Career and technical education at tribal colleges.

Although tribal colleges differ in some ways from mainstream schools, the need for strong career and technical education programs is one thing we all share.

The first tribally controlled college in the nation was established by the Navajo Nation in 1968 and served 300 students. Today there are 35 tribal colleges serving more than 30,000 students from more than 250 federally recognized tribes across the United States and Canada. Although tribal colleges make up less than one percent of the postsecondary institutions in the U.S., they educate nearly 18 percent of the entire American Indian student population in higher education. Fifty-six percent of the graduates will go on to attend a non-Indian college or university.

According to the American Indian College Fund, tribal colleges are fully accredited institutions with the same academic standards as their mainstream counterparts; however, the curriculum is infused With native culture. These are colleges that strive to increase academic achievement by promoting students' cultural identity and self-esteem.

The American Indian College Fund is a nonprofit organization that, in 1989, became the nation's largest provider of privately funded Indian scholarships. The fund supports scholarships, the tribal colleges' shared endowment, facilities needs, cultural preservation efforts, Indian teacher training programs and public awareness.

Cheryl Cadue Middleton is the program manager, public education and communication, for the American Indian College Fund, and she says that, with regard to the relationship between tribal Colleges and career and technical education, "We see the parallels. A lot of our schools were founded on vocational education."

Most of the 35 tribal colleges (34 are in the U.S. and one is in Canada) began as two-year schools, but 10 of them are now four-year postsecondary institutions. According to Diane Cullo, the director of development, communications and program initiatives for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), most of these schools receive no state funding, and therefore federal funding is critical. However, federal funds do not always come without a battle-something else they have in common with career and technical education.

Since 1972, AIHEC has assisted in the development and maintenance of the highest standards of quality education; developed and implemented programs that are consistent with the inherent rights of tribal sovereignty and self-determination; facilitated and encouraged federal and private funding. sources; assisted tribal colleges to address their technical and economic needs; and served as a liaison for the tribal colleges in Washington, D.C., and throughout the nation. The AIHEC supports the Work of the tribal colleges, and says Cullo, serves as the tribal colleges' voice on program and funding issues. It was founded by the presidents of the nation's first six tribal colleges, and today each of the presidents from the 35 current member institutions sits on the AIHEC board.

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) is not only located in the heart of Indian Country, it is also ideally situated in New Mexico's high-tech corridor, which is home to Los Alamos Labs and Sandia Labs. SIPI was established in 1971, and although its roots are as a vocational school, SIPI achieved community college status in 1993. The school is a member of AIHEC and was designated a land-grant institution in 1994.

Val Montoya, who works with grants and special programs at SIPI, notes that the school already had an agriculture program with a greenhouse before being designated as a land-grant institution. After the designation, Dr. Ron Hooks, chair of the Advanced Technical Education Department, re-established the greenhouse with different programs. Among these are growing seedlings to reforest tribal lands that have been damaged by tire and teaching about indigenous plants. Hooks is also involved in an exciting research project on phythoremediation in which he is studying how plants indigenous to New Mexico can be used to clean up toxic waste and soil contamination.

"We are also looking at collaborating with Taos Pueblo on high-value crops as a form of economic development," says Montoya.

Tribal colleges share more than just the roots of vocational education and a constant battle for federal funding with today's career and technical education. Montoya notes that they are also working to connect academics and technical education and to attract more students to high-wage careers. There are additional challenges to be met for tribal colleges, however.

"One of our challenges is Native Americans who come to our school and aren't college ready," notes Montoya. "We have to get them ready for technical programs."

SIPI is no longer waiting for that to happen and has put a number of programs in place to meet the problem head on.

"My department starts working with students even down to the sixth grade," Montoya explains. They now have almost 700 low-income, first-generation students with whom they are working in order to ensure these students stay in school.

Among the on-campus programs are a six-week NASA program, Upward Bound, and a four-week summer program funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, in which ninth and 10th grade students learn about different types of transportation as well as careers in the field.

SIPI also provides a lot of support, such as tutoring and mentoring, to ensure that their students complete the two-year program. About 25 percent of the students who graduate from SIPI transfer to four-year institutions, and the rest enter the job market. Some do both, working while completing their postsecondary studies.

