic Postsecondary Educational Institutions Act of 1990. Indiana: Fully accredited by the Indiana Commission for Postsecondary Proprietary Education. AC-0188. Indianapolis Campus: 7999 Knue Rd., Suites 100 & 500, Indianapolis, IN 46250; Northwest Indiana Campus: 8401 Ohio St., Merrillville, IN 46410. Ohio: Registration Number 1154320. Cleveland Campus: 5005 Rockside Rd., Ste. 130, Independence, OH 44131-2194; Cincinnati Campus: 9050 Centre Pointe Dr., Ste. 250, West Chester, OH 45069-4875; Columbus Campus: 8415 Pulsar Place, Ste. 100, Columbus, OH 43240-4032. Puerto Rico: University of Phoenix operates under a renewal license granted by the Puerto Rico Council on Higher Education. South Carolina: 1001 Pinnacle Point Dr., Columbia, SC 29223. Licensed by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. Tennessee: Memphis Campus: 65 Germantown Court, Ste. 100, Cordova, TN 38018; Nashville Campus: 616 Marriott Dr., Ste. 150, Nashville, TN 37214; Franklin Campus: 377 Riverside Dr., Franklin, TN 37064; Chattanooga Campus: 1208 Pointe Centre Dr., Chattanooga, TN 37421. Virginia: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has authorized University of Phoenix to offer degree or certificate programs. Any course, degree or certificate program offered has been approved by the University of Phoenix governing board. Credit earned for coursework in Virginia can be transferred to University of Phoenix’s principal location outside Virginia as part of the University’s existing degree or certificate programs. © 2009 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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AIGC 2009-2010 Academic Year

All Native American High School Academic Team

by Marveline Vallo

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nce a year, the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) honors ten outstanding American Indian/Alaska Native high school seniors with the All Native American High School Academic Team (ANAHSAT) award. These high school seniors are selected based on academic achievement, honors and awards, leadership and community service. Each is given a monetary award, which may be spent at the student’s discretion.

The objectives of this program are: to increase awareness of academic achievement of Native high school seniors among their peers, Indian Country and the public; to increase recognition of Native student success and capabilities as a positive motivation for pursing academic excellence and higher education; to increase academic achievement and role models as positive influences in Indian Country; to increase teacher, administrator, parent and community involvement by recommending, nominating and supporting student participation and to increase student participation in high school academic programs and the pursuit of higher education.

Congratulations to the 2009-2010 AIGC All Native American High School Academic Team: Tanisha Atcitty (Navajo) – Tanisha graduated from Greyhills Academy High School in Tuba City, Arizona.

In high school, Tanisha received the Academic Achievement Award, Top GPA of Class Award 2006-2009 and the Congressional Award in 2008-2009 (this award is given to students who have contributed their time to volunteer work, personal development, physical fitness and displayed exploration skills). She played junior and varsity volleyball and varsity basketball. Her academic achievements include attending the NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama and participating in the Phillips Exeter Summer program. Tanisha was a Student Council member in her junior and senior years, Class President in her freshman, sophomore and junior years,

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Student Body President for her senior year and a member of the National Honor Society. Her community service consists of being an assistant coach for youth T-ball and an assistant at the Veteran’s Organization in Tuba City.

Tanisha is attending the University of Arizona pursuing a biology degree.

Joshua Begay (Navajo) – Joshua graduated from Tuba City High School in Tuba City, Arizona. Joshua received the 2007 Academic Achievement Award, 2006 Top GPA of Class Award, 2007 President’s Award for Education Excellence and 2007-08 Honor Roll Recognition. He played junior Joshua Begay and varsity basketball. His academic achievements include attending the Summer Engineering Academy at the University of Arizona.

Joshua was part of Student Council during his junior and senior years, junior and senior Class President, Student Body President during his sophomore year and a member of the National Honor Society. His community service consists of being an assistant for local community holiday dinners and community trash pick up day in Tuba City. Joshua is attending the University of Idaho pursuing an engineering degree.

Jared Blanche (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) – Jared graduated from Bayfield High School in Bayfield,

Jared Blanche

Wisconsin. In high school, Jared received an Academic Achievement Award, Who’s Who of America in 2005, numerous band contest awards, Electrathon Award and the Forensic Award. Jared was Vice President of his freshman and sophomore classes and a member of the National Honor Society. His community service consists of assisting in local food drives and Earth Day cleanup with members in Bayfield, WI. Jared is attending the University of Wisconsin Superior and pursuing a psychology degree.

Rochelle Chee (Navajo) – Rochelle graduated from Ganado High School in Ganado, Arizona. In high school, Rochelle received the Academic Honor Roll for three years, 2006 Global Expedition Award and the Athletic Award for Cheerleading in 2007. Her academic achievements include attending the Health Occupation Rochelle Chee Students of America in Phoenix, Arizona. Rochelle was part of student council for two years, Student President for Future Business Leaders of America Club and a member of the National Honor Society. Her community service consists of being a volunteer for her church, chapter meetings and staying after school to pick up trash in the Ganado community. Rochelle is attending Haskell Indian Nations University pursuing her business degree.

Rachel Chief (Navajo) – Rachel graduated from Monument Valley High School in Kayenta, Arizona. In high school, Rachel received the Academic Achievement Award and the Top GPA of Class Award for four years.

She played junior & varsity volleyball, softball and varsity wrestling. Her achievements include participating in Native American student arts & craft shows, Future Business Leaders of America (member) and the Monument Valley High School Youth Alive program. Her community service consists of being an assistant for track meets, volunteering as a tables-time, score keeper and running bout sheets for wrestling tournaments, donating to the Women’s Shelter and volunteering her time with church activities in Kayenta. Rachel is attending Coconino Community College in Flagstaff, Arizona pursuing a nursing degree.

Cole Haskins (Cherokee) – Cole graduated from Booker T. Washington in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In high school, Cole received the All-American Scholar – U.S. Achievement Academy Award, a National Society of High School Scholar, Who’s Who Among American High School for three years and Oklahoma AcaCole Haskins demic Scholars Award. Cole was a member of the student council and a member of the National Honor Society for three years. His community service consists of volunteering with the Big Brothers & Big Sisters, organizing toy and clothing collections for Madonna House and volunteering as a mentor and reader to a 1st grade class at Sequoyah Elementary School. Cole is attending Dartmouth College pursing a medical humanities degree.

Cameron Marshall (Northern Cheyenne) – Cameron graduated from Blackfoot High School in Blackfoot, Idaho. In high school, Cameron received the National Honors Society Graduation Stole, Kasiska Health Science Scholarship and received the Blackfoot School District #55 Indian Education Program Academic Excellence Award, along with the Faithful Attendance Award. Cameron is a member of the National Honor Society, Indian Club and basketball team. Her community Cameron Marshall service includes visiting the elderly in an assisted living home, volunteering with the Salmon River Agai’Dika 101st Year Gathering Feast and helping her community with picking up trash. Cameron is attending Idaho State University pursuing a biology degree.

Jamal Sanchez (White Mountain Apache Tribe) – Jamal graduated from Blue Ridge High School in Lakeside, Arizona. In high school, Jamal enrolled in college courses, attended the National Youth Leadership Conference and a youth conference in Nevada. Jamal was in the high school Chess Club and played basketball. His Continued on page 14

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AIGC 2009-2010 Academic Year community service includes being a chess team coach and coaching a 2nd grade team for the Apache Youth Basketball League. Jamal is attending the Pima Community College pursuing a liberal arts degree.

Michaelina Sorrell-Strong (Navajo) – Michaelina graduated from Mountain View High School in Tucson, Arizona. In high school, Michaelina was a member of the National Honors Society for 2½ years, a member of the Varsity Track and Field and Cross Country team for 4 years. She was an active member with the Native American club, African-American club, Hispanic club and New Global Citizens club. Her community service includes starting a Neighborhood Watch Program in her neighborhood, coaching a U-12 girl’s soccer team and being a member of the Girl Scouts for 12 years. Michaelina is attending the University of Arizona pursing a mathematics degree.

Ashley Wilcox (Narragansett) – Ashley graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, New York.

In high school, Ashley was a member of the National Honor Society, First Honor’s Student for three years and enrolled in several college courses. She was a member of the Nassau County Youth Board and Sacred Heart Academy Costume Committee. She volunteers in her community by raising money for charities, visiting group homes and shelters, helping underprivileged families and the Habitat for Humanity program. She has been a member of the Girl Scouts for 10 years. ✦

Congratulations to the 2009-2010 All Native American High School Academic Team!

American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) Ad

Published in August 2009

t i ng Celebraears 20 Y

Dedicated to improving the lives of American Indians, the Buder Center for American Indian Studies promotes the higher education of American Indians, preparing students to assume leadership positions in social service and governmental institutions.

Among the Buder Center’s special advantages are: 

Opportunities for full and partial scholarships to American Indians from the Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation



A variety of academic concentrations



Course work focused on social work practice with American Indians



Fieldwork with American Indian communities in your area of concentration

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

Stephanie Kettler, Program Manager One Brookings Drive Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130 E-mail: bcais@wustl.edu Phone: (314) 935-4510 Fax: (314) 935-8464 Website: http://buder.wustl.edu

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The American Indian Graduate

Internships

A Unique Opportunity

by Erick Rhoan

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his year, I had a unique and wonderful opportunity to work for the United States Attorney’s Office.

My work with this great agency began this summer, when I applied for an internship with that organization. I was hired to perform legal research for the Civil Division of the Eastern District of California. At the time, I was using this opportunity not only to gain experience but also obtain clinical units from my law school (the great San Joaquin College of Law, of course). When I accrued the required number of my clinical hours, I was disappointed that I would be faced with having to leave behind such a great office and staff. However, I had gained a reputation for efficiency and quality in my work and was asked to stay – this time under a federal work study program!

What I love the most about working for the US Attorney’s Office are the people that comprise the staff.

The attorneys that I work with are not just good lawyers, they are also good friends. To say that I have learned a lot from them would be an understatement. I entered this office seeking and hoping for a quality mentorship experience, but not expecting one. My expectations have been blown away ten-fold. Not only am I being mentored by some of the best attorneys in California, I am also learning about the law in a way that law school could never teach me.

My daily job duties revolve around legal research – finding the right law to help the attorneys win their cases. I have been entrusted with research involving complex litigation and have actually drafted a few motions, requests for admission and have performed background research on opposing parties’ expert witnesses. I love to research the law. I love problem solving and every case that I have been given is similar to solving a puzzle. So far, I have been very successful and have earned glowing remarks from my supervisors.

Erick Rhoan

What I love the most about working for the US Attorney’s Office are the people that comprise the staff. …Not only am I being mentored by some of the best attorneys in California, I am also learning about the law in a way that law school could never teach me.

I do not look forward to the day that I have to finally leave this place but, when I do, I know that I will have had an experience that few law students can enjoy. Furthermore, I will take the lessons and good habits that I have learned from my mentors with me to my next opportunity. These are skills that I wish to apply when helping my own clients get the justice they deserve and, one day, I intend to use those skills to help not only my people, but the Indian community at large. ✦

The American Indian Graduate

15

A Blueprint for Success

American Indian Well-Being Model in Higher Education

by Shawn Secatero, Ph.D.

I

remember conducting an oral history project on the Tohajiilee Navajo Reservation during the mid 1990s. I was often concerned about American Indian higher education and needed some type of advice to help me succeed in my master’s program. I interviewed a Navajo elder and asked him, “What words of advice would you offer our younger generations who plan on attending college?” He answered, “I would tell them to remember who they are, where they are from and where they are going in life.” Furthermore, the elder explained the sacredness of spiritual, mental and physical well-being and the importance of Shawn Secatero the close connections of an individual, family and community.

These three elements of well-being ignited my thinking into a broader view of helping all students succeed in higher education. As I continued my education at the doctorate level, I expanded my well-being model, which served as a major component of my dissertation that involved success and persistence factors pertaining to American Indian Graduate and professional students.

