Source: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
IGLUWIYEYA (PREPARE ONESELF): CONTINUING PATHWAYS FROM PREPARATION TO GRADUATION AT LAND-GRANT INSTITUTION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1033079
Grant No.
2024-70411-43323
Cumulative Award Amt.
$500,000.00
Proposal No.
2024-06834
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2024
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2027
Grant Year
2024
Program Code
[NBTS]- New Beginning for Tribal Students
Recipient Organization
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 2275A
BROOKINGS,SD 57007
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The goal of Igluwiyeya (Prepare Oneself): Continuing Pathways from Preparation to Graduation at Land-Grant Institutions is to create and sustain American Indian (AI) student pathways to access and success at South Dakota State University and Tribal College and University (TCU) partner Sinté Gleška University (SGU). This project builds upon the success of SDSU's Wokini Initiative (WI) and leverages existing student programs at SGU and SDSU to strengthen current programming, create additional pre-college and transition programs, develop sustainable resources, and increase support for American Indian (AI) students through targeted outreach and cultural competency building.This project will streamline AI student journeys by providing AI student-centered approaches to college access and success. It will enhance Lakota/Dakota/Nakota cultural competency to increase engagement and community-building and will create sustainable resources that will continue to promote access to college degrees and student support for tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students. Igluwiyeya offers an attainable vision for tribal students on their path to securing a valuable career in their tribal communities through higher education.The project's impact will be measured by the number of AI students adequately prepared to pursue higher education and their enrollment count, retention rate, and graduation rate at SDSU and SGU. The program will lay the foundation for tribal students to gain knowledge of and participate in college preparation programs, transition programs, and academic and personal support services to strengthen students' persistence through graduation in higher education.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360503020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
As the Wokini Initiative continues to focus on the needs identified by tribal leaders to promote American Indian student success in higher education, the Igluwiyeya project was born. The overall goal of the Igluwiyeya project is to create student pathways to access and success in the unique institutional context of WI's partner, Sinté Gleška University (SGU). The previous award of this grant began in Fall 2020 to address some of these challenges by creating and hiring college access liaisons (CAL) at three partner Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), including current partner SGU, from the communities in which they reside. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time, in-person contact was limited. CALs began work on establishing relationships, surveying partnerships, identifying strengths and challenges, and beginning to develop resources to support AI student recruitment from TCUs.This proposal builds off and continues the work completed in the previous USDA grant award. The current proposed Igluwiyeya project has three main objectives:Streamline American Indian (AI) student journeys by providing AI student-centered approaches to college access and success for three audiences: tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students.Enhance Lakota/Dakota/Nakota cultural competency to increase engagement and community building; foster a supportive campus environment that promotes academic and social integration improving AI student success.Create sustainable resources that will continue to promote access to college degrees and student support for tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students.These pathways and resources aim to address the low recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of AI students pursuing higher education. Building on the success of the WI and the college access liaison (CAL) positions created in the first iteration of this grant, the established CAL at SGU will provide outreach to project partners and develop resources to foster sustainability of the project. Outreach consists of, but is not limited to, the following: promotion of pre-college programs (i.e. SDSU's summer college preparation program), career exploration, assistance in how to navigate the college application and financial aid processes, and opportunities for advance degree obtainment.This project will enhance the cultural awareness and competence of SDSU faculty and staff through an experiential workshop to a local reservation, as well as a professional development course offered on SDSU's campus. These opportunities will help foster a more supportive and inclusive SDSU campus environment for AI students through intentional faculty and staff learning about Lakota/Dakota/Nakota history and culture.An additional focus of the project is to develop the following sustainable resources: an AI pathway model at SGU that identifies strategies to transform education institutions to better support tribal students' access to and success at college, and a tribal workforce directory that outlines the workforce development needs in students' tribal communities. The SGU college access liaison (CAL) will continue to build upon existing high school and college programs and services to inspire and guide students to pursue and succeed in higher education at SGU and SDSU. Additionally, the CAL will assist in the creation of resources focused on key areas noted above to promote postsecondary degree attainment and utilization of project developed resources with tribal high school and TCU students.Igluwiyeya will instill hope by creating an attainable vision for tribal students on their path to securing a valuable career in their tribal communities through higher education. The impact of the project will be measured by the number of AI students adequately prepared to pursue higher education and their headcount, retention rate, and graduation rate at SDSU and SGU, a local TCU partner. The program will lay the foundation for tribal students to gain knowledge of and participate in college preparation programs, transition programs, and academic and personal support services to strengthen students' persistence through graduation.
