Vol. 4, Issue 1 office of university Partnerships Tribal Colleges and Universities Program

Expanding the Future of Tribal Education expanding Minds and Preserving Cultures

ike most institutions of higher may live in harmony is the moral of many at Chief Dull Knife College devised a education, Tribal colleges wear Native American stories. These subtle solution that turned the problem into an Lmany hats. In addition to their primary messages that promote harmony have been educational opportunity for students—and goal to deliver academic instruction that clearly heard and are being applied at Chief provided parents with much-needed provides students the skills they need to Dull Knife College, a tribally controlled childcare. succeed, Tribal colleges serve as a valuable institution of higher education located on resource for their communities, offering the Northern Indian Reservation With a recent grant from the U.S. career development programs and much- in Lame Deer, . Department of Housing and Urban needed community services, enhancing Development’s (HUD’s) Office of economic development, and creating strong University Partnerships (OUP), Chief Dull leadership. At Tribal colleges, supporting With the assistance of TCUP Knife College built a new Early Childhood the community is not an option—it’s a Learning Center that is mutually beneficial given. But what sets them apart from other funds, Tribal colleges and to students and community members. colleges and universities is a commitment universities continue to renovate to their culture. Tribal colleges play a vital role in preserving native languages and and expand their physical Designing a Center that maintaining cultural traditions. facilities to meet the growing Balances Culture with the Natural Environment This issue of TCUP Central showcases educational needs of their the efforts of three Tribal colleges that students, faculty, and staff, Planning for the new Early Childhood are expanding the minds of students Learning Center began in 2003 when while strengthening the community and as well as their communities. Chief Dull Knife College sought assistance preserving their cultures. from the University of Washington and the Pennsylvania State University, with whom Support for Parents Leads to a it had a working relationship. The three Chief Dull Knife College Balances Learning Experience for Students institutions formed the American Indian Educational Opportunities with Housing Initiative (AIHI), a collaborative Community Needs When the need for additional safe and effort to adapt and deploy sustainable reliable childcare arose in the small rural building technologies on American Harmony is a reoccurring theme in Native town of Lame Deer, many community Indian reservations. The Early Childhood American cultures. The philosophy of members saw it as an insurmountable Learning Center project enlisted the help striking a balance with other humans, challenge, as resources and options are of faculty and students from the University creatures, and Mother Earth so that all often limited. But the faculty and staff of Washington, Penn State, and the

continued on page 2 Office of Policy Development and Research TCUP Central is a free publication pre- pared by the University Partnerships Clearinghouse, the information service sponsored by HUD’s Office of University bales as its primary Partnerships (OUP). TCUP Central building material. highlights the contributions of TCUPs to local community efforts. You may The advantages of contact the University Partnerships a facility built with Clearinghouse at (800) 245-2691. eco-friendly See the Office of University Partnerships on the straw bales are World Wide Web at numerous. Straw www.oup.org. bales provide excellent thermal insulation, making Expanding Minds, them an ideal continued from page 1 building material that can endure University of Wisconsin–Madison Montana’s average to design and build a center that temperatures that o complemented the unique cultural heritage range from 5 F in of the Northern Cheyenne. To ensure the winter months o that the structure met the needs of the to 89 F in the Construction of the outer shell of the Early Childhood Learning Center community, faculty and students held summer months. In addition, Montana community design workshops and used The facility also maximizes daylight can experience unseasonably cold or hot landscape projects as an opportunity to and uses radiant floor heating and temperatures that range from 50 degrees unite Cheyenne youth and elders with evaporative cooling to further enhance above or below average. Straw bales are college students. its energy efficiency. also weatherproof, fire resistant, pest-free, and soundproof—all very desirable features The Early Childhood Learning Center Innovative Building With for a childcare facility. Moreover, building at Chief Dull Knife College is the Straw Bales with straw bales is extremely cost-effective seventh building constructed through the ($2 to $4 per bale) as the material is collaborative effort of the AIHI and its The result of this collaborative effort was easily available and installation requires partner universities. Each year, students a 4,000-square-foot facility that uses straw minimal expertise. and faculty collaborate on the design, planning, and construction of a sustainable home or community building. Facilities are constructed in two 3-week blitz-build workshops during the summer. To date, partner universities and the AIHI have built four homes and three community buildings using straw bale construction.

“This is truly a mutual learning experience for everyone involved, no matter what their background,” said Sam Dennis, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “It’s about bringing together the resources and the expertise of the Cheyenne and other people to create a sustainable building and partnership.”