The overall purpose in developing the holistic American Indian Well-being Model in Higher Education was to create a blueprint for American Indian college students by addressing well-being factors that include: spiritual, cultural, social, professional, mental, emotional, physical and environmental pillars. The well-being model can be used as a primary means of helping college students, college practitioners and researchers in addressing issues that concern higher education. Prospective college and graduate students may find themselves asking the following questions, which are relevant to well-being factors when considering higher education. Here are the following eight pillars:

1. Spiritual Well-Being (Purpose) Why am I attending college?

Before an individual decides to pursue higher education, he or she may ask, “Why am I attending college?” This sense of purpose includes important elements, such as an individual’s beliefs, happiness and balancing well-being factors in life. Examples of spiritual well-being can relate to daily prayer, self acceptance/realization, life fulfillment and remembering teachings from those in the spirit world.

2. Cultural Well-Being (Identity) How do I balance my culture and the modern world while I am in college?

Cultural well-being is essential for American Indian students to succeed in college, which integrates knowing who you are, where you are from and where you are going in life. This formulates the issue of identity and protecting our culture, by interpreting our past and link-

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ing our future. Examples of cultural well-being include the cultural practices, songs, Native language, rituals, artistic talent, community pride and giving back.

3. Professional Well-Being (Planning) What are my goals for my college and professional career?

Professional well-being includes a variety of factors, including planning a successful college academic experience and future career. Professional well-being also includes the development of skills, interests, work ethic, hobbies, financial literacy and leadership.

It is essential for college students to plan ahead in fulfilling all academic, career and financial aid obligations.

4. Social Well-Being (Networking) Do I have adequate networking skills to succeed in college?

Social well-being is defined as, “Our ability to interact successfully within a community and throughout a variety of

cultural contacts, while showing respect for ourselves and other, (WSU Well-being site, 2009). Examples of social well-being include time management, cooperation, group work, literacy skills, intimacy, dialogue with professors and students and a circle of positive friends.

As part of building one’s college career, it is important to have a plan to navigate and identify all eight of the well-being pillars.

5. Mental Well-Being (Thinking)

As part of developing a personal well-being model for higher education, I created a circle that highlights each of the eight well-being pillars; spiritual, cultural, social, professional, emotional, mental, environmental and physical. In addition, each circle represents a particular area for each well-being pillar, such as resources, strengths, challenges and a plan of action. Students who are completing this model must carefully read each well-being resource and develop a basic understanding. There are no wrong answers, as each student labels each portion of the model with their own interpretations. The main objectives of the personal well-being model are to encourage students to think critically about well-being factors that can help them succeed in higher education

Am I academically prepared to meet the rigors of college?

Mental well-being is defined as a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, coping skills and learning how to think in a variety of ways.

It can sometimes be referred to as “intellectual wellbeing,” (WSU Well-being Site, 2009).

Examples of mental well-being include study skills, learning styles, problem solving, test preparation, research skills, creativity and rigor.

6. Emotional Well-Being (Feeling) Do I know how to balance my emotions to succeed in college?

Emotional well-being allows us to recognize, understand, experience and express a full range of emotions and channel those emotions into healthy behaviors that satisfy personal and social goals, (WSU Well-being Site, 2009).

Examples of emotional well-being include stress management, positive self-esteem, adaptation to change, coping skills, resiliency and anger management.

7. Physical Being (Body) Can I take care of myself and my body while I’m in college?

Physical well-being can be referred to as the ability to understand what can make our body most efficient and effective and the ability to recognize and respect our own limitations, (WSU Well-being Site, 2009). Examples of physical well-being include proper diet, exercise, drug and alcohol awareness, motivation, sex education, personal hygiene, sleep and relaxation.

8. Environmental Well-Being (Place) Is the college that I plan to attend a good fit for me and my goals?

In many American Indian traditions, the umbilical cord of a newborn is often placed in the ground or kept in the family home for safekeeping. The umbilical cord serves as an educational seed that is planted for future growth and a sense of place. In American Indian society, the sense of place is very important and provides a foundation for learning and a physical concept of home.

Developing A Personal Well-Being Model

Resources Resources are instrumental to student success at all levels of higher education. A resource can be identified as a mentor, student support specialist, elder, community activist, leader, coach or even a family member. In addition, college campuses have various forms of resource centers that assist students with tutoring, school organizations, workshops and other events that are relevant to academic and personal growth.

Strengths It is very important for college students to identify personal strengths that can assist in positive self-concept.

Strengths are connected to the positive attributes that each person embodies; talents, thinking skills, friendliness, perseverance, dedication, knowledge of culture and other positive factors.

Challenges Learning to identify challenges is another essential tool for developing a personal well-being model. Challenges are obstacles to succeeding in college, such as lack of mentors, homesickness, no sense of belonging, family issues and a shortage of financial aid funding.

Continued on page 18

The American Indian Graduate

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A Blueprint for Success Plan of Action IR

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The plan of action is a vital element of the well-being model, which identifies a possible solution in reference to addressing challenges. In this plan of action, a student may also list a timeframe to effectively solve the challenge. When using this model, it is important to know that some students may leave blanks in portions, which can be addressed at a later time.

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The American Indian Graduate

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It is important to note that students will not complete all portions of the circle. The model serves as a foundation

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Physical Well-being Resource: Young Children Strength: Role Model status for children Challenges: Eating too much junk food Plan of Action: Eat healthier foods such as vegetables and fruits

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In another example, a student may identify and connect with physical well-being. As a resource, a student may identify their younger siblings as a resource, since most young children are physically active and idolize college students. As a challenge, a student may express that he or she is eating too much junk food rather than making healthy food choices. As a solution, the student will identify eating healthier foods, such as vegetables and fruits as a plan of action.

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Spiritual Well-being Resource: Traditional Elder Strengths: Daily Prayer, Ceremonial duties.

Challenges: Homesickness; wanting to come home often Plan of Action: Call home once a week to speak with family members

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If you look carefully at the diagram, the student is in the center where all lines meet. In the inner circle, a student must identify a person that would serve as a resource in that particular well-being pillar. For example, in the spiritual portion of the well-being model, a student may identify a traditional elder as a resource and list daily prayer as a strength. As an example of a spiritual wellbeing challenge, a student may identify a disconnection with home. In the outer portion of the circle, a student will therefore identify a plan of action, such as calling home to speak with family members at least once per week as a possible solution.

Chart created by Jihee Kang Lombardi, Graphic Designer, Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, VA

Plan of action

for college students to initiate a plan of action. Once a student identifies and completes the pillars of well-being, the final process begins of creating a life symbol in higher education.

Creating a Life Symbol As American Indian people, well-being can often take a symbol in many forms, including animate and inanimate. For example, as a Canoncito Navajo college student, corn was always revered as being a sacred symbol among our people. Therefore, I incorporated the eight pillars into a well-being symbol, illustrated as follows: As part of my personal life model, I drew the straight, intersecting lines as corn stalks, because it is sacred among the Canoncito Band of Navajos. A seed of corn resembles my umbilical cord, which my parents buried in the earth near my home. The umbilical cord represents my physical wellbeing and my foundation in life. As part of environmental well-being, I was nourished with love, respect and a good home. Corn also needs nourishment and proper care to grow strong and healthy. I developed my mental and emotional well-being as a teenager. I often credit one teacher who made a positive difference in my mental well-being by challenging me to reach my full potential in her classes. In terms of emotional well-being, my high school counselor was an extraordinary person, who helped me address challenges as I entered college. In this stage of a corn stalk, I developed a strong base to stand on my own. I continued to grow socially and professionally in my young college life. I became president of an American Indian club at my university to enhance my social network. I also developed my teaching skills as an educator and finished my teaching licensure Continued on page 43

Overcoming Challenges

Clinical Psychology

by Billie Jo Kipp, Ph.D.

T

he overwhelming need for Native psychologists in Indian country is well documented. The last documented statistic on Native psychologists was approximately 1 for every 100,000 Native patients. As a Native psychologist, this statistic is one of the many reasons for pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, but not the foremost.

As a Blackfeet woman, I had lived most of my adult life on the Blackfeet Reservation. I had raised 5 children and suffered the social and mental ills of substance abuse, depression and other health-related difficulties associated with living in an impoverished community. With my recovery came awareness and guidance, in the direction of pursuing a chemical dependency degree, which became my life’s goal. I left the reservation and pursued a bachelor’s degree in counseling psychology, with an associate’s in chemical dependency.

Through this experience, I had the opportunity to work for a semester on my own reservation. It was then that I realized the mental health needs of the reservation demanded more education and skills than I had with my chemical dependency degree. To address the collective and individual trauma, it was required that I gain more education, knowledge and clinical practice to be effective. It was this that provided me with the direction and energy to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Education has been a gift, but it has also come with setbacks and challenges. When Natives pursue a Ph.D., they are often challenged to think differently and change is inevitable, but not always cultural. The Ph.D. program demanded that I integrate theories and dogmas that conflicted with being Blackfeet; however, I had to remember that I had to learn these concepts knowing my ultimate goal was to obtain my Ph.D. Once I obtained my doctoral degree, I began to challenge, adapt and change these teachings to include a Native American perspective, with the credentials that academia recognizes. This has been one of the greatest challenges of my work; to be a Native scholar and research, teach and write from a Native perspective. The balance between being Native

Billie Jo Kipp

Education has been a gift, but it has also come with setbacks and challenges. and gaining the acknowledgement of the academic community as a valid professor continues to be challenging.

My greatest satisfaction continues to be my clinical work with tribes. It is through my work as a psychologist in Indian country that I realize it was all worth it. To help Native people understand and accept who they are, despite their social and mental difficulties, is something that reminds me that my degree is useful and appreciated.

I have been fortunate in my career. I maintain a parttime research faculty appointment and provide clinical services to the New Mexico pueblos. This affords me the academic challenge and the ability to provide to tribes what is most useful to them. Education has been a difficult path but, with my degree, I have received many rewards and have been able to benefit tribes with 15 years of clinical experience. For those who follow me — keep focused, stay when challenges are overwhelming, stay connected to your people and know that, in the end, your degree not only belongs to you — it moves a nation. ✦ (Billie Jo Kipp conducts research in Mental Health at UNM CNAH and in Diabetes Management with Project ECHO at UNM.)

The American Indian Graduate

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Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr.

One Man’s Destiny

by Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr., DDS, MPH Assistant Surgeon General (SSPHS) Retired

T

he life story of Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr. (Laguna/Ohkay Owingeh) reaches back to the ancient Pueblo culture cherished by his grandparents and parents and extends to state-of-the-art medical and dental sciences and the current needs of the American Indian people.

Dr. Blue Spruce’s journey began on the Santa Fe Indian School campus, with his parents’ determination that their children would excel academically and obtain college degrees. He attended St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe and graduated as valedictorian of his class.

He is a 1956 graduate of Creighton University’s School of Dentistry.

After graduating from dental school, Dr. Blue Spruce planned to return to the pueblos to treat his people. As it turned out, not only was he the dentist for the Northern Pueblos, but his destiny reached far beyond; from the wilds of Montana to New York City to San Francisco to South America and back to the United States. In Washington, DC, he presented the needs of American Indians to Congress and lunched with the President of the United States. Throughout his journey, Dr. Blue Spruce has traveled between two cultures, succeeding in mainstream society, while keeping pueblo tradition in his heart.

Facing prejudice and conquering adversity, he reached the zenith of his career as Director of the Phoenix Regional Indian Health Service and achieving the rank of Assistant Surgeon General of the United States – the equivalent of a Navy Rear Admiral.

Dr. Blue Spruce retired from federal government service in 1986 and, in 1990, was founder of the Society of American Indian Dentists. He now serves as the Assistant Dean at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDOH). He is referred to as the ‘busiest retired person’ and continues to pursue his passion of increasing the number of American Indian dentists and other health professions. Six years ago, he presented the following message at the annual convention of the Association of American Indian Physicians:

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The American Indian Graduate

Dr. George Blue Spruce Jr.

Indian Self Determination: Truth Or Myth A wise American Indian man stated: “We have seen the lightning and have heard the thunder, but when is it ever going to rain?”

