Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences we reach with this grant are Native American and non-Native American students who are attending Leech Lake Tribal College. We have implemented the grant to concentrate on higher level STEM students but also use it to attract freshman students into the STEM area. With this grant we are able to offer higher level science and mathematics courses that have low enrollment. Catering to the top STEM students in this way prepares helps prepare them for transfer and makes for a successful transition to a 4-year institution. Also, with the grant we have enhanced our science lab capacity at LLTC and this raises the level of science that our students are exposed to. We are now capable of offering quality labs and research experiences to the students that show them the usefulness of STEM careers. For the 2014 - 2015 school year we were able to have a student math tutor in our learning center, and four student interns that are currently working in our community in the STEM areas of the reservation. We also had 6 students work and compete with our high powered rocket that is co-sponsored through the Minnesota Space Grant. The rocket team took 2nd in the Tribal and AISES competition at the First Nations Launch in Milwaukee, WI this April. Through our rocket club we were able to outreach to the Cass Lake Schools and use our high powered rockets to introduce the students to STEM. With the grant we were able to buy hobby rockets that the students were able to put together and successfully launch. All of these activities have led to more Native American students becoming interested in STEM. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Understanding that our Land Grant status and our NIFA grants are important, we have concentrated on getting people into the NIFA system quickly. We have had an administrator, instructor, and student attend the 2014 FALCON conference and intend on attending in 2015. Our finance manager attended the 2015 NEORAC conference this spring and we will be having someone attend in 2016. Getting faculty up to speed has prepared us for the 2015 round of NIFA grant competition. Getting more grants will benefit our college and students and expand what we already have in place. Kelly Nipp attended the2014 High Powered Rocket workshop helped in Green Bay by the Wisconsin Space Grant. This helped strengthen his background on payloads and altimeters that was used in the building of our 2015 competition rocket that was launched at the First Nations Tribal College Launch in April. For the Tribal College Launch the grant supported some of our student travel to present their rocket and compete. Neah Goodwin and Steve Smith took 6 students to the 2014 AISES conference. Neah's travel and one student came out of NIFA funds. AISES allows students the opportunity to see what careers are available to them in the STEM field. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated to the community through various activities that the college engages in throughout the year. One way we accomplish this is by creating an advisory board that is made up of local agencies that are involved in the STEM careers. Through this interaction we are able to showcase and distribute the accomplishments of LLTC and interact with many people in the community. A second way is through our internships as they are run through the different community agencies. Our interns are one of our most important advertising tools for the college as they spread the message of the college through their work. We have found that having internships spread the word faster than faculty traveling around and want to increase the number and scope of our internships to make our presence in the community greater. LLTC has started offering classes through our local Native high school and looks to increase the connections to the school as this is where a large portion of our students come from. LLTC has implemented a recruitment plan that concentrates on the Native American high school students in all of our area schools. We know that there are students that can benefit from coming to our school in the high schools and it is up to us to get the message out to them. LLTC has hired a STEM recruiter to undertake this task and increase our STEM numbers. Another way we get news to the community is in our monthly newsletter for the college that highlights the accomplishments of the college. Our department makes sure that we get articles into the newsletter of our activities and accomplishments to be read by the community. LLTC has also been going into the community centers around the reservation to do research on and develop a Native plant book. Being out in the various communities allows faculty and students the chance to talk about our programs and answer questions about the college. We have other research projects that have our students going out into the communities and LLTC feels this is one of the most important ways to relay information as their success is our advertisement. Students who are doing well in their classes, internships, and research are good ambassadors for the college and are far better at talking about the STEM department at LLTC than the faculty are. Students have a personal connection that faculty may not have with the community and I think it is this connection that gets the community to listen and engage. In the Fall of 2014 LLTC has started creating a new Strategic Plan that will guide us for the next 10 years. With this plan it is LLTC intention to survey the community periodically and disseminate the results back to the community through our assessment office. LLTC is currently collecting the first survey that is aimed at reaching 200 community members to begin this interactive project. For the NIFA grant we will be using this as a portion of our Stake Holder Input Plan along with input from the advisory boards created and the internship partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
