Building Sustainability Pathways
2014 – 2017
About The Program
In 2013, the College Fund conducted listening sessions with twelve tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the upper Midwest region (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). The purpose of the sessions was to determine areas of interest and need related to institutional, faculty, and student development in the environmental and sustainability fields at the TCUs.
Shared values expressed from these listening sessions:
- Need for culturally informed sustainability practices
- Contextualization of education
- Faculty and student research opportunities that are relevant to community
- Increase technology use and skills among TCU faculty, staff, and students
Indigenous principles for sustainability and environmental science programming:
- Preservation and restoration of Native lifeways
- Intergenerational knowledge transfer
- Place-based capacity building
The development of the Building Sustainability Pathways (BSP) program from 2014-2017 was informed by these listening sessions and was designed to support capacity building at TCUs through increasing qualifications and skills of faculty, providing resources that support student completion of bachelor’s programs, and supporting development of expanded and new programs in environmental studies, sciences, natural resources, wildlife management, sustainability, and related fields. Further, academic program and course development and faculty and student development opportunities incorporated place-based and intergenerational knowledge transfer.
In 2017, Kai Teague was hired as a program administrator to oversee the BSP program. They conducted site-visits and interviews, and were intentional in developing relationships with TCU faculty, project directors, and students to understand how this work was being enacted. Insights from TCU sharing greatly informed the following Scholarly Emergence for Environmental Design and Stewardship (SEEDS) 2017-2020 program, which included the creation of dynamic capacity building grant opportunities focused on integrated components to support a more comprehensive and holistic approach.
Program Gallery
Grantees
Blackfeet Community College
College of Menominee Nation
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University
Leech Lake Tribal College
Little Big Horn College
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College
Oglala Lakota College
Sinte Gleska University
Sitting Bull College
Stone Child College
United Tribes Technical College
Related Blogs
Planting the Seeds of Cultural Sustainability
For Earth Day, Student Ambassador Aiyanna Tanyan (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) explores how cultural gardens, land stewardship, and community workshops help Native students at Haskell Indian Nations University reclaim Native food sovereignty.
American Indian College Fund Publishes Environmental Stewardship Guidebook
The College Fund published “Caring for Our Kin: Stories of Indigenous Environmental Stewardship” as a guidebook for Native students and community members interested in the field. Read the stories of Indigenous environmental leaders and learn about their multi-faceted approaches to stewardship.
American Indian College Fund Sponsors Five Tribal College Environmental Science Programs
American Indian College Fund Sponsors Five Tribal College Environmental Science Programs Program to Develop Culturally Relevant Science Programming to Benefit Tribal Communities and Lands in Northern Great Plains States Denver, Colo.—August 5, 2021–The American Indian...
Thinking Sustainably at Tribal Colleges
For many, it’s a matter of economics. For others, policy. These are necessary components, of course, but thinking in such terms can easily gloss over some of the most important choices we make: the smaller ones we make day to day, often without much forethought