A Mutually Beneficial Solution

With the addition of the new Early Childhood Learning Center, the availability of safe and reliable childcare Early Childhood Learning Center under construction

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2 / TCUP Central Expanding Minds, continued from page 2 Cultural learning Center Builds skills is no longer a weighing issue for the and Preserves Heritage community. In addition, the center enables students who are pursuing degrees in early and elementary education to interact he spiritual heart of the campus. to identify specific institutional needs. with young children more closely and That’s how Tom Davis, The Cultural Learning Center, with its translate education theory into practice. Tpresident of Little Priest Tribal College classroom, museum, offices, computer The center provides college students (LPTC) in Winnebago, Nebraska, lab, and kitchen, was constructed in with an opportunity to hone their skills, describes the school’s Cultural Learning response to those needs. For example, making them better prepared for life after Center. One of five main buildings on students wanted more classroom and college—all while providing a valuable the LPTC campus, the center stands as meeting space to support the tribal service to the community. a repository of the knowledge and language program. The center now culture of the Winnebago people. It houses the Renaissance program where is also one of the few places in this students are instructed in Winnebago rural community where students can language and culture. “The Winnebago access the Internet and information on language is dying,” says Davis. “But topics of interest to them. To ensure through the Renaissance program, that the facility offers students the teachers fluent in the Winnebago equipment and resources they need, the language, along with their teaching college recently used grant funds from assistants, instruct over 900 students per the U.S. Department of Housing and year in this language.” In this program, Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Office students also receive instruction in the of University Partnerships (OUP) to Winnebago culture from ethnobotany Early Childhood Learning Center enhance the center. to tribal games and music. They also participate in programs where they Center Helps to Preserve compete to demonstrate their mastery For additional information about the Early Language and Culture of the language or display their skills by Childhood Learning Center and Chief Dull cooking traditional feasts that feature Knife College, contact: LPTC holds stakeholder listening dishes such as milkweed soup. Through sessions with the college’s internal this program, college students have William Wertman constituencies— students, faculty, staff, access to more than four semesters of Vice President, Administration administrators, and board of directors— language classes. “This is important, P.O. Box 98 Chief Dull Knife College continued on page 4 Lame Deer, MT 59043 Phone: (406) 477-6215, ext. 117 Fax: (406) 477-6219 E-mail: [email protected] =•

Front view of the Cultural Learning Center

 / TCUP Central Cultural Learning Center, continued from page 3 because 75 percent of our graduating students go on to pursue baccalaureate degrees that have a foreign language requirement,” says Davis. “Although Winnebego is not considered a foreign language at LPTC, many universities consider it as such and students are able to use it to fulfill their foreign language requirement.”

The center also houses the college’s Land Grant programs, which includes a research program. LPTC is strong on experiential learning and undergraduate research, and students in this program aid in research in areas such as ethnobotany and other culturally related disciplines.

Exhibiting and Documenting History

In the Winnebago community, the need for tribal archives and a museum is a major priority, and LPTC has as part of its responsibility the development of programs that preserve the language, culture, and traditions of the Winnebago people. The Cultural Learning Center houses the Tribe’s museum, archives, and a computer lab Back view of the Cultural Learning Center that is often used for language and cultural three dimensions of the photographed culture,” says Davis. “It fully expresses education. The museum is a substantial objects. The students worked with the culture at meetings, ceremonies, and area with many Winnebego artifacts, elders from the Renaissance program classes—especially those on language and including arrowheads, baskets, clothing, to create text to explain the objects’ culture.” and headdresses. It has many unique cultural significance. features, such as the Mayan Center. In addition to TCUP funds, LPTC also A number of years ago, the college At the center’s computer lab, professionals received assistance from the Winnebago completed a project with the Mayan people with the Renaissance program use regular Tribe, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Mexico. The museum documents the computers with special software to digitize the American Indian College Fund, the project with artifacts as well as photographs hundreds of hours of tapes on language and U.S. Department of Education Title III, that illustrate the commonalities between culture for transcription to become part of the National Science Foundation, and the Winnebago and Mayan cultures. online classes. Students also use the lab to The American Indian Higher Education complete research and homework. Consortium’s Log Cabin Project to help The college Web site has a virtual museum enhance the Cultural Learning Center. that includes a powerful presentation of Winnebago cultural artifacts that can Multifunctional Center For additional information about Little be examined from different angles and Priest Tribal College and its Cultural magnified to provide detail. Faculty, “The Cultural Learning Center is a Learning Center, contact: students, and tribal elders worked together multifunctional center that provides to build this museum. Individuals from instruction and information and is a place Tom Davis the National Museum of the American where students sometimes gather to hold President Indian in Washington, D.C., also worked meetings,” says Davis. They fully utilize Little Priest Tribal College with middle school students at the center’s the center’s kitchen facilities to prepare 601 East College Drive computer lab to develop the photography traditional meals for campus events. Winnebago, NE 68071 using a lazy Susan device to capture all “Food is central to the Winnebago E-mail: [email protected] •