LLTC has used our NIFA Equity Grant to address the needs of our college as it directly relates to students opportunity and success. LLTC has used the grant in the past to buy equipment for our labs as they were non-existent and now we have moved to increasing the course offerings, research, and internship opportunities for the students. LLTC has offered higher level STEM courses with low enrollment numbers that would otherwise be cut by the administration. This enables students who have expressed interest in STEM to take the higher level courses without fear of them not being offered. Most of the students completing these higher level courses go on to 4-year institutions to major in the area of STEM. With low enrollment courses we are able to trial run courses through this grant that would otherwise not happen. The course changes have been mostly in our sciences and as we move from our Natural Science AS to the Earth Science AS this benefit will help us in the transition of courses. Another area that the grant is addressing is the exposure of students to STEM oriented careers. Through the grant we are able to give students the opportunity to present their research at various conferences and compete in the high powered rocket launch. Getting student involvement and exposure is an important piece of LLTC's equity grant as we feel that the students are the face of the college. In recent years we have added our High Powered Rocket Program, internships, and tutors into the grant. LLTC feels that we are moving in a positive direction and keeping the student first is above all other priorities of the grant. Goal 1: Increase student numbers in Natural Sciences, Liberal Education STEM, and Forest Resources Leech Lake currently offers three STEM degrees: STEM Emphasis AA where we start most of our STEM students, a Natural Science AS, and a Forestry AS. We have seen our numbers in our STEM AA, and our Forestry increase over this last year and the numbers in our Natural Science stay constant. In doing curriculum research and meeting with Stakeholders LLTC has decided to move our Natural Science degree towards an Earth Science degree that is aimed at the environmental sciences. With the development of our Earth Science degree the Nutrition degree has been put on hold until we decide the direction of the college. During 2014-2015 school year LLTC had campus recruitment events at the start of each semester. These events were not coordinated well by our student service staff and attendance was low. LLTC is working on doing a better job at advertising and recruiting and has hired a full time STEM recruiter to help in this area. Since her start in May we have already saw progress in this area and her summer is being spent at recruiting events. LLTC has maintained and updated its college brochures and is in the process of creating a STEM web page that will be useful to students. The web page is in its infancy and will be added to over the next year as we develop and alter according to our student needs. Monthly speakers have been brought into various classes as a way for students to hear about the STEM career choices that LLTC offers. Our forestry program offered a Careers in STEM course as a way for students to delve deeper into the STEM field career choices. The STEM department put on 4 Lunch and Learns throughout the year where we offered students the chance to ask questions about the STEM program. Goal 2: Strengthen connections between curriculum and research/intern opportunities on campus. Spring of 2015 consultants conducted surveys of our math courses and have since disseminated the results back to us. LLTC has been using MyMathLab for College Algebra and Advanced College Algebra since the fall of 2012. We have had mixed results using this platform but have come to the conclusion that students have not been putting in enough time to progress through the course in the allotted time. For our science curriculum, a consultant was hired April 2015. With the consultant we will revamp our department offerings and curriculum to better fit the needs of our students. LLTC will thoroughly check over all of its program and degree goals to see that they align with the college mission. May 2015 the process was started as we met as a department and started to go through the courses to see that they met the degree goals laid out in our catalog. LLTC employed a cultural infusion assistant that is able to help our STEM faculty infuse more Native culture into our classrooms. The STEM department has been meeting with her on various classes to see where we can change our curriculum to include relevant concepts. LLTC has partnered with the tribes Department of Resource Management and had staff come into the classrooms to present various topics and bring the Ojibwe perspective to the forefront. DRM joined faculty in the outdoors for the various labs and activities. This relationship has worked well as the students are getting hands on experience and the local connections to people in the field. With expanded labs LLTC is doing more student led research projects during the school year and in the summer. High Powered Rocketry had a team consisting of 6 students competing in the Tribal and AISES competition of the First Nations Launch. This was the first year LLTC has expanded into the AISES competition and built two rockets instead of just one. LLTC took home 2nd place for both competitions and is looking at building 3 rockets for the 2016 competitions. With our NIFA carryover grant we were able to add 4 positions to our summer research experience. LLTC is looking at using NIFA funds to expand the research and internship opportunities we offer as we now have the capability to do more research with the space and equipment that was put in place through the grant. We are finding that students that are doing internships/research are maintaining better grades and attendance. For our mathematics we have had a