He was voicing the frustration of the Federal Government’s failure to live up to the treaty obligations that promised resources to help American Indian people in their struggle to survive; after their land had been taken away. It was nearly fifty years before congressional legislation recognized American Indian tribes as sovereign governments and thus began a new era in Federal Government/American Indian tribal relationships.

However, it was not until July 1970, when the President of the United States, before a general session of Congress, delivered the first “American Indian Message” – when he stated: ‘on every scale of human measurement, whether it is employment, income, health or education – the Indian – the first American – ranks at the bottom!”

When the President speaks, action usually takes place.

Following this important address, there was landmark legislation that changed the course of history for American Indians. In 1972, the Indian Education Act was enacted, followed by the Native American Program Act of 1974,

the Indian Self Determination Act of 1975 and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 1976.

It has been 34 years since the Indian Self Determination Act was passed. What did this historic act do for American Indian people? When you ask a tribal leader what it meant to his or her tribe; they will say, “It meant that, for the first time, we can now assess our own needs, prioritize those needs – but most importantly – we can now manage and control our own programs!”

The question now remains – is Indian Self Determination “Truth or Myth”?

American Indian health professionals do not believe progress is being made when viewing the data related to the number of health professionals. When one visits any of the numerous health facilities in Indian country, it is very obvious that there are very few American Indian health professionals, especially at the doctorate level (e.g., physicians, dentists, pharmacists). Thus, Indian people, without those ‘doctorate credentials, are not participating in those ‘meaningful’ leadership positions that allow them to be a part of managing and controlling their own programs.

The scenario is especially appalling when we look at the lack of American Indian dentists. It has been 33 years since the Indian Health Care Improvement Act was passed. Title I of the act provides scholarships for American Indian students interested in becoming a health professional. It is disappointing to see how very few students apply for scholarships to pursue a career in dentistry, medicine and pharmacy. It is further disappointing to observe the following data: • There are approximately 400 dentists employed by the Indian Health Service and approximately 150 dentists employed by tribal health programs. Of those 550 dentists, less than 50 are known to be Native American (identified as being enrolled members of federally-recognized tribes)! To have parity with the non-Indian ratio of dentist to patient, we need over 3,000 Indian dentists.

• The Society of American Indian Dentists (SAID) can only document approximately 140-150 American Indian dentists in the United States.

• There are less than 5 American Indian dentists in 8 of the 10 largest tribes.

Another way of looking at this pathetic data, is that there is only ONE American Indian dentist for every 27,000 American Indian individuals!

There are many reasons for this severe lack of American Indian dentists, physicians and pharmacists, the least of which are: lack of family and extended family support; lack of role models; lack of appropriate counseling; lack of proper course preparation and lack of financial resources. A network of support, at every level of the student’s educational pathway, needs to be established to address the obstacles listed above. However, when all is said and done, there remains a major entity that plays a critical role in the production of the American Indian dentists and that it – the dental schools themselves. Of the 56 dental schools in the United States, there are very few that have made a genuine commitment to recruiting and enrolling American Indian dental students.

It has been determined that Indian students coming from their respective communities are more likely to return to their own communities to work. With the medical and dental problems that exist in our Indian communities, it benefits everyone to join in the effort to promote “Home Grown” medical professionals and dentists.

The Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDDOH) has made such a commitment. This is manifest in that, during the 8 years that the ASDOH has existed, the school has graduated 8 American Indian dentists, representing 9 federally-recognized tribes. It should be noted also that 100 Indian students are presently enrolled in the ASGOH, representing 11 different tribes and 4 more Native American students are entering next year’s freshman class. The ASDOH is proud to state that all the Indian graduates are treating American Indian patients throughout Indian country and, further, those presently in school made a similar commitment to work among their Indian people.

American Indian people now have reason to be hopeful, “That rain is now on the way!” ✦ Dr. Blue Spruce’s new book, ‘Searching for My Destiny’, published by the University of Nebraska Press, is currently available in all major bookstores and online at Amazon.com.

The question now remains – is Indian Self Determination “Truth or Myth”?

The American Indian Graduate

21

Personal Motivation

Finding a Cure

by Walter G. Besio, Ph.D.

B

eing a Mohawk descendent, I grew up in northern New York. I moved to Florida for work. I always wanted to be an electrical engineer and spent twelve years going to night school and, once I received my Associates of Arts degree, I went to school full-time to pursue my bachelor’s in electrical engineering.

I have never lived on a reservation however, during my most influential years, I lived with my grandmother, from whom I get my American Indian ancestry (Mohawk). My mother died when I was six months old and, until I was four, I was raised by my grandmother.

Even at this early age, she taught me the value of eating fresh foods and harvesting only what we truly needed.

She taught me how to use different plots of earth for our garden each year to give the land time to rejuvenate. She showed me how to plant fish remains and turn under unused vegetables to help replenish the soil. In the spring, I was amazed to see tiny sprouts peering above the soil but, even more so, in the late summer when we could begin reaping the benefits of what we had sown.

Since fish were plentiful and the river was near, I was able to become a productive member of the family by bringing fresh fish home for my grandmother to clean and cook. I was shown how to clean them, but was not expected to. We went for walks in the fields to gather wild berries and nuts; I was taught not to be greedy and that we must leave some of the wild fruits of the land, as animals needed them as well. Grandmother demonstrated how to find a use for everything we took from our planet and taught me not to waste it.

As I have matured, I have continued to expand upon these lessons. I was raised in a rural setting, with a river for a front yard, a stream as the side yard and woods as our backyard. I spent most of my childhood outdoors exploring Mother Nature and observing the natural cycles. I still find comfort in spending time in the outdoors breathing fresh air; the scents and sights calm my mind and allow me to connect with the spirit for guidance.

The path I took to acquire my education was quite unusual. Thanks for why and how I chose to go

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The American Indian Graduate

Walter G. Besio

to college and then on to graduate school are owed to many people, but four are prominent in my memory.

My father despised formal education and discouraged it, making me want it all the more. My grandmother, who told me I was stupid because I couldn’t spell, gave me incentive to prove her wrong. Then there was a high school guidance counselor who did everything he could to get me into college, other than going to class for me. He got me hooked on a lifetime learning experience that just keeps getting better and better. Two others who helped pave the way are a friend who, while he was working on his undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) during the summer, came for an internship and worked with me at a company where I was employed. With his encouragement, I left work and went back to school full-time, as he went to work. Later, he also went back to school and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees and was always one step ahead to help guide me. Another coworker who had his Ph.D. also was inspiring. Both of these friends helped me when I had problems with school. The old adage of surrounding yourself with people that are like what you want to be is the best encouragement I can give.

My undergraduate degree was in electrical engineering. I choose that field since electronics comes easy for me and is applied to control and manipulate most everything. I trust this will be an expanding field for many years to come. When I finished my undergraduate degree (BSEE), in 1993, since my brother was a C4-C5 quadriplegic from an automobile accident, I was interested in finding a company to work for that was researching a cure for paralysis. That type of work was being performed at two universities; Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami. I decided to go to the University of Miami and performed research at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. I developed a hand grasp enhancement method for my master’s degree.

I still wasn’t convinced that I could compete with all the smart people around me who seemed to be better prepared for graduate school. One point that should not be underestimated is that you need to make progress while you can. Don’t procrastinate and think you will be able to work on things later. Everything in the university setting is in flux, not only the research, but the people as well. The advisor I agreed to work with for my masters was from Yugoslavia and, when war broke out in the mid 1990s, he decided to return home to take care of his family, leaving me without the head of my thesis committee. I soon learned how important it was to have a strong committee chairman. Another thesis committee member, who didn’t like my previous thesis advisor, decided, without consulting me, that he would be my new advisor. I had chosen my Department Chairman to be my new thesis committee chair. I then learned what it was like to complete a thesis by committee. I constantly went around and around, to each member of the committee, over and over, to resolve issues. The political issues of the committee consumed far more of my time and energy than the actual research. Since it was directly related to helping my brother and other persons with spinal cord injuries, completing my master’s degree was a major accomplishment. When I practiced on my brother, with what I had learned, he began to regain movement of his arm. It gave him hope that he could begin to take back control of his body.

When I was in the first year of my Ph.D. studies, my older brother, the one paralyzed from the neck down, left this physical world. It took me quite a while to recover and determine if I still wanted to stay in school. Much of my reason for being in school was the fact that I wanted to have the resources to give my brother a better life. With that possibility gone, I had to decide if it was worth continuing. I spent a few months in solitude in the woods or

at the beach every chance I could get away. Once I had made my connection with the higher spirit, I was ready to dedicate myself to my Ph.D. studies. Instead of doing it on my own, I now had the help of my brother from the spirit world, which I found was stronger than anything he was able to do for me while physically on this planet.

Even with my brother’s help, it still wasn’t easy. I still had what appeared to be the insurmountable task of passing the Ph.D. qualifying exams.

In biomedical engineering, we had three, four-hour written exams that had to be completed over the span of two days. They were engineering math, engineering and physiology. Since my math skills weren’t what I felt I needed to pass the exams, I needed a lot of preparation. Fortunately, I had a really smart study partner who helped me learn, and relearn, a lot of math to prepare for the exams. I also worked problems day and night for about six months.

My study partner had previously helped two other colleagues of mine who passed. One of the best compliments I ever received was from her. She said that tutoring me was a great experience, unlike the other people she helped, because I actually learned the material and got much better in solving engineering problems.

Within the engineering field you primarily need math and computer skills and good communication skills are always helpful. What I found was that to get a Ph.D., the best skill is perseverance. I needed to be able to stay very focused to complete my research and stay on track. Many times, I found that there were lots of activities that I wanted to be involved in, but had to say “no” in order to meet my goals towards completing my Ph.D. I had to put on blinders and stay extremely determined.

Organization is a must as well. I needed to develop a system of storing information that I might need, so I could find it later without wasting time. Another organizational skill that helped was writing weekly status reports. I would write about what I did in the same format so that it could be incorporated in my dissertation.

There are several other things that I would like to convey to perspective American Indian graduate students. A fellow engineer friend of mine once said that an education is never wasted; someone will eventually pay you for what you know. Having worked at different levels in the electronics and medical device industries, I found that the people with the highest degrees got the best work, were able to decide more about what work they would perform and received the highest pay.

An education is not a guarantee of prosperity but, if you choose your field of study wisely, it can help provide a stable life not just for you, but for your family. By obtaining a graduate education, you will have a much

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Personal Motivation more flexible work schedule. If you continue your education and obtain your Ph.D., you will be surprised at all the new opportunities that come to you, beyond what you can possibly imagine.

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, at the University of Rhode Island, at Kingston. I teach graduate and undergraduate classes, such as biomedical instrumentation, physiological control systems analysis and modeling, and advanced rehabilitation engineering.

In my research, I have combined the electrical stimulation, used to enhance grasping in paralyzed persons developed for my M.S. research with my Ph.D. research on concentric ring electrodes for diagnosing cardiac diseases, to develop a novel therapeutic technique for neurological diseases. Currently, my primary research areas are developing therapeutic devices for epilepsy and brain-computer interfacing for persons that are severely disabled.

The specific reasons I have chosen engineering as my career is to try and contribute to biomedical devices and products that will help save lives and limit pain and suffering. By becoming a faculty member of a major university, I am able to conduct the research of my choice.

I believe that by teaching, some of the students will be influenced, in a positive way, by my virtues and attitude. What I think about education is: learn all you can, because some day you will need it. To me, education can change the world. Education is a tried and true way of pulling yourself out of poverty; it is a self-bootstrapping method of pulling yourself up. Most students, not just Native American students, shy away from engineering.

Math was not my strongest area, but I learned ways to solve problems that allowed me to master my engineering classes. It would make me extremely happy to have Native American students come and study with me, so I can show them how to master their engineering classes and have fun at the same time. Enjoy your time in school; make the best you can of each day but save some of your energy for tomorrow.

