Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717
Performing Department
Office of the Provost
Non Technical Summary
Numbers of students identifying as American Indian/Alaska Native in the Montana State University College of Agriculture have grown from 47 in 2019 to 93 in 2023. However, persistence rates for Indigenous students are still far lower than non-Indigenous students. This proposal seeks to increase Indigenous student persistence by 1) building a sense of belonging for tribal students that connects agricultural and culturally relevant experiences and 2) translate students' known strengths and experiences within their communities and families to overcome challenges and mitigate worries (self-efficacy) to persist in an agricultural pathway. Sweetgrass is a culturally significant plant to many Indigenous tribes. This perennial plant relies on responsible relatives to thrive. This plant example of persistence with ritual tending within its environment affords a narrative about Traditional Ecological Knowledge relatable to agriculture and serves as a model for student persistence. "Sweetgrass Gatherings" led by student grower/mentors will weave in academic and student success programs around the growing, tending, ceremony, gifting and braiding of Sweetgrass. "Sweetgrass Gatherings" will begin with hearing student voices and the proposed programs and project will be grown and modified from those voices. Gatherings will be supplemented with weekly agricultural class recitation/practice opportunities led by student tutor/mentors. The anticipated impact of this proposed project is that we are engaging with our students in culturally relevant ways, so we can hear their challenges, adopt Indigenous led strategies to help with those challenges, build scaffolding to support and celebrate their persistence, and close the persistence gap.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1 - Build a sense of belonging for tribal students that connects agricultural and culturally relevant experiences.objective 1. form an Indigenous undergraduate student advisory council that informs the pathway of student-centered programs andmeets with other student councilsobjective 2. engage and guide Indigenous undergraduate grower/mentors to develop their stories and programs to lead their peers and be responbile relatives to the sweetgrassobjective 3.create an outdoor space suitable for growing Sweetgrass and establish the grass standobjective 4. connect College of Agriculture Indigenous students to the Sweetgrass Gathering opportunities designed by their peersGoal 2 - Translate students' known strengths and experiences within their communities and families to overcome challenges and mitigate worries (self-efficacy) to persist in an agricultural degree pathway.objective 1.engage and guide Indigenous undergraduate tutor/mentors to develop their academic stories and programs to lead their peers through tutoring/recitation sessionsobjective 2. build recognition for the indoor space available for the Indigenous Pathways in Agriculture program through early welcome programobjective 3. develop and host Sweetgrass Gatherings (4 per semester) for all Indigenous undergraduate agriculture students connecting the life cycle of sweetgrass in tribes to their lives in the university environment
Project Methods
Sweetgrass is a culturally significant plant to many Indigenous tribes. This perennial plant relies on responsible relatives to thrive (leaf harvest encourages the plant to spread and maintain healthy populations that compete instead of struggling to survive) (Kimmerer, 2015). This plant example of persistence with ritual tending within its environment affords a narrative about Traditional Ecological Knowledge relatable to agriculture and serves as a model for student persistence. It is this important relationship on which this proposal and the projects included herein are based. Some of the projects are not novel and have known efficacy but do not exist in our college while others seek an innovative path from our student voices. Collectively, these projects will be known as the Sweetgrass Gatherings."Without knowing what our Indigenous students, faculty, staff are actually experiencing when they come to MSU, we may never be able to adequately meet their needs and provide equitable access to a quality educational experience that our strategic plan promises" (Russette, 2022). Accordingly, the Sweetgrass Gatherings will begin with hearing student voices and the proposed programs and project will be grown and modified from those voices. To respect students and their lived experiences, Russette's (2022) recent approach to hearing MSU Indigenous faculty voices as well the Indigenous Evaluation Framework, will serve as a guide in our approach to hearing student voices.During the first year, two steps will be taken to hear those voices. One step will be to form an undergraduate advisory council that we intend to grow to not less than six students (one from each department), and more will be encouraged. The student advisory council will inform the direction of the Indigenous Pathways in Agriculture, Sweetgrass Gatherings, and the College of Agriculture Academic Programs. The IPA program manager, the Associate Dean for Academic Programs (a PI), and Evaluator will be responsible for gathering with the council.A second step will be to engage Indigenous undergraduate grower/mentors (2) and tutor/mentors (2), who will start the sweetgrass plants and their peer students on their journey. During this journey, all College of Agriculture (CoA) Indigenous students will be invited to share the steps along the way and encouraged to invite their non-CoA peers. For growing the sweetgrass, these steps will include creating a blessed place, planting, tending, harvesting, braiding, and ceremony coupled with the steps that students experience on their collegiate path. Student growers/mentors will be guided to be responsible relatives to the sweetgrass by the IPA program manager and a horticulturist knowledgeable in Indigenous ways of knowing. For agricultural course support, these steps will include developing weekly tutoring/recitation sessions that supplement traditional tutoring and focus on becoming comfortable with course material through practice opportunities. These will be dynamically developed each semester depending on student needs. Student tutor/mentors will be guided by the IPA program manager and the PI. Student growers and tutors will be invited to present on the Sweetgrass Gatherings and the programs that they develop at the First Americans Land-Grant Consortium or the Intertribal Agriculture Council conference.Details of the Sweetgrass Gatherings will be informed by the advisory council and are intended to relate their lived experiences to their new collegiate experiences. Initially, the authors of this proposal are outlining a Sweetgrass Gathering framework of culturally relevant relationships, based on the authors' respectful perceptions of student needs. These perceptions are based on student narratives and observations of students who attended events in the IPA program over the last two years, students who spoke in panels at Tribal College visits associated with other NBTS grants, personal and past student connections, and interactions with Indigenous student programs across the MSU-campus (Empower in Engineering, Caring for Our Own Program in Nursing, and the American Indian/Alaska Native Student Success Services in the department of Native American Studies). At least 8 (4 per semester) regular Sweetgrass Gatherings will be held around 1) Sweetgrass planting, propagating, tending, harvesting, and the relationship to agricultural areas of study (environmental sciences, rangeland management, plant sciences, environmental health); 2) Sweetgrass environmental needs and the relationship to the resources, support, and environment students need (scholarships, tutoring, connection to internships and research experiences); and 3) Responsible relatives nurturing, braiding, gifting, and ceremony of Sweetgrass and the relationship to staff and faculty and building new traditions that can nurture students experiences (meeting faculty and staff in a safe environment to learn about plants, animal, and environmental issues that are relevant to the students and connect the faculty and staff with research relevant to the students' communities) .Training administrators on cultural awareness: All the authors of this proposal have experience and training in cultural awareness and continue to be involved in such programs. We will encourage and connect faculty and staff that engage in the Sweetgrass Gatherings to cultural awareness training opportunities through Indian Education for All, the MSU Center for Faculty Excellence diversity workshops, and specific grant activities centered on Indigenous cultural awareness we are made aware of through the MSU Common Threads Indigenous research group and the Council on American Indian Programs. The College of Agriculture will continue to organize and support opportunities for faculty and staff to listen and learn at the seven Montana tribal colleges and tribal communities around culture, ceremony, and the challenges tribal students and tribal faculty face. These opportunities have been highly successful in the past two years with faculty and staff sharing stories of their eye-opening experiences to the tribal students' and tribal faculty's lived experiences. These gatherings at tribal colleges and communities are critical to building and maintaining relationships.