tutor/instructor in place through an NSF grant since the Fall of 2013 and in the fall of 2014 one student was able to work as a math tutor in our learning center through NIFA to increase student tutoring. Raising the mathematics level on Native Communities is important to our college as the high school scores on the state test are around 10% for the Native schools. Raising their math skills quicker allows them to progress better in all of their classes where math is present. Goal 3: Development of Nutrition and Environmental Science/Health curriculum for new Community Health and Vitality Land Grant Emphasis In the fall of 2014, LLTC held a Stake Holder meeting of the community, tribal council, and local STEM businesses. This was an opportunity for LLTC to receive input on how it is perceived by the Stake Holders and where improvements were needed. LLTC has created and is in the process of disseminating a survey to the various stake holders that will be compiled in the 2015 school year by our assessment office. Spring of 2015 LLTC held a student input meeting where students could add into the discussion of where the college is heading. This proved to be beneficial as we were able to attain that students would like to have an Earth Science degree more focused on the environment at the college. STEM faculty meets regularly every two weeks and checks that the goals and objectives of the department are being met. With our department and degrees being reconfigured with the help of consultants we feel we will be able to change the department to better fit the Stake Holder's needs. Our Land Grant committee has not formed and with changes in personnel at the college and we may not be able to get this committee created. Our STEM department has two NIFA grants and we have made the effort to communicate within the department to align both grants. In the next school year we will be able to determine if a Land grant committee is needed.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences we reach with this grant are Native American and non-Native American students who are attending Leech Lake Tribal College. We have implemented the grant to concentrate on higher level STEM students but also use it to attract freshman students into the STEM area. With this grant we are able to offer higher level science and mathematics courses that have low enrollment. Catering to the top STEM students in this way prepares helps prepare them for transfer and makes for a successful transition to a 4-year institution. Also, with the grant we have enhanced our lab capacity at LLTC and this raises the level of science that our students are exposed to. We are now capable of offering quality labs and research experiences to the students that show them the usefulness of STEM careers. This will lead to more Native American students becoming interested in STEM. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Understanding that our Land Grant status and our NIFA grants are important we have concentrated on getting people into the NIFA system quickly. We have had an instructor attend the 2013 and intend on attending 2014 FALCON conferences along with the 2014 NEORAC conference in the spring. Getting faculty up to speed has prepared us for the 2014 round of NIFA grant competition. Getting more grants will benefit our college and students and expand what we already have in place. Kelly Nipp attended the2013 High Powered Rocket workshop helped in Green Bay by the Wisconsin Space Grant. This helped strengthen his background on payloads and altimeters that was used in the building of our 2014 competition rocket that was launched at the First Nations Tribal College Launch in April. For the Tribal College Launch he grant supported some of our student travel to present their rocket and compete. In May of 2014 Kelly Nipp attended the Minnesota 2 Year College conference to interact with other 2 year colleges on a broad range of topics. Neah Goodwin attend AISES conference in November 2013 and is taking 6 students with her this time to the 2014 conference. Neah’s travel and one student will come out of NIFA funds. In April of 2014 we held a conference around Earth Day and brought in guest speakers that covered the area of water quality. This conference was our first attempt at holding informative conferences on our campus. The conference was well attended and went complemented the activities of Earth Day. After the experience we will be planning another one for Spring of 2015 and will look to expand our audience. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results have been disseminated to the community through various activities that the college engages in throughout the year. One way we accomplish this is by creating an advisory board that is made up of local agencies that are involved in the STEM careers. Through this interaction we are able to showcase and distribute the accomplishments of LLTC and interact with many people in the community. A second way is through our internships as they are run through the different community agencies. Our interns are one of our most important advertising tools for the college as they spread the message of the college through their work. We have found that having internships spread the word faster than faculty traveling around and want to increase the number and scope of our internships to make our presence in the community greater. LLTC has started offering classes through our local Native high school and looks to increase the connections to the school as this is where a large portion of our students come from. LLTC has implemented a recruitment plan that concentrates on the Native American high school students in all of our area schools. We know that there are students that can benefit from coming to our school in the high schools and it is up to us to get the message out to them. LLTC has hired a STEM recruiter to undertake this task and increase our STEM numbers. Another way we get news to