Linda Lomahaftewa, a noted painter, has taught at much bigger places than the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). But Lomahaftewa, who is Hopi-Choctaw, and others on the faculty of IAIA are intensely devoted to the mission of this small but unique school. IAIA--the nation's only four-year fine arts institution devoted to American Indian and…

The ambitious efforts to recruit American Indian males are working, despite an abundance of hurdles, including lack of money to pay for college, few peer and mentor incentives and important family obligations that don't seem to leave much time for pursuits like college. American Indian male enrollment at tribal colleges and universities has risen…

At first glance, Miami University in southwestern Ohio seems an unlikely spot for a major American Indian language and cultural preservation and revitalization project. There are no reservations in the state, nor is there a significant American Indian population. Yet, Miami University houses the Myaamia Project, a unique collaboration between…

High in the hills south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, stands a greenhouse that Luke Reed hopes will help American Indians eat healthier. Reed also recently used the structure, completed in August, to teach a course on greenhouse management to representatives of the nearby Santo Domingo, Cochiti and Santa Clara pueblos. Near the greenhouse, fruit trees…

Indian gaming has proven to be a very good thing for all students in Oklahoma, but particularly tribal college students. It also has proven to be remarkably popular, even in the face of the national recession. The Creek Nation operates several casinos in the state, the main one being the River Spirit in Tulsa. The performance of any gaming varies…

The governance structure of most American Indian tribes was designed by the U.S. Department of the Interior in the 1930s, and tribes and experts say the systems disadvantaged tribal nations more than they helped. "These governments were not very sophisticated and were often unwieldy, with no provisions for court systems. These systems usually…

Native Americans have long struggled to battle Hollywood stereotypes, correct the distorted "official" histories found in textbooks and museums and present their stories on their own terms. It is not surprising that a group of Native American scholars and activists is gearing up for an effort to rewrite their history to clarify the true…

Tribal colleges are at the forefront of a communitywide effort to combat suicide with culturally relevant methods. The Wiconi Ohitika project is one of several tribal college and mainstream university efforts to address the high rates of suicide among American Indians. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide…

Total associate degrees conferred by U.S. institutions increased by 11 percent between academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11 to a record high of close to 950,000. Among students of color, the percentage increase was even higher: 13 percent. Students of color received nearly 300,000 associate degrees or about one-third of the 2010-11 total. Among…

Although 39 federally recognized American Indian tribes are headquartered in the state of Oklahoma, it comes as some surprise that there were no tribal colleges in the state until this century. During the past eight years, however, tribal colleges have been cropping up throughout the state, including the Comanche Nation College, the College of the…

Dine, the very first tribal college in the United States, and the tribal college movement are both celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. The seeds of the movement were sown many decades before the debut of the Navajo Community College. Indeed, since native peoples began attending mainstream U.S. colleges and universities 350 years ago,…

Few organizations have as racially and culturally diverse a work force as the organizations that make up the World Bank Group. Of its 13,000 employees, nearly 60 percent of whom are located in downtown Washington, D.C., and the rest scattered across 160 offices around the globe, nearly every nation in the world is represented in the World Bank…

According to a 2006 National Science Foundation study, African-Americans, Hispanics and American Indians make up only 2.65 percent, 3.53 percent, and 0.59 percent, respectively, of life sciences academics at four-year institutions. The lack of biologists and other scientists from these ethnic groups is a threat to America's public health and…

Amid numerous efforts to increase college-going and completion rates among minority students, for-profit institutions stand out as a leader in that regard. Class flexibility for working and non-traditional students, online courses, and corporate partnerships to reimburse employees are all contributing factors to their appeal. However, along with…

George Thomas, a Cherokee and an eager young graduate student at the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s, was discouraged to learn that American Indian students were openly discouraged from pursuing areas of higher education that involved "hard science." Thomas had been recruited by the university to serve as the director of its new program,…