Project Methods
The WI itself is a one-of-a-kind endeavor, taking land grant funds and reinvesting in AI students and tribal collaborations. This is the first time this has been done in the U.S. and goes above and beyond by fostering relationships with tribal communities. The WI director is responsible for facilitating open dialogues between members of SD tribes, SDSU and other key stakeholders to best serve tribal constituents, the university, state, and region. The director facilitates and provides support for the Wokini Leadership Council (WLC) and the President's Wokini Advisory Council (PWAC) to improve outcomes of the WI. The WLC is comprised of key SDSU personnel and Brookings (where SDSU's main campus is located) community leaders and provides strategic advice and insight into the overall goals and objectives of the WI. The PWAC consists of tribal chairpersons, or their delegates, from SD's nine tribal nations, tribal education directors, and presidents, or their delegates, from each of SD's TCUs. The PWAC provides input, guidance, and counsel in SDSU's efforts to support AI students, tribal nation-building and improve the outcomes of the WI.

Progress 09/01/24 to 08/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Streamline American Indian (AI) student journeys by providing AI student-centered approaches to college access and success for three audiences: tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students. SDSU and SGU will continue to identify retention programs, refine existing programming, and work towards enhancing programming outreach and outcomes. Our grant team will also continue to strengthen relationships within our communities begin identifying advanced degrees and other degree pathways for prospective and existing students and determine strengths, barriers, and gaps in these fields that causes students to avoid pursuing or completing a degree program. We will also work with partners, community members, and our various student audiences to identify possible solutions to increase access to these fields. Enhance Lakota/Dakota/Nakota cultural competency to increase engagement and community building; foster a supportive campus environment that promotes academic and social integration improving AI student success. The Wokini Initiative will begin offering training developed from the full professional development course to any campus partner that is unable to participate in the full course but would like to begin establishing a partnership and the foundation to better understand Oceti Sakowin culture. In addition to these trainings and presentations, we hope to share more information about the success and impacts this pilot program has had on the SDSU community with SGU, tribal communities and organizations, as well as any organization interested in cultural professional development in South Dakota who would like to better understand Oceti Sakowin culture. Create sustainable resources that will continue to promote access to college degrees and student support for tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students. Our team will begin identifying tribal workforce needs that are defined by tribal communities that connect to SDSU and SGU. We plan to host listening sessions with community members of ages ranging from 14 years old and above that can help identify what fields tribal communities are interested in and identify as a need for their respective communities. Identifying communities' needs is essential in laying the foundation for development proper resources that will be useful for outreach for our respective institutions.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Streamline American Indian (AI) student journeys by providing AI student-centered approaches to college access and success for three audiences: tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students. SDSU and SGU have developed a strong relationship and are actively meeting virtually each month. Each institution's teams are actively reviewing what retention programming exists at our respective universities that is readily available to prospective and existing students. The programming of each institution will then be compared to determine what programming we could support for transition programming to each institution or identifying programming is missing that could be beneficial to develop and have as standard programming. Additionally, comparing programming will help identify successes of each program or areas that can be adjusted to increase effectiveness. An example program that exists at SDSU but not yet established at SGU is the Artist-in-Residence program. This is a program that has shown to be beneficial to retention rates through SDSU's American Indian Student Center's annual student survey. Students identified this annual program as a motivator to continue attending SDSU events and staying on campus. SGU hosts cultural programming like the Artist-in-Residence event, but it is not considered an annual program that students can plan to attend. SGU is now considering hosting collaborative events with SDSU like this one that will act as a bridge between our universities; SGU students can attend the Artist-in-Residence program one year and SDSU students can attend SGU's the next, alternating hosting responsibilities. This is an opportunity for SGU students to become familiar with SDSU's campus, programming, and the campus community. Additionally, SDSU students, staff, and faculty could become more familiar with SGU's campus community, strengthening relationships and enhancing collaboration opportunities for grant projects and beyond. Enhance Lakota/Dakota/Nakota cultural competency to increase engagement and community building; foster a supportive campus environment that promotes academic and social integration improving AI student success. We have successfully conducted a pilot program that took place in the Fall semester of 2024 that included 7 participants from a core office of SDSU: the Office of Career Development. An issue that was identified in the previous Igluwiyeya project was a concern that staff would not be encouraged to participate in cultural professional development programs offered compared to faculty. We strategically worked with an office that works with all SDSU students of varying academic levels and backgrounds, but that were not faculty. The Director of the Office of Career Development relayed the idea of participating as the pilot office for this professional development course to their office staff. Each staff member opted to participate in this optional course that included six 1-hour sessions and provided bear bfeedback for each session. This pilot program was essential and extremely insightful in preparing to offer the course to all SDSU staff and faculty. The Wokini Initiative began offering the course to all SDSU staff and faculty in the Fall semester of 2025. There were 52 staff and faculty members that signed up for the optional course as of the end of August 2025, and with no other benefit than to develop a better understanding of Oceti Sakowin culture. This participation agreement by staff and faculty proves that there is still a deep desire to learn more about the cultures of the Indigenous peoples of this region that will better serve our American Indian students, staff, faculty, and campus partners. Create sustainable resources that will continue to promote access to college degrees and student support for tribal high school students, TCU students, and AI undergraduate students. The work towards this goal is set to begin in year 2, starting in September 2025.

Publications