Students can participate in cooperative learning and research internships, and such internships can benefit both the students and their tribal communities. Montoya tells how one student worked with the Pueblo Laguna to establish 911 systems.

"A lot of these tribes don't have a lot of technology," she explains. "So the students act as a bridge to introduce these technologies to their tribes."

Montoya thinks that "community colleges are really key for partnering with and strengthening communities," and adds that, "Tribal colleges have always played a role in that."

SIPI is also working to help tribes gain access to distance education, and the hope is that tribes will be able to utilize not only SIPI's programs, but other programs as well. Another way in which SIPI serves the community is through family extension programs, which include training, research and informal education. They hope to start construction next year on an early childhood education lab that will include satellite broadcast to a reservation.

This is another way to open up the world to tribes, which are usually living in isolated rural areas. By providing satellite downloads to a reservation, the school can broadcast training opportunities, one-time workshops and even complete courses.

Montoya says that all of these things work together to train the students and to help motivate them to complete their education.

Because of the industry in the area where SIPI is located, the school was established with a science and technology focus.

"They recognized where the labor market was," says Montoya, "and they wanted to make sure the tribes had a trained workforce that would be competitive."

Working toward this goal has been a rewarding experience for Montoya, a Native American who has been in the field of higher education for 18 years. Since coming to SIPI she says, "The thing I like most is seeing Native American students with technology in their hands."

D-Q University 

D-Q University is located on 643 acres in California at the site of a former Army communications relay station. Its name derives from two important figures in Native American history. The D represents the Great Peacemaker who inspired the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy, and whose full name is only used in religious context. The Q stands for the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, who symbolizes the principles of wisdom and self-discipline.

The school is small, and therefore a member of the faculty may wear more than one hat. Take for example Dave Childress who serves as Management Information Systems (MIS) director, acting dean of student services and also teaches computer sciences. Childress notes that programs at the college may flourish based on need, interest and even the dedication of a particular instructor. That has happened with the Appropriate Technology program at D-Q.

Childress explains, "It was started about 18 years ago out of a back-to-the-land sort of movement, but it was also intended to help people who live on remote reservations to come into the 21st century."

The program includes fundamentals of solar technology as well as agriculture issues such as organic farming. It has flourished under instructor Susan Mahoney but her recent departure for a job in the private sector may signal another period when the Appropriate Technology program begins to languish. Funding is another factor in the health of programs at D-Q, something not unfamiliar to many in the career tech field. The disappearance of tax incentives for solar power solutions has not helped the Appropriate Technology program. As Childress puts it, the program is still philosophically interesting but there are less financial incentives for it.

One source of funding for D-Q has been the California Indian Manpower Corporation (CIMC), which funds occupational programs and has a number of sites throughout the state. Through CIMC funding, D-Q has been offering C-Tech networking and cable installation training. Beginning this spring, they will be doing online general education courses and GED classes with federal funds from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Another fact of life for Native Americans today is the existence of tribally owned casinos. About 10 years ago, Childress says that one of the local tribes gave D-Q the initial funding for a Gaming Administration program at the college, and it has been a small but continuous program since then.

"In California there are at least 30 tribal casinos," note Childress. "The program was created in response to the tribes not having management leadership for their own casinos."

As a result of this leadership gap, he says, big business moved in and took about 50 to 70 percent of the proceeds. Casinos in the past have sometimes fallen under the control of organized crime, so it is important to the tribes that this not happen to theirs. Having their own leadership and management professionals can help them protect their business.

Crownpoint Institute of Technology

When visiting educators and politicians come to Crownpoint Institute of Technology, says Dr. Clint Balok, they can't believe that there is such a modern school in the middle of nowhere. The school prepares Navajo and other students with quality career and technical skills.

Balok is the program director of the Veterinary Technology Program, a two-year associate of science degree program at Crownpoint. The program was started in 1992 in a building described by Balok as "a little tin storage shed donated by a uranium mine." There was no heat, and yet students still came, even if it meant wrapping themselves in blankets when inside the building. Ten years later, that little tin shed is a 6,000-square-foot, ultra-modern facility, and the Veterinary Technology Program is on the verge of achieving accreditation by the American Veterinary Association. When that happens, it will become not just the only program of its kind at a tribal college, it will become the only veterinary technician program in the state of New Mexico with such an accreditation.