My ultimate goal in life is to have a peaceful life with my family and friends. To achieve that, I have continued my education to open opportunities that will allow me to achieve my goals. My immediate family includes a wife and 21-month old daughter who we want to see grow and evolve. Since becoming a faculty member, I have graduated approximately twenty-one master’s students and two Ph.D. students. I now have a large extended family of students throughout the United States whom I try to visit whenever I am traveling. I am also making great inroads into the research community;

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my research is being recognized as revolutionary. Not that I would consider myself an expert or leader but, recently, I was invited to take part in a summit that was by invitation only, for the top 50 leading innovators in epilepsy. I didn’t want to tell them that they made a mistake inviting me because it was a lot of fun being around so many bright and talented people.

In summary, some people always take the easy path.

When there has been a fork in the road, I have always taken what I thought was the more difficult path. It may have been less traveled but I have found, through talking with people who took the other path, my experiences were far richer and more rewarding. Remember life is not a race to the end — it is all about relationships.

Enrich your life as much as you can along the way by experiencing all that this life offers. We are here to learn.

Try to learn your lesson the first time, otherwise you may find yourself in the same situation over-and-over until you finally get it right. Traveling to other countries is a great way to see things from a different perspective.

Traveling around the United States can also help open new perspectives on life, to some extent, and is worthwhile. Fortunately, in my field I have been able to present my research all around the U.S. and, to some extent, in other countries like China, Japan and India. Keep a positive attitude. Finally, there is no time to waste on a single negative thought. Don’t entertain it, push it out of your head. My way to do this, when some negativity tries to creep in, is to think about a favorite place or thing. Keep moving forward. Set your goals and you will achieve them. Keep the light in your life. ✦ (Walter Besio, Ph.D., is from the Mohawk tribe and is currently a professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. Walter received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami in 1997. He continued his educational path and received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami in 2002. His primary research areas are developing therapeutic devices for individuals with epilepsy and brain computer interfacing for persons that are severely disabled Walter is also an AIGC alumnus.)

Webster University

“Have You Considered…?”

by Ellen Driber-Hassall, Gerontologist and Senior Director, Webster University

P

ractically from the moment we are born, family and friends begin wondering and asking what we will become when we are all grown up. Elders are abuzz with ‘will the child carry on in the tradition of the family and will their heritage be honored’. Of course, no one really expects an answer when we are that young but, if you notice, the question is asked with a more serious intonation with each successive accomplishment; winning a spelling bee, earning first prize at the science fair, upon entry into middle school and when a college scholarship is awarded. By the time we reach high school, the tone of the question assumes almost an ominous feeling.

Results of standardized tests act as indicators of things in which we probably will succeed, with future education and training often being guided by these results.

Then, we head off to college to pursue that long sought after career. Will we return to our family homes or move away? Graduation with degrees for some will come in four years, for some in six years and, unfortunately for some, never. Look around and ask the professionals you know, how many of them are employed in the profession in which they originally earned their degrees. The answer will surprise and amaze you.

Could a career in gerontology pave your way to a new and unique career destination? What do you think of when you hear the word gerontology? Do you have a passion for learning from your elders and do you want to pursue helping them a live a better life, while maintaining their independence? Do you recognize this as your professional calling? Wikipedia defines the term gerontology as, “the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging. It is distinguished from geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine that studies the diseases of the elderly.” Quite simply stated, gerontology studies the natural processes of aging with a multidisciplinary lens, whereas geriatrics studies the maladies associated with aging from a medical perspective.

Why do gerontologists enter the field, what draws them to the profession and why could this be a career for you? Many gerontologists are drawn to the field because

of work they have pursued in other careers. They feel they received knowledge in a specific area of expertise, but now need to further shape and mold it to more accurately serve the needs of our aging population. It is no secret that, by the year 2030, the estimated number of senior citizens (those over 65) could well reach 78 million. This group acts and reacts to situations unlike that of previous generations. Otherwise known as Baby Boomers, this group is better educated, has more disposable income, is more politically active and demands more of a voice in what happens to them than their predecessors. What does that mean for the average business owner, social worker, human resources manager, financial planner, architect, chiropractor or mental health counselor?

Academic literature and scientific studies tell us that seniors, many times, experience physical changes that result in required accommodation adjustments to their living environments to accomplish their activities of daily living. Surviving the death of a loved one or being diagnosed with a chronic disease can, many times, plunge the elder into pits of depression and social isolation. Gerontologists recognize these issues and work in conjunction with the elder’s healthcare team to bring about possible solutions. Additionally, family members and children of elders can seek assistance from gerontologists to meet the needs of their aging relatives. Gerontologists approach their professional with a broad social science background. Their goal is to help everyone live as fully and vitally as possible. They seek to promote the concepts of healthy, conscience, positive aging.

Now that we have discussed what gerontology is and isn’t, what gerontologists do and the professional framework in which they carry out their work, how does one earn a degree in gerontology? Since the formalized field of gerontology is an emerging profession, only a few universities have degree programs in the field. Some schools offer a bachelor’s (undergraduate) degree, some offer a certificate, while still others offer a master’s and doctoral (graduate) degrees in the field. In the Albuquerque area, Continued on page 43

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World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

This is Our Tradition

by Michael Jerue

T

All photographs courtesy of MEDIAK

he World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) has always been a time to unite in traditional games of fun and skill that bring life and Native pride to our people. Year after year, we meet during the 3rd week of July, for four days, in Fairbanks, Alaska, not only to compete, but to demonstrate our personal best in strength, endurance, agility, balance and concentration.

Each year, both male and female Native athletes strive to better their past personal goals.

The traditional opening for the games is ‘The Race of the Torch’, a five-kilometer foot race. The winners of the women and men’s races will have the honor of carrying a flaming torch into the arena at the beginning of the games. The torch is passed to two elders, who light peat soaked in seal oil; this will remain alight for the duration of the games. The very last game is White Man vs. Native Women Tug-O-War. The Native women have never lost this game.

Knuckle Hop

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According to the WEIO website, the 15 games that are played consist of the following traditional competitions:

Knuckle Hop (Seal Hop) This is an endurance test of pain and strength. The object is to see how far one can go in a “push-up” position, with elbows bent and knuckles down. The only parts of the body touching the floor are knuckles and toes. From this position, the participant “hops” forward as far as possible, keeping the back straight and elbows bent. This game was originally played on the floor of a traditional community center or hut, or outside on the ground. Now, this game takes place on the arena floor.

Four Man Carry Often, during a successful hunt, there is a time when game has to be packed for long distances. This is also true of packing wood or ice. The four man carry not

Two-Foot High Kick

best two out of three rounds wins the match. There are times when the loop will slip off a contestant’s ear. If that happens, that person loses that round. During each round, the participants use alternate ears. This is a game of tolerance to pain; a trait sometimes needed to survive the harsh realities of the North.

Drop the Bomb

One-Foot High Kick

only tests the capability of carrying heavy loads, but the distance that weight can be carried. Volunteers are “draped” over the participant during the event. The winner is the person who can carry the combined weight the farthest distance.

Ear Weight The weights used in this event are 16 one-pound lead ingots, which are threaded with twine. The contestant loops the twine around one ear and, by lifting straight up, without using the cheek, pack the “weight” and go for distance. Before lead weights were used, heavy sacks, such as twenty-five pounds of flour, were used for this event. Distances of over 2,000 feet have been attained.

Ear Pull In this event, two people sit down facing each other with twine looped around each other’s ear - right ear to right ear, left to left. The two begin a “tug-of-war” and the

In this game, the contestant lies down on the floor, face down with arms straight out, in an “iron cross” position. Three “spotters” position themselves; one at the feet holding the ankles, while each of the others take a wrist. The participant tightens all of his or her muscles and the three “spotters” lift the body so that it is approximately one foot above the ground. They begin walking at the speed dictated by a floor official. When the body or arms begin to sag, the participant has “dropped the bomb.” The objective is to go the farthest distance in this rigid position.

One-Foot High Kick This high kick event requires the athlete to jump off the floor with both feet, kick a suspended object with one foot and land on the floor using that same foot, demonstrating balance. Kicking the height of a basketball net is not uncommon during this event. It is supported that when a messenger from hunting or whaling crews is within visual distance of the villagers, he will kick high into the air, thereby giving a message that a whale has been caught or the caribou are running near. The twofoot high kick means a slightly different but similar message. The high kicks are considered the premier events of the WEIO.

Two-Foot High Kick This event is similar to the one-foot high kick; the difference being the athlete jumps off the floor with both

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All photographs courtesy of MEDIAK

World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

Kneel Jump

feet, hits the suspended target with both feet together and maintains balance upon reaching the floor. Upon landing, both feet must touch the floor at the same time.

Years ago, in the coastal whaling villages, in order for the village to know that a whale has been taken, a runner would return to the village and, when within sight of the village, the messenger would jump and kick both feet into the air while running. In that manner, the people of the village would know a whale had been caught and prepare themselves to help in the “beaching�.

One-Hand Reach This game requires the athlete to balance on only the hands, with at least one elbow tucked into the lower abdominal area. The rest of the body is parallel to the floor. The participant will then use one hand to reach up and touch a suspended target. Upon doing this, the participant must get that hand back to the floor before any other part of the body touches. This game demonstrates balance, athletic prowess and strength. Reaching the greatest height is the objective.

Alaskan High Kick In this event, the athlete sits on the floor below a target, with one hand grasping the opposite foot. With the remaining free hand planted on the floor, the athlete springs up and attempts to kick the target with the free foot. After kicking the target, the athlete must land in

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Alaskan High Kick

the original position before kicking. Kicking the greatest height determines the winner.

Kneel Jump In this event, the contestant sits on the floor at a given line and has the feet flat on the floor with the bottoms up. From this position, they must jump as far forward as possible, landing on the feet and maintaining balance.

The contestant is allowed to swing the arms back and forth to gain momentum for the leap forward. The practicality of this event comes from the quickness and balance needed while being out on the moving ice during breakup.

Indian Stick Pull This game is a test of gripping strength. The equipment for this game consists of a stick tapered at both ends.

The stick is about a foot in length and one and onehalf inches in diameter in the center. Grease is applied to the stick and the competitors then grab the ends and attempt to pull it away from one other. They must pull straight back, without jerking or twisting. The best two out of three rounds determines the winner of the match, each round using a different hand. This primarily Indi-

Arm Pull Two athletes position themselves facing each other so that their legs are positioned with one leg crossed over the opposite leg of the competitor. They then lock arms at the elbows, fists down, and begin pulling the other contestant towards one another. Two out of three attempts will determine a winner. After each attempt, the players switch arms and legs. Brute strength is revered when bringing the quarry out of the hole in the ice.

Nalukataq (Blanket Toss)

Eskimo Stick Pull

an game was originally used to strengthen the hands for grabbing fish out of the fish wheel.

Eskimo Stick Pull In this event, two athletes face each other, while sitting on the ground with their feet pressed together and knees bent. A stick, one-inch in diameter, is placed between them where their feet meet. Each athlete grabs the stick, position their hands so that one person’s hands are on the inside, and the other’s hands are on the outside. All hands must be touching. Using the legs, arms, back and a sure grip, the contestants then attempt to pull the stick away from their opponent. The winner is the person who is able to either pull the opponent over, or is able to pull the stick out of the opponent’s hands, on two out of three attempts. Each round, the athletes will alternate the position of their hands. This type of strength is an important commodity to have when bringing a seal in from the hole in the ice.

Toe Kick The player stands at a given line and jumps forward, attempting to kick a stick (one-inch in diameter) backwards, with the toes of both feet remaining together.

The contestant must land forward of the mark where the stick was originally located. When all players accomplish this, the stick is moved forward another two inches for each round, until a winner is determined. Each player is allowed three attempts at each distance in case of misses.

This is another game of athletic prowess and balance.

Balance is needed while negotiating the melting ice during breakup.

Several walrus skins are used for this event. The skin has holes on the edges so that rope can be looped through all the way around and used for handle grips. One person gets in the middle of the skin and stands while being tossed. With a good coordinated effort on behalf of the pullers, the person being tossed can get as high as thirty feet in the air and must land on their feet, without falling down. This is quite similar to a trampoline; the only difference being that people are the springs and they can move quickly to catch an errant jumper.

