Native American Program

Objectives

Student Retention
Encouraging students to continue their cultural and spiritual development while navigating toward their academic goals. This is accomplished through offering Native perspective programming, membership to a strong Native community, and peer mentoring.
Academic Advising
Monitoring academic progress and addressing issues that threaten to impede this progress as they arise. This is accomplished by working closely with departmental advisors and the Academic Dean's office.
Student Advocacy
Mediating between the campus and Native American cultural communities. Often cultural misunderstandings result in miscommunication and conflict that could impede the students' progress to graduation or make them feel they are in a hostile environment impeding their academic performance. This is remedied by examining the situation from a middle-ground perspective and discussion with all parties involved toward a general understanding of the institutional and cultural perspectives, concluding in peaceful resolution of the issue.
Educational Programming
Promoting a better understanding of the Native American culture to the non-Native campus community. Additionally, educating our Native students about cross-National cultural ways and continuing cultural learning of their own peoples and histories.
Activity Coordination
Facilitating social activities to strengthen both inter and intra group community relations. This is a two-fold objective whereby 1) Native students are able to engage in activities geared toward their specific needs and 2) other cultural communities throughout the campus are invited to experience a paradigm shift in perspective through attending these activities and programs.

Departmental Goals

Increase Group Cohesion
Inter-tribal histories often create barriers on a personal level for umbrella groups such as "Native America" where, though the government classifies the Nations singularly, we identify as individual Nations. It is vital in the educational system where we are so few that we put aside these differences to work for the benefit of the collective whole. This can be accomplished by 1) learning each other's history, the end result is that we are more alike then different, 2) intensifying club recruitment and community involvement, show those who are passing that it is ok to be Indian on this campus and we want them to join us, and 3) intensify peer mentorship, our cultures are based on this principal of "senior" guiding "junior" we need to be able to incorporate what works in our cultural communities into our approach of academics
Increase Active Participation
Many students feel the need to identify with the majority culture once leaving their tribal communities to attend school. We would like to demonstrate that cultural self and academic self do not have to be separated in this campus environment. Increased active participation can be accomplished through peer recruitment, curriculum involvement, and inclusive departmental programming that supports cultural self expression with in the academic environment.
Expand Cultural Knowledge
Because our racial classification is inclusive of over 500 Nations many people assume that being Indian makes you an expert on all tribal ways. In fact very often we know little of the ways of other Nations as we strive to protect and teach our own tribal ways. In an environment where many Nations are recognized as a single entity it is important that we work together for the benefit of all our Native children, this demands inter-cultural cooperation achieved only though knowledge and understanding of the whole spectrum of out Native community. It is also sadly common to have students who know little of their own Nations' life ways and history, to identify as Indian and to be Indian are often two very different scenarios. We want for our students to have an active knowledge of their People so that all our students who identify as Native are educated in what that identity means on a daily level.
Increase Visibility of Native American Presence in the Campus Community
The idea of Native Americans as the invisible minority is far too real. The only way to share our rich heritage and the many gifts we offer in terms of social, environmental, academic, and historic knowledge is to incorporate our ways into the curriculum and work towards cultural appreciation (not acceptance or tolerance but understanding and appreciation). This can be accomplished though educational programming and curricular inclusion of Native American studies courses, as well as training for instructors on how to accept the Native perspective as a valid and vital perspective in the classroom setting.
Expand and Intensify Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment is an area of primary concern for most affinity groups. This is the first generation of Native American students to have the support of the institution in this capacity. We must let students know that their presence on campus is welcomed not tolerated and that the community both Native and non-Native is waiting to receive them as interregnal members, acknowledging their academic ability and appreciating their cultural life-ways. Only once this community climate is achieved will we be successful in retaining high percentages of our Native American students though to graduation from this institution.