Balok says that his program has a lot of emphasis on experiential training, because the goal is not only academic enhancement but also job readiness for the students. "We expect an awful lot out of our students," comments Balok, who has not been disappointed in their achievements. Many of their graduates have been placed with employers, and the feedback has been very positive. As a practicing vet for 30 years, Balok has the advantage of knowing what is expected of veterinary technicians.

Another thing that makes the Crownpoint students so marketable is the wide variety of animals they are exposed to during their studies there, including horses, cattle, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas and Rocky Mountain elk, as well as dogs, cats and birds.

"People will drive 150 miles to bring an animal to us," comments Balok. Crownpoint charges an expense fee because, as Balok puts it, "We're always broke and need to replenish our drugs and supplies." But he adds that they have never turned an animal away because its owner couldn't pay.

"Our goal is to keep expanding our horizons," says Balok, who sees the program as more than just a way to get a degree. He calls it a chance for the graduates to fit into a number of different job situations, from veterinary hospitals to wildlife departments, animal control offices, dairies and agriculture-based industries.

"It's been a lot of fun to see how we can change the lives of these young people and give them more to look forward to than flipping hamburgers or pumping gas," Balok says.

Because of the importance of animals to Native American culture, there are issues of cultural correctness to be maintained. There are lessons on the use of herbs and native plants, and tribal elders speak to the classes about topics such as how and when to castrate a horse in the traditional way. Sometimes there are special situations that must be handled in a culturally appropriate way. Recently the wife of one of Balok's students was pregnant, and there were certain things the student could not do. For example, during his wife's pregnancy, he could not use a knife on an animal or touch a dead animal.

Although Balok is not Native American himself, he has been around their culture all of his life. There is also a Native American faculty member who acts as his cultural advisor. Far from being uncomfortable with the unique cultural aspects of his institution, Balok sees the positives in it. He explains how special events at Crownpoint Institute of Technology open with a traditional Native American ceremony or prayer.

"That's why we have such a positive energy here," says Balok, "because we recognize the spiritual component."

A Cross-Cultural Connection

For teachers who would like to help their students learn about--and connect with--Native American students, the Cradleboard Teaching Project is the place to turn.

Founded by singer and teacher Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Cradleboard Teaching Project provides curriculum and cross-cultural connectivity for students in elementary, middle and high school grades. Sainte-Marie, already familiar to many children through her appearances on Sesame Street, is hoping to further dispel racism and stereotyping with regard to Native Americans for non-Native American students, and to raise self-identity and self-esteem for Native American ones.

The Cradleboard Teaching Project includes Electronic Powwows and multi media resources such as the CD-ROM Science: Through Native American Eyes.

For more information, visit www.cradleboard.org.

Resources

The following organizations are involved in the work of providing educational opportunities for Native Americans.

* The American Indian Higher Education Consortium Founded by, and jointly governed by, the tribal colleges, AIHEC supports the work of the colleges and the national movement for tribal self-determination.

www.aihec.org

* The American Indian College Fund

This nonprofit organization is the nation's largest provider of privately funded scholarships for Native Americans. www.collegefund.org

* The Office of Indian Education Programs

The OIEP is part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, and was established to carry out the federal government's education commitment to Indian tribes. www.oiep.bia.edu

* Office of Indian Education

An office of the U.S. Department of Education, OIE supports the efforts of local education agencies, postsecondary institutions and tribes. www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/oie/index.html

* The Indian Education Professional Development Program

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Indian Education, the program provides professional development grants to qualified Native Americans to become teachers, administrators and teacher aides, www.ed.gov/programs/indianprofdev/index.htm

* Center for Indian Education

The Center for Indian Education promotes studies in American Indian/Alaska Native policy and administration that contribute to the quality of scholarship and effective practices in education, professional training and tribal capacity building. It is housed in the College of Education at Arizona State University. The Center also publishes the Journal of American Indian Education. www.coe.asu.edu/cie