The Nalukataq is done within the whaling communities in the spring if there has been a successful whaling season. It is been part of the whaling feast activity as long as people can remember. There are two schools of thought as to why this sport is done. One is for the simple exhilaration it provides; the other is that this practice was once used for spotting game over the horizon. The judges look at balance, height and movement in the air (sometimes you can see jumpers dancing or running in place) and all around form and grace, when determining a winner. Sometimes, to the delight of the pullers and spectators, flips and somersaults are done. During Christmas, at the height of their jumps, jumpers used to throw candy and other goodies to the children.

The logo for WEIO consists of six interwoven rings representing the six major Eskimo and Indian tribes in Alaska: Aleut, Athabascan, Eskimo, Haida, Tlingit and Tsimpshian. More information on the games can be found at www.weio.org.

A quote from Big Bob Aiken, longtime athlete, coach, role model and friend from Barrow, Alaska, goes, “To live a subsistence lifestyle requires a lot of strength and a lot of patience. The games are a way to mentally and physically prepare you for endurance. The more you can endure the better hunter you will be. The better hunter you will be, the better survivor you will be.” ✦

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The DETS Project

Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools

by Susan Duran

D

iabetes was rare among American Indian and Alaska Native peoples until about 50 years ago.

Since then, diabetes has become one of the most common and serious illness in the Tribal Nations of North America (Narayan, 1997). In 2002, more than 100,000 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults, or nearly 15 percent of those receiving care from the Indian Health Service (IHS), were estimated to have diabetes. The total prevalence of diabetes is at least two to three times that for non-Hispanic whites of similar age. Prevalence rates vary by Tribal Nations, rising to 15.9 percent among the Plains Tribes (CDC, 1998). In a new and alarming turn of events, Type 2 diabetes, typi-

Federal Agencies and Partners of the DETS Project Contributing Partners Doug Coulson, Ph.D., PS International, External Evaluator Michelle Chino, Ph.D., University of Nevada Las Vegas, Ethnographic Interviewer Carolee Dodge-Francis, Ed.D., University of Nevada Las Vegas, DETS Sister Site Coordinator Marilyn Hetzel, Northwest Indian College, Consultant Barbara Schulz - Northwest Indian College, Consultant

DETS External Advisory Committee Members Roger Bybee, Ph.D., Biological Science Curriculum Study Robin Butterfield, National Education Agency Jody Chase, Ph.D., National Science Foundation Gerald Gipp, Ph.D., American Indian Higher Education Consortium Cindy La Marr, Capitol Area Indian Resources, Inc. Joseph Taylor, Ph.D., Biological Science Curriculum Study Roberto Trevino, Ph.D., Bienestar Health Program, Social and Health Research Center Alvin Windy-Boy, Rocky Boy Indian Reservation

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cally considered an adult disorder, is now emerging in all populations of youth in the United States, including AI/ AN populations (Narayan et al., 2000).

In 2001, the congressionally authorized Diabetes Mellitus Coordinating Committee, chaired by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), hosted a meeting with the Indian Health Service Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention (IHS/DDTP) and the Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee (TLDC) to address the seriousness of Type 2 diabetes in AI/AN communities. At the meeting, NIDDK accepted the challenge from the TLDC to lead the effort to prevent Type 2 diabetes in AI/AN youth by developing a curriculum that would teach the science of diabetes in tribal schools.

What followed was a unique, collaborative effort that included NIDDK, IHS/DDTP, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Native Diabetes Wellness Program (CDC/NDWP), eight Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and the NIH Office of Science Education (NIH/OSE). The result of this collaboration is the DETS Health Is Life in Balance K–12 curriculum.

The DETS Project is part of a national effort to decrease the incidence and improve the care of Type 2 diabetes among American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). The DETS Project is a K–12 Curriculum developed using a multidisciplinary approach. The DETS Curriculum consists of units that incorporate National Science Education Standards, Inquiry-Learning (5E model) and AI/AN cultural and community knowledge.

The goals of the DETS K–12 Curriculum are: • Increase the understanding of health, diabetes and maintaining life in balance among American Indian/Alaska Native students. (Teach about diabetes) The curriculum incorporates inquiry-based learning that will enhance students’ science process skills. Lessons encourage students to become researchers. Investigative

inquiry (observing, measuring, predicting, inferring, classifying, experimenting, communicating, etc.) allows students to emulate the work of real-life researchers. The discoveries of diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention of diabetes increase student understanding and appreciation for direct and indirect effects of scientific research within a cultural framework.

• Increase American Indian/Alaska Native students’ understanding and application of scientific and community knowledge. (Value and use scientific and traditional knowledge) The DETS curriculum supports the integration of AI/AN culture and tribal community knowledge with

diabetes-related science. Lesson plans enhance the content being taught to meet educational standards within school districts.

• Increase interest in science and health professions among American Indian/Alaska Native youth. (Encourage science and health careers) The DETS curriculum encourages students to gain an understanding of diabetes-related biomedical sciences.

Lessons are built around role models who are health science professionals. Students increase their awareness of careers in science and health. They also learn about the value of the involvement of these professionals in their communities. ✦

Educational Content of the DETS Project K – 4 Content

5 – 8 Content

9 – 12 Content

Students will: • develop a concept of health through balance in life; • identify how making healthy food choices and being physically active every day can prevent diabetes; • explore the concepts of balance and imbalance through learning activities and visual aids and apply these concepts to maintaining health; and • explore four areas of their lives-body, mind, feelings, and the world-that work together in harmony to promote good health.

Students using the social studies unit will: • describe lifestyle in terms of dietary patterns, physical activity levels and personal choices; and • identify environmental changes that can be made to improve or maintain personal health and the health of families and communities.

Students using the science unit will: • learn through analyzing case studies how the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of a person’s life are affected when someone has diabetes and how to use those aspects of life plus input from the community to regain balance and health; • understand by using models how the hormones insulin and glucagons regulate blood glucose levels and maintain homeostasis; and • understand how problems with the body’s use of insulin disrupt the homeostatic regulation of blood glucose and lead to diabetes.

• Please note that all K-4 units are interdisciplinary curriculum units emphasizing health science with strong language arts components, and that the kindergarten units are suitable for both K and pre-K levels.

Students using the science unit will: • understand as the result of scientific investigation and the accumulation of evidence, that disease develops slowly across time; and • understand that diabetes is a disease in which a person’s body is not able to use glucose properly.

Students using the health unit will: • learn by conducting interviews with community members what others know about diabetes and what misconceptions about diabetes are common; • participate in role playing to learn about careers in health professions that deal with diabetes; • learn about the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes including which can be controlled through personal behavior and which cannot; and • learn that people can reduce their chances of getting Type 2 diabetes by making lifestyle changes.

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An AIGC Alumnus Serving Others

My Gift of Service and Education

by Daniel Nagasawa

N

early forty-thousand applicants fought for acceptance into medical school last year; less than half of them matriculated. These remarkable students, who are impressive enough to gain access to pursue their aspirations, all shared similar characteristics: intelligence, diversity, dedication and passion. Like them, I too, have spent my lifetime building the character and experience necessary to succeed in the world of medicine.

While ambitious, my ultimate goals are to become a neurosurgeon and acquire an eventual professorship.

The field of neurosurgery is the pinnacle of what medicine represents: precision, excellence, discovery of the unknown, development of a novel patient’s life for a few months or even weeks, and knowing that short period will be the most important and meaningful in their entire life. However, in order to ensure the continuing success of the field, professionals are needed to instill upon the next generation not only the basic required knowledge but, more importantly, the ideals, compassion and inspiration to become not just a physician, but an incredible one.

Although I was born into a lower-class, single-parent, minority family of Japanese and Cherokee heritage, my mother, brother and sister have provided me with seemingly endless support to rise above these constraints.

While I may be classified as an underprivileged individual, this status has, by no means, hindered my abilities to outperform my peers and identify myself as being second-to-none. It is far too easy to allow one’s self to fall between the social-economically stratified cracks and accept the role into which the the world places you.

However, I am thankful that I was given challenges and hardships as, despite them all, it makes my successes all the more meaningful.

During my extensive premedical preparation at the prestigious University of California Berkeley, I made it a point to diversify my interests so as to distinguish myself, not just as an honors graduate of the psychology department, but as a man who could excel in all fields when pushed to the limits. I spent my evenings after chemistry labs with my head in the books and in a helmet on the field, playing football for a nationally-rated college and

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Daniel Nagasawa

I am thankful that I was given challenges and hardships as, despite them all, it makes my successes all the more meaningful. learning the values of teamwork, dedication and perseverance. I came home from conducting post-doc level neuroimaging research and played the guitar and piano with my friends in the fraternity that I helped lead. I would spend my weekends aiding those afflicted with various disabilities by co-conducting group therapy in rehabilitation centers and tutoring teenagers with ADHD for the SAT’s.

It’s amazing what these undervalued individuals are able to accomplish when given the chance and motivation to succeed. I also spent time abroad studying art, literature and history in Italy, traveled to 23 different countries and now speak five different languages. As I was by myself, I exercised my resourcefulness and independence, while gaining a greater sense of cultural awareness and language proficiency; aspects essential for dealing with the diversity of patients the world has to offer, as many are unable to express their needs in English. In summation, this pletho-

ra of experiences during college taught me the time management skills and discipline vital to being able to thrive under stressful situations and succeed academically.

Yet, in order for me to devote the majority of my young adulthood towards medical school, I needed to be certain of my decision. So, I took my time and waited for the answer to that ubiquitous question, “Why do you want to become a doctor?”, to find me. As cliché as it sounds, I realized that I want to help people. Although, at first glance, my response may appear no different from the rest, I had to travel to a remote village in Guatemala to discover its true meaning.

While studying for the MCAT, I set up a five-month adventure, traveling to regions worldwide as a volunteer.

I pushed myself through 10-hour days in emergency and operating rooms in California. In Houston, I assisted triage centers after Hurricane Katrina victims were displaced from their homes. I volunteered with the Red Cross, launching numerous HIV awareness projects throughout the entire country of Belize. In Honduras, I assisted with everything from translating and passing out clothing, to ear irrigations and prescribing medication.

Certainly, any one of these experiences could stand alone as life changing, but the one which really opened my eyes happened in Guatemala. I arrived a day after Hurricane Stan devastated the country, burying entire cities under ten feet of mud and debris. I worked with a doctor traveling throughout the country, establishing local clinics to service those stricken with poverty and lacking access to healthcare. Yet, my primary goals were to secure funding to bring clean water to people living in a village in thatched homes and spending countless hours per day carrying water from the polluted river.

After traveling for six hours, I arrived and began to survey the topography and photograph contamination sources. Meanwhile, my associate interviewed families and translated the conversations into Spanish for me, as the locals only spoke their Native American language of Q’eqchi. That night, the family of the village leader cooked dinner for me in their open-fire pit and we ate. At the end of the meal, he looked over to me with hope in his eyes and joy in his heart, shook my hand and muttered but a single word, “Banitosh,” meaning “thank you.” I went to bed after dinner, knowing he would stay awake all night to ensure that I did not miss my 3:30 a.m. bus, as it was the only one leaving for several days. He walked me down to the dirt road, oil lantern in hand, and waited with me. I was only there for 15 hours but, when I left, a piece of my heart remained.

To know that I could bring hope and life to those who were struggling to maintain either was a blessing. I

knew then, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing the same for others.

However, there are thousands of regions worldwide in need of aid and my abilities can only stretch so far. Thus, I plan to bring my services first to those who were gracious enough to support me during my time of struggle. As a proud member of the Cherokee Nation, I am currently turning toward the Native American community to partially relieve me of the heavy burdens of medical school expenses. In return, I hope to share my success with those of a similar background in need of not only medical care but perhaps, more importantly, inspiration. There could be no greater satisfaction than to reinforce to all those students who suffer from economic or social constraints that there is truly no limit on what they can achieve, if they only persevere and pursue their dreams. ✦ (Daniel Nagasawa is of Cherokee and Japanese decent. He is currently enrolled in the University of California-Irvine’s School of Medicine and plans to complete his medical residency in 2011. He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology from the University of California-Berkeley.