4 / TCUP Central : Health Fitness Center Helps Promote Active lifestyle

he benefits of being physically fit But, perhaps more than any other health an active lifestyle. Thanks to a grant are more than skin deep. Being condition, physical inactivity can be from the U.S. Department of Housing Tphysically active can save your life. In prevented. It’s often a challenge that and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) fact, being physically active could save requires a lifestyle change, and Salish Office of University Partnerships (OUP), more than 250,000 lives each year. That’s Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, is the college has recently constructed a the number of deaths attributed to lack of helping students make that change. health fitness center that includes the regular physical activity. latest equipment found in fitness centers nationwide. The new fitness center is a Unwilling to Become a Statistic vast improvement over previous exercise Physical inactivity ignites an unhealthy facilities that mostly included high school chain of events that can have deadly As area residents changed their living gymnasiums with limited access and results. Being physically inactive—a patterns, the likelihood of engaging equipment. “We have a fair amount of category that more than 50 percent of physical activity was reduced. “Our students that use the new fitness center, Native American males and 64 percent of people have transitioned from an active and its convenient location is helping Native American females fall into—often farming community to a people that attracting more of the local residents,” leads to obesity, a leading risk factor for now live in cluster housing,” said Joe said McDonald. diabetes, which is the fourth deadliest McDonald, president of Salish Kootenai disease among Native Americans and College. “This has reduced the amount The health fitness center, which is the the most important risk factor for of daily physical activity. They no longer fourth facility the college has built to serve cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular need to walk. Anywhere we travel is students, faculty, and staff, also provides disease is the leading cause of death by car.” dietary information and health referrals of Native Americans, occurring at to reduce the incidence and effects of rates almost twice that of the general Salish Kootenai College has reintroduced diabetes and obesity. Providing nutritional U.S. population. students and community members to information is critical to improving the idea and importance of maintaining the lives of students and the larger community, as the traditional diet is rich in fat and starch-based foods that add to an overall unhealthy lifestyle. Information on housing, health, employment, and higher education opportunities is also available at the fitness center.

A Future of Growth

The college plans to expand the fitness center with funding from various sources, including HUD and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The expanded facility will build upon the health referral system and dietary information already available. When completed in 2007, the center will include a demonstration kitchen where students can learn about healthy ways of cooking and also serve as a community facility for large gatherings.

The college works to preserve traditional languages, build leadership for economic Inside the newly dedicated health and fitness center development projects, and engage

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5 / TCUP Central U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of University Partnerships FIRST-CLASS MAIL 451 Seventh Street, SW POSTAGE & FEES PAID Washington, DC 20410-000 HUD Permit No. G–795

Official Business Penalty for Private Use $00 Return Service Requested

Salish Kootenai College, continued from page 5 people where they live to ensure that that will help with economic development For additional information about Salish the tribal cultures are preserved for projects designed to enhance the overall Kootenai College and its community future generations. With a grant from condition of the community. The cultural outreach work, contact: the Kellogg Foundation, the school is and language preservation projects building a cadre of community leaders help to ensure that as growth occurs, Michael Timothy O’Donnell the traditions of their ancestors are not Office of the President forgotten and still provide an important 52000 Highway 93 North touchstone for tribal members. Pablo, MT 59855 Phone: (406) 275-4800 Fax: (406) 275-4801 E-mail: [email protected] •

Dedication ceremony for the Salish Kootenai College health and fitness center

HUD’s Office of University Partnerships (OUP) provides grants to institutions of higher education to assist them and their partners with the implementation of a broad range of community development activities, including neighborhood revitalization, housing, and economic development. This newsletter, TCUP Central, highlights the efforts of grantees in OUP’s Tribal Colleges and Universities Program. With interesting articles on campus rehabilitation and renovation projects and vital social service programs, it is a valuable resource for Tribal colleges and universities.