Daniel is an AIGC alumnus.)

“If you want to learn cutting-edge approaches to pedagogy and apply these techniques in your own classroom, you will succeed at WSU.” Jeanette Weaskus Nez Perce American Indian PhD student English

go.wsu.edu/gradschool Pullman • Spokane • Tri-Cites • Vancouver

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Healthcare Shortages

The Need for More Native Healthcare and Dental Professionals

by Ken Lucero

“I

f you are an Indian health professional, the need for your services is abundant and the challenges are immense but probably more fulfilling because you know you are helping someone truly in need. And, often times, you may be the first and only Indian health professional the people you are serving have ever seen.” George Blue Spruce Jr., DDS, MPH, (Laguna/Ohkay-Owingeh) and the first recognized Native American dentist.

Ever since the inception of the Indian Health Service (IHS), government officials have known that the health delivery system for American Indians and Alaska Natives is sorely underfunded. Dental programs are no exception. As a result, the message sent to tribal communities has been that dental care is not that important.

This is a perception that needs to be addressed immediately. As more and more tribes take on the responsibility to manage their own health programs, they are having a difficult time filling dental professional positions with Native Americans. Beyond this issue, the dental profession, in general, is experiencing a high level of retiring dentists and difficulties in attracting dental professionals to rural communities.

Dental Professional Shortages: The gender, racial and ethnic distribution of dentists and dental hygienists is among the least diverse of the health professions and far from equals the overall composition in the nation’s population. Although minority health professionals are more likely to practice in minority (underserved) communities, they represent only a small portion of the total dental workforce. For example, of all active dentists, just 14% are women, 3% African American, 3% Hispanic and less than 1% are Native American. Ninety-five percent of dental hygienists are non-Hispanic white, 3% African American and 1% Hispanic; 99.1% are female.

The recent downturn in the national economy has altered retirement, delayed practice sales and limited mobility of practicing health professionals. For dental professionals, general shortages have existed across the

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Ken Lucero

nation for several years and, while those shortages may be lessened or delayed for some communities, any sustained economic upturn will assure that shortages will again be a concern.

In Native American tribes, the shortage of oral health providers has been demonstrated in at least three ways: 1.) current providers, such as Indian Health Services, report over 60 vacancies for dentists, pediatric and general oral surgeons and registered dental hygienists, 2.) there are few Native American dental providers in oral health practices and 3.) even fewer are practicing in Native communities.

Unfortunately, this may continue, as fewer dentists are opting for government service and the gap continues to widen between the Native American applications for dental training and the number of Native American dentists represented in the dental profession. Overall, Native Americans do not fare well in comparison with other nonwhite populations within the oral health professions.

Much like the disparity with the practicing dental and dental hygiene professions, the population of minorities in dental and dental hygiene schools is underrepresented in relation to their proportion of the overall population. Less than 10 percent of African Americans and Hispanics comprise the student makeup of dental schools, compared to about 25 percent of the nation’s population. The disparity is even greater among Native

Americans. Postdoctoral training programs (the source for future faculty) show a similar lack of diversity.

Diversity in Dental Schools: The number of African American, Hispanic and Native American students in dental schools remains disproportionate to their numbers in the U.S. population. In 2006, underrepresented minority (URM) students comprised 12.4 percent of the applicants and 11.6 percent of first-year enrollees. Asian/ Pacific Islanders and whites comprised 69.7 percent of applicants and 71.1 percent of first-year enrollees. The proportion of URM students applying and enrolling in U.S. dental schools is far less than the proportion of URMs in the communities served by the dental school.

For example, during the 2003-04 academic year, 7 percent of dental students enrolled at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) were Hispanic, while 46.5 percent of the Los Angeles population was Hispanic.

Also, in 2003-04, total African American enrollment at all U.S. dental schools was 5.41 percent, while 12.8 percent of the U.S. population was black. The proportion of URM dentists also remains significantly lower than the proportion of URMs in the U.S. population.

Currently, about 6.8 percent of professionally active dentists are URM, while 27.9 percent of the U.S. population is URM. Increasing diversity in the dental profession is vital to the future of the profession and is central to achieving optimal oral health for racial and ethnic minority groups, which experience a higher level of oral health problems and have limited access to dental care.

Pipeline and Dental Education Process: Scholarships are out there. Slots are continually held for the underrepresented minority students. National associations, such as the American Dental Education Association and the American Dental Hygienist Association have developed and continue to foster mentoring and other forms of support to assure success for students from communities in need. However, until communities, schools, tribal governments and families commit resources and effort for assuring success in education, oral health careers will continue to elude Native American youth. That is not to say that there will not be exceptions and the efforts of the associations, scholarship sources and others will result in attracting and assuring successful completion of oral health education programs for some Native American students. However, in order to increase diversity in the oral healthcare workforce serving Native American communities, there is a significant effort needed to double, then triple and eventually more than quadruple the current number of Native American dentists, dental hygienist, dental assistants and perhaps

advanced practice oral health providers prepared to serve Native American communities.

Readiness: In his study, “Indian Students and College Preparation” (published in 2002), Dean Chavers, Ph.D., of “Catching the Dream,” based in Albuquerque, NM, captured some of the underlying issues facing Indian students in pursuing a college education. Dr. Chavers surveyed 740 Indian high schools during the 1999-2000 school year. Basic data was collected from 47 of the 740 schools (6.3%), on and off reservation high schools, serving Indian students in 16 states. Dr.Chavers’ findings point to major concerns about how Native American students are poorly prepared for college and, even more so, for health professional career paths. Generally, Dr. Chavers found that only 17% of Native American students in schools surveyed were enrolling in college. Less than 10% were taking four years of college prep in math and 30% were not enrolled in any math courses. Over half of the schools lacked a science lab and only 1% of the students were enrolled in advanced placement classes. Only 2.4 % of the students had access to full and current sets of scholarship directories. Related to engineering, health professional careers and science, only 4.9% of the students were taking calculus. While noting other areas of concern, this study underscores the challenges in encouraging, preparing, recruiting and retaining Native American students in higher education and health careers.

We need to be more engaged at the local level to increase the number of students entering and completing their post secondary education. At this point, it is not enough to teach our children to finish high school; we need to raise the bar. A college degree needs to be the new standard. With this new expectation, we can then begin to develop our future health professionals.

Dr. Blue Spruce, states, “It’s at the doctorate level that you have the golden key to open up doors. You can go into meeting rooms and be heard. You can be part of the decision-making. In the United States, it’s the medical doctor or the doctor of dental surgery that has the opportunities to be heard.”

Our tribal communities, along with their leadership, must push local school systems to work with the local universities in promoting an enhanced belief that we can meet the challenge of developing more Native American health professionals. ✦

The American Indian Graduate

35

Oweesta

Financial Education as the Foundation for Personal Growth and Economic Development for Native Nations

by Heidi Davis

F

inancial education programs in Native communities strengthen local economies one individual at a time. By teaching Native community members how to manage their assets, save towards financial goals, take advantage of resources and avoid predatory lenders, financial education programs contribute to the development of sustainable economies and healthy communities.

For almost a decade Oweesta has been working to strengthen the financial skills of Native people throughout the country. As a leader in the Native community and economic development movement, Oweesta accomplishes this task by delivering regular workshops for Native financial education trainer certification throughout the country. The workshops, conducted by the Financial Education and Asset Building Department, are typically three days and require a certification test at the conclusion. Over the past two years, Oweesta has been conducting some of these workshops through the Expanding Native Opportunities: Native Financial Skills Initiative (NFSI), an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund. NFSI was created to help Native CDFIs, specialized financial institutions that work in market niches underserved by traditional financial institutions, and other similar organizations develop financial education programs.

NFSI offers an innovative and culturally-appropriate training program delivered by certified instructors who are committed to empowering Native communities through financial education. Through the handson approach of this program, participants are able to develop their teaching and presentation skills to become dynamic and impactful financial education instructors.

Upon completion of the training, participants become

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certified to teach the Building Native Communities curriculum in their communities.

The Building Native Communities curriculum helps Native individuals, families and communities gain control over their financial future by teaching them how to adapt their traditional skills to the wise management of financial resources. It teaches fundamental financial management skills, such as how to develop a spending plan, work with checking and savings accounts and to understand and access credit. The materials illustrate how one’s everyday decisions and actions help to support the local economy. This knowledge ultimately enables individuals to collectively build self-reliant, economically healthy communities now and for future generations.

The Oweesta Model™ illustrates that programs, institutions, sovereignty, impact and systems are all related components of the cyclical and circular process of Native community and economic development. Although there isn’t a designated starting or stopping point, one can view financial education programs as foundational for healthy Native community and economic development. A few individuals armed with sound financial management skills can have a dramatic ripple effect on the entire community. This knowledge is spread to other individuals, who then form institutions, organizations and businesses.

An economic system buds and, in turn, strengthens the sovereignty of the Native nation.

Several Native communities across the country have established extraordinary financial education programs that are transforming their economies, one individual at a time. The Tohono O’Odham CDFI in Arizona has conducted a handful of Building Native Communities trainings since 2007 and incorporates spirituality into their course as a key to financial success. The Turtle Mountain CDFI in North Dakota has provided financial literacy training to a wide segment of their community population, including high school students, tribal housing authority tenants and tribal administrators and employees. Nearly 20 of their participants are now certified as instructors and are conducting financial education training through various tribal organizations, maximizing the impact of financial education on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. In Oklahoma, the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation provides an average of 1,154 hours of financial education training per year to enhance their community’s economic development efforts.

The Oweesta Model™ provides a multi-faceted, comprehensive approach to community and economic development and has been proven a useful tool in transforming Native communities. In addition to financial education and asset building, Oweesta also has departments in place to address institution development and enterprise and entrepreneurship development. Many Native communities work in more than one of these areas simultaneously to achieve the desired change.

Financial education programs are usually offered as part of the development services provided by Native CDFIs and other like institutions. Creating a Native CDFI is becoming an increasingly popular way for Native people to build stronger, more self-sufficient communities and nations. Native CDFIs help to develop local economies by creating entrepreneurs and businesses, increasing homeownership and empowering community members to reach their financial goals. Native CDFIs provide locally-based access to capital and the necessary capacity building services to bring permanent and positive change to Native economies. Oweesta’s Institution Development Department focuses on Native CDFI development, the backbone of Oweesta’s formation and

ongoing work. This aspect of training and technical assistance for Native communities consists of several training programs that not only help participants assess how starting a Native CDFI can benefit their communities, but also takes them, step-by-step, through the process of establishing one of these proven and innovative financial institutions with unique, on-site technical assistance. The CDFI Fund has also contracted with Oweesta to provide the Native Communities Financing Initiative, another initiative of the Expanding Native Opportunities program, to empower grassroots change for people and communities through Native CDFI development.

Financial institutions and other like organizations exist within a given larger system of the Native community. Creating strong and effective enterprise and entrepreneurship systems in Native communities is essential to building a healthy, thriving economy. By establishing, expanding and improving local systems and infrastructure, Native communities create an environment that supports private and tribal sector development, allowing tribal businesses, private homeownership and the private business sector to flourish. Oweesta’s Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development Department heads up this broader development for Native communities.

The Native Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development Initiative, another initiative of the Expanding Native Opportunities program, is based on a new model of community economic development. Tailored for Native CDFIs and their partners, this training program is designed to assist communities with developing effective enterprise and entrepreneurship systems. Integrated systems allow strong institutions, appropriate programs, real impact and true sovereignty to evolve.

Although developing a financial institution or creating entrepreneurship systems may seem like incredibly complex issues or, at a minimum, issues that require teams of people to tackle, we encourage you to become part of the foundation to a vibrant, thriving economy in your community. Take advantage of financial education programs offered by your tribe or local CDFI. Put sound financial management practices to work in your life. Become an example to others and share the knowledge you have learned. Strengthening your nation’s sovereignty can begin with one individual – you. ✦

Although developing a financial institution or creating entrepreneurship systems may seem like incredibly complex issues…, we encourage you to become part of the foundation to a vibrant, thriving economy in your community.

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Public Media

Filling in the Gaps for Public Media

NAPT Providing Native and Youth Voices for PBS and Public Radio

by Kim Baca

J

ust 40 years ago, two East Coast educational television stations merged to create a non-profit to provide national educational programming. The model would be different from such commercial networks as ABC, CBS and NBC. Public broadcasting stations would have greater say in what they wanted to broadcast, after paying membership fees to the national, non-profit organization. Individual public broadcasting stations could also create their own content. The Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS) was born, with 365 member stations making up the new network.

Seven years later, a group of Native American producers, working at individual PBS stations across the country, started a national organization to distribute television programs by and about Native people. Since then, the organization has focused on empowering, educating and entertaining through public media, while sharing Native stories with the world.

Since 1976, Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) has supported and funded more than 250 television and radio programs for public broadcasting. The founders of NAPT (first incorporated as the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium), which include George Burdeau (Blackfeet), Wallace Coffey (Comanche) and its first Executive Director, Frank Bythe (Eastern Band of Cherokee/Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), pushed for a way to include Native voices in public television. This drive continues today with NAPT’s producer development workshops, partnerships with other non-profits and colleges and internships to continue cultivating young Native talent.

“NAPT has had a major impact on the American public and their perceptions of what Native people are today,” NAPT Executive Director, Shirley K. Sneve (Rosebud Sioux), said. “We pride ourselves on bringing authentic voices to television and radio. We are also com-

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Since 1976, Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) has supported and funded more than 250 television and radio programs for public broadcasting. mitted to carrying on this tradition by offering opportunities for young people to gain media experience.”

With the help of the Emma Bowen Foundation, NAPT funds a work-study scholarship for a student at its headquarters in Nebraska’s public television station, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, in Lincoln. NAPT also helps fund the Institute of American Indian Arts, for its annual student filmmaking training program, with ABC and the Disney Corporation. Additionally, NAPT funds the American Indian Summer Institute, a program designed to train Native students in the television and entertainment industry. Created seven years ago, by the Native Media Technology Network, in partnership with the Fox Entertainment Group, more than 100 Native students have entered the week-long workshop at Fox studios in Los Angeles. Many former workshop participants have sought careers in television and film production after finishing college.

Last year, NAPT, one of five National Minority Consortia, charged with increasing diversity by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, provided fellowships for PBS’ NewsHour, to increase diversity in national election coverage. NewsHour intern, Tristan Ahtone (Kiowa), is now an intern at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. Rhonda LeValdo (Acoma Pueblo) is finishing a Master’s degree in Journalism at the University of Kansas and teaching at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Together with its minority consortia partners, NAPT also has been part of other ground-breaking projects, such as the award-winning series, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? NAPT has also been tapped to advise other PBS outlets, aiding the history series American Experience’s We Shall Remain project, a five-part look at American Indian history in America spanning over 300 years, which aired this past spring.

Although NAPT’s primary focus is programming for PBS through its federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NAPT is much more than just film and television. In 1994, after seeing an increasing need for Native American-specific radio programming, NAPT launched the American Indian Radio on Satellite service (AIROS) to deliver music, news and entertainment, via satellite, to public radio and the then33 tribal stations across the nation. The service was the first, and only, Native radio programming delivery service in the country. AIROS distribution included: Voices from the Circle, hosted by Jim DeNomie (Bad River Chippewa); UnderCurrents, hosted by Gregg McVicar (Tlingit); AlterNative Voices, produced by KUVO in Denver and Reach the Rez Radio, produced by Cherokee/ Chichimeca rapper Litefoot.

In 1994, NAPT took things a step further and created a show to spur national discussion on Native American issues. Native America Calling, now produced by Koahnic Broadcasting Corporation, remains the nation’s only live Native American radio call-in show.

After handing over the distribution service and the live call-in show to Koahnic in 2006, the AIROS Native Network kept its service as an Internet-based radio station that plays all genres of Native American and indigenous music, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. AIROS.org was created in 1997, making it one of the oldest Native Net-based radio stations in the country.

Last year, NAPT revived one of its oldest radio music shows, Native Sounds-Native Voices, which is now co-hosted by two college students. Sina Bear Eagle (Oglala/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) and Aden Marshall (Rosebud Sioux) broadcast live every Thursday at KZUM in Lincoln, Neb. The show is also featured on the AIROS Native Network or AIROS.org.

“Working in radio was never something I’d seriously considered, so every aspect of the job was completely new to me,” Bear Eagle, 23, said. She was asked to take over the show last year, after long-time host, John Gregg, left NAPT after 12 years. “I sat in on another programmer’s show twice and was pretty much left on my own to work the board. The most difficult part was trying to navigate the equipment at the studio and remembering the process.”

“But I’ve really enjoyed my time working on Native Sounds-Native Voices and time at NAPT,” Bear Eagle added. “It’s been an extremely positive experience.”

While NAPT continues to work with traditional forms of media, including its DVD sales of films produced for PBS, on its VisionMaker Video website, the Internet is providing a new outlet for young Native talent. NAPT, embracing its telecommunications name, launched a new website earlier this year that allows filmmakers, musicians, screenwriters, actors, playwrights, graphic artists and other media makers a space to showcase their work.

“More and more people are turning off the TV and turning to the web,” Sneve said. “That’s why it’s important that we provide a space for Native people to share their stories with the world. Through streaming audio, video and downloadable podcasts, our goal is to educate people about the issues facing Native communities.” ✦ For more information about NAPT and its work, go to www.nativetelecom.org.

You are thinking big about the kind of social impact you want to have after you graduate; you want to be a leader for business and society; you are a future nurse, poet, businessperson, doctor, engineer, teacher, lawyer, politician; you are committed to diversity in public and private management; you are ready to work and play with engaging students from a variety of backgrounds; you are in or beyond your sophomore year. We want you to come to New Haven, Connecticut, for a fully funded, twoweek session in June to discover how an MBA could prepare you to change the world.

Learn more and apply online at premba.som.yale.edu.

Applications due by March 18, 2010.

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Diversity in Healthcare

Considering a Healthcare Career

by Dee Ann DeRoin, M.D.

W

hat do Standing Rock, Umatilla and Okmulgee have in common? Like several other Native communities, they have vibrant community health programs with committed staff: Native health professionals working alongside their non-Indian colleagues to improve the lives of their community members. I might not know this if I hadn’t been there. And what I’d like to share with you is how I got there and how much it means to me to have the opportunities to visit and work with these communities – and why you may want to choose a similar path.

We know that our tribes, our reservations and our urban Indian communities have many different health needs. In nearly every kind of medical condition, we are faring worse than the general population: tobacco-related diseases, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and emotional health. We also know that we have not had adequate resources to improve our health status, in spite of the treaty promises from over a hundred years ago.

Facing these challenges and yet wanting to make a difference can be daunting. But there are many different roles you can play and choosing one path now does not mean you can’t choose a different one in the future.

My background is family medicine and public health education. This combination of clinical knowledge and, especially, clinical practice, plus my health education training, serves me well as a community health specialist. That means I can now help communities work to prevent diseases or to catch them early, when they can still be treated successfully.

Many of our Indian communities consider good healthcare as having the availability of a physician. It is true that you need to have a doctor around to help you diagnose and treat your health problems and to provide emergency care. If you are that family doctor, your goal is to know as much as you can, to be ready for whatever medical – or mental health - problems come your way. I’ve always felt the practice of family medicine is a daily exercise in humility. We can’t know everything, but we need to be able to recognize when it’s time to ask for help, whether from the cardiologist, nutritionist, psy-

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Dee Ann DeRoin, M.D.

Many of our Indian communities consider good healthcare as having the availability of a physician. chologist, community health nurse or the CHR (tribal community health representative).

But, most of our health problems need to be addressed long before we see the doctor. Many of the medical problems which are confronting us need to be prevented – starting before birth! And we now know, for example, that babies who are breastfed have a decreased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. We also know that obesity among our children is rising at alarming rates.

Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes and, as it increases in our communities, 20 years from now we’ll have young people in their thirties dependent on dialysis. Who is going to help our people learn – in culturally appropriate ways – how to make the behavior changes that will literally save lives?

The year I was applying to medical school I had the wonderfully good fortune to study at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health. My master’s degree is in Public Health Education, which is the discipline of identifying necessary health behavior changes and creating ways to promote these healthier behaviors. This might be a public relations campaign

(Stop the Pop!) or an on-the-ground program working with people to help them get fit (Just Move It!). But one of the most valuable lessons from my year in the School of Public Health was what I learned about and from the other disciplines: health administration, epidemiology and biostatistics, maternal and child health and nutrition, to name a few.

Are you a good leader and manager, wouldn’t set foot in a chemistry lab, but want to make a difference?

Consider becoming a clinic or hospital manager – or the Director of Indian Health Service!

Like numbers, but faint at the site of blood? Epidemiology and bio-statistics are how we know what’s going on with the childhood diabetes rates and the hugely disproportionate numbers of certain cancers in Alaska and the Northern Plains.

Want to help figure out how to prevent or diagnose colon cancer early in a community where they can’t do the basic screening tests, because they only have outhouses? Health education is for you!

If all of this sounds like too many years in school right now, there is another practical possibility: nursing.

There are many Native people, men and women, who

have started with an LPN or associate degree in nursing.

This has enabled them to have a well-paying job, either while they decide if they want to continue their education or to work while they continue their education. They have completed bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, even doctorates. Nursing is one of the few professions in this country that allows such a step-wise progression and the advanced degrees don’t necessarily need to be in nursing, though they often are. There were many nurses in the Berkeley School of Public Health who were working on graduate degrees in non-nursing fields.

I encourage you to consider these possibilities. The work that you do and the relationships you develop, whether in the exam room, in the diabetes program exercise gym or with your staff, as you support their clinical and outreach work with your good management skills, will continue to give back to you for years to come. ✦ (Dr. DeRoin is a member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Southeast Nebraska and an American Indian Graduate Center alumna, who currently serves on the AIGC Board of Directors. If you have questions or comments for Dr. DeRoin, you may contact her at deedoc@earthlink.net)

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The American Indian Graduate

41

Indian Health System

Trahant: The Business Model for an Indian Health System

by Mark Trahant

W

Photo courtesy Mark Trahant

she said. “How we lead and manage people and how we hat is the business model for the Indian health do business as an organization. system?

“That said a lot to me. You’d think in a health care On the surface, this is a preposterous quessystem, your only focus is improving quality, but here, tion because the U.S. government promised to fund the staff said loud and clear, there are things about the the health care needs for American Indians and Alaska Indian Health Service as a business that need to be Natives. It’s also supposed to be a simple business: Conimproved.” She said this is particularly interesting and gress funds the system (the IHS, tribal contract facilities helpful because in order to “ultimately” improve the and urban programs), the agency spends that budget and quality of care, “we have to improve the business.” patients are treated.

These two issues are not sepaBut that’s why the question is not outlandish. rate. Health organizations that The Indian health system has never had enough improve patient quality are also money – and therefore, it’s essential to secure as improving their business operamany resources as possible in order to effectively tions (and vice versa). treat the most patients.

One way to demonstrate both “As we look at the Indian Health Service, is to compete. American Indians we need to think of it as a business,” said Yvette and Alaska Natives often have Roubideaux, IHS director. “A lot of people think choices in health care, especially of the Indian Health Service as a service. It’s a those carrying employer-based service that provides health care to American insurance or Medicare. In that Indians and Alaskan Natives. People who work context, the IHS is a competitor in IHS think of their positions not just as jobs, Yvette Roubideaux, M.D., M.P.H. to those other health organizabut also as something important personally. tions and must demonstrate its expertise.

Many people feel like they are on a mission working for One of the biggest business challenges for the IHS is the Indian Health Service – and I think that’s great. But increasing revenue. The Obama administration boosted I also think we have to recognize that we are a health the IHS budget by 13 percent in 2010, but that is still less care system – and that we’re a business. We have to look than what’s spent by other health organizations. Health at how we run our organization, to improve the way we care reform could help in this regard, too, as more Amerdo business.” ican Indians and Alaska Natives are eligible or participate Roubideaux calls this “Internal IHS Reform.” She in insurance that opens up new billing options for IHS. began the business case by gathering data, listening to Consider the story of contract health services. This tribes and IHS employees. She said that means “to look pool of appropriated money runs dry every year. “It’s a at what we do well and also to look at what we don’t do program that we know people aren’t satisfied with because, well.” And then figure out where the tribes and the staff in general, American Indian and Alaskan Native people want to start with internal agency reform. believe that health care is owed to them. Unfortunately, Roubideaux said the tribes focused on big picture with the contract health services program, we’re struggling issues: more funding, improvements in contract health to meet the needs with available resources,” Roubideaux program and better consultation networks. said.

“So the Indian Health Service has policies and regu“From the staff we received very few comments lations in place to help prioritize what referrals are paid for about improving health care services and most of the and that, unfortunately, results in some denials and defercomments were about improving how we do business,” ments of services. We know the patients don’t like that.

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We know the tribes don’t like that, but it’s the reality of providing health care with a limited budget.”

The bottom line for contract health is the difference between appropriations – IHS must live within a budget – versus an entitlement program – Medicare pays for every eligible participant. That’s a decision that Congress made, not the Indian Health Service.

Roubideaux said you could think of many ways to decide which referrals to pay for, “but the only fair way is to look at the medical priorities.”

She said one thing IHS can do is to learn from best practices in contract health. That could mean better case management, patient education or billing alternative insurance resources.

Indeed, if health reform passes, that could open up more third-party billing options, again, reducing the stress on contract health funding.

Then new insurance dollars are part of the new business model for IHS. ✦ (Mark Trahant is a Kaiser Media Fellow examining the Indian Health Service and its relevance to the national health care reform debate. He is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Comment at www.marktrahant.com.)

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“Have You Considered…?”

Continued from page 25

for example, Webster University offers New Mexico’s only non-clinical Master of Arts degree in gerontology. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 21 percent (21%) increase in employment for careers related to aging. Without a doubt, gerontology is a growing field and will continue to be such for the next quarter century or more.

Unlike becoming a medical doctor or mental health counselor, currently, the title gerontologist is an unprotected term. This means there is no licensure test for the budding professional to take. Generally, those working somewhere in the vast field of aging, typically refer to themselves as gerontologists. As in the case of all professionals, earning the degree is not the end of road for your education and training. Gerontologists belong to professional networking groups, attend frequent seminars to update their skills and knowledge, read professional journals and literature and maintain membership in professional associations. Those who seek to enter the field of gerontology see this as their life’s calling and willingly undertake the commitment to becoming advocates, not only for their chosen field, but also for those who might not be able to advocate or champion the cause for themselves.

So, the next time someone asks you what you are going to do with the rest of your life, reply that you are considering a career in gerontology. As a gerontologist, you will always be connected to your heritage, while building new pathways. It is a wonderful way to honor your ancestors, your desires and to be part of shaping a better life for those yet to come. ✦

American Indian Well-Being Model Continued from page 18

program. These skills contributed to my professional wellbeing. In the final stage, I developed my cultural and spiritual well-being. As part of my cultural well-being, I learned about our tribal history and learned how to pray in the Native way. In this stage, a corn tassel marks its life stage of maturity. The tassel of the corn is a primary source of corn pollen that is used for prayer. During each morning, Navajo people pray with corn pollen, which is a strong symbol of walking the beauty way in life.

– Shawn Secatero, Ph.D. ✦ Resource: Washington State Well-being Site (retrieved 11/9/09). WSU Wellbeing, PO Box 641830, Washington State University, Pullman WA. wellbeing@wsu.edu

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40th Anniversary Celebration

AIGC’s 40th Anniversary – A Huge Success 2009 has been an incredible year!

In February, the American Indian Graduate Center kicked off our 40th Anniversary by hosting a celebratory event with many of our supporters and friends. Part of the kickoff included an Executive Order from Albuquerque’s Mayor, Martin Chavez, and a certificate sponsored by the New Mexico Speaker of the House, both recognizing AIGC for exemplary service over the past 40 years.

In April, we partnered with Gathering of Nations for a reception and silent auction prior to the Miss Indian World pageant. The generosity from silent auction donors was amazing. Event attendees clearly supported the importance of higher education for American Indian and Alaska Native students.

This past October, AIGC hosted an exhibit space at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, celebrating and honoring the 22 tribes in New Mexico and promoting the history of Indian education nationwide. AIGC had the privilege of hosting the world renowned Navajo Code Talkers, who were eager to share the incredible and inspirational story of their significant role on behalf of the United States during World War II. Other highlights included the Walatowa (Jemez Pueblo) Head Start dancers and a variety of demonstrations conducted by talented local artists.

Thanks to all our friends and supporters who helped make AIGC’s 40th anniversary a year to remember! ✦ Images from the 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, where AIGC hosted an exhibit.

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Opportunities

2010-2011 Academic Year BIE Loan For Service Program Deadline: June 1st, 2010

2010-2011 Academic Year Graduate Fellowship Deadline: June 1st, 2010

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

The American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, announces the availability of graduate fellowships for the 2010-2011 Academic Year, for American Indian and Alaska Native students from U.S. 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.

• Be an enrolled member of a United States federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group; or possess ¼ degree federally recognized Indian blood and; • Have a 3.0 GPA and; • Be pursuing a master’s, doctorate or professional degree as a full-time student at an accredited graduate or professional institute in the United States.

Accenture American Indian Scholarship Deadline: June 1st, 2010 The scholarship fund selects the very brightest American Indian and Alaska Native students seeking graduate or professional degree or careers in fields of study including: various engineering, computer science, operations management, management, finance, marketing and other business oriented fields. To be eligible you must: • Be an enrolled member of a United States federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group; or possess ¼ degree federally recognized Indian blood and; • UNDERGRADUATES: Be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as a full-time, degree seeking 1st year college freshman. Have attained a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or greater, on a 4.0 scale, at the end of the seventh semester of high school.

• GRADUATES: Be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as full-time degree-seeking first-year graduate or professional student. 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.

Fellowship Eligibility To be considered for an AIGC fellowship, the applicant must be: • An enrolled member of a U.S. federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native group, or possess one fourth degree (federally recognized) Indian blood; • Pursuing a master’s, professional or doctorate degree, as a full-time graduate student, at an accredited graduate school in the United States and • In need of financial aid. Applicants must apply for federal financial aid, in January or February, for the coming year.

If you meet the eligibility criteria above, please take the following steps: • Contact AIGC for an application packet or download the packet from our website. AIGC’s website may be found at www.aigcs.org, these packets will be available beginning in January 2010.

• Applicants do not need to be accepted into a graduate degree program to fill out the AIGC application.

• Begin the financial aid process at your university financial aid office for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Please visit the AIGC website www.aigcs.org for more to request an applications or find out more information on these programs.

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AIGC Fellows Update

Alumni Connection Class of 1991 Cynthia A. Cartwright (Lummi) J.D, University of Florida “I am very appreciative of the support your office gave me through law school.”

Class of 1992 Gordon D. Henry, Jr. (White Earth Chippewa) Ph.D., University of North Dakota “I am currently an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, where I teach American Indian Literature, Fiction Writing and American Literature. I have published poetry, fiction and essay in numerous anthologies and journals, both nationally and internationally.

In 1995 I was a Fulbright Lecturer in Spain. My novel, The Light People, received an American Book Award in 1995.”

Class of 1996 Deani K. Iverson (Tlingit and Haida) M.D., University of Minnesota Twin Cities “Financial aid thru AIGC was much appreciated during medical school. Every encounter I had with the center was streamlined and professional and contributed to my success in becoming a physician. Thank you.”

Class of 1996 Steffani A. Cochran (Chickasaw Nation) J.D, MPA, American University “I left New Mexico in the fall of 1999 to reside in Oregon. I worked for the State as an administrative Law Judge until I accepted my current position as the Special Counsel for Attorney General, Patricia Madrid, in June of 2002. My son and I reside in Santa Fe and are glad to be home.”

Class of 2001 Sarina Begay (Navajo Nation) M.S.W., Brigham Young University “The AIGC Fellowship made it possible for me to complete my degree. I feel that AIGC has supported me in

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achieving my goals and having faith that I needed to receive my graduate degree. Now that I have my degree, I am now helping teenage girls from diverse backgrounds regain some stability in their lives.”

Class of 2002 Casey Demmert (Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida) M.A., Educational Leadership and Administration, University of Alaska Anchorage “Thank you for all of your support and contributions! I couldn’t have done it without you.

Class of 2008 Rochelle L. N. Jim (Navajo) M.S., Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico “AIGC has done a wonderful job with their scholarship program and I am grateful for their help in continuing my education.”

Class of 2012 Marzha L. Fritzler (Crow/Laguna Pueblo) University of Kansas “I would like to thank your program for awarding me with an American Indian Graduate Center Fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. This funding will help greatly, as I left my employment of eight years to pursue my law degree full-time. I am honored to receive your support. A-ho!” ✦

Note: To ensure that we have all your current information, please take a minute to visit our web site (aigcs.org) or send an email to (susan@aigcs.org) to update your information (be sure to include your previous address so we know we have the right individual). As always, feel free to let us know what path your life is taking.

UNM School of Medicine

Native American Enrollment Doubles at UNM Medical School

by Luke Frank, UNM Media Relations Manager

A

ggressive recruitment and support programs for underserved areas have paid off for the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine (SOM).

This fall, twice as many Native Americans were accepted into the SOM than in any previous class. “We have nine Native American students prepared to matriculate into the School of Medicine this summer,” reports David Bear, Ph.D., SOM Assistant Dean of Admissions.

“That’s more than double the number for any other year and exceeds UNM SOM Native American enrollment for the previous four years.”

Congratulations to the new SOM students: Missy Begay, John Cox, Paul Dodge, Nizhoni Denipah, Shirlee James-Johnson, Jeff Kellywood, Marsha Leaf (PA), Allanceson Smith and Rae Zospah.

Although most are from the Southwest, including the Navajo Nation and Santo Domingo Pueblo, there are also Lakota Sioux and Choctaw students. Three of the nine students attended UNM as undergraduates, two have accepted full School of Medicine scholarships and five graduated from New Mexico high schools.

More than half of the new SOM students had received offers from other medical schools but selected UNM. During the past four years, the SOM has aggressively developed programs to attract minority students in medically underserved areas of New Mexico. Students in rural areas are more likely to return and practice medicine in their communities, creating new points of healthcare access where it is most needed. Special UNM scholarships for students in underserved areas, programs to prepare for and elevate MCAT scores and overall support for academic success were cited as reasons for this year’s increase in Native American enrollment.

“Our recruiting of underserved-area minority students, through culturally sensitive outreach and strong academic support, appears to be succeeding,” Bear adds.

“Under (SOM Dean) Dr. Paul Roth’s vision, the vital work of Dr. Romero-Leggott’s Office of Diversity and Dr. Dine’ Chacon’s Center for Native American Health,

Dr. Kevin Goodluck

we are better able to recruit and students who, historically, might not have had access to advanced mathematics or sophisticated academic laboratories during their student careers.”

On September 26, 2009, Dr. Kevin Goodluck (AIGC Alumnus) hosted a gathering at his home in Albuquerque, welcoming the new SOM students. Other guests included: Dr. Paul Roth, Executive Vice President of the Health and Sciences Center; Dr. Ellen Cosgrove, Senior Associate Dean of Education; Dr. David Bear, Assistant Dean of Admissions; Dr. Michael Montoya, Admissions Committee and Joaquin Baca of the UNM Office of Diversity.

“There are far too few American Indian doctors.

We need to do all we can to create a strong support system for these students. I was in their shoes once and it is critical for them to know that they have family, friends and a medical school that supports them,” Dr. Goodluck stated.

Dr. Goodluck is a physician at Presbyterian in Albuquerque and, in a 2009 issue of Albuquerque the Magazine, was named “Top Doc in Internal Medicine”. He is also a UNM Medical School Admission Committee Board Member. ✦ For more information on SOM admissions and special programs, visit: http://hsc.unm.edu/som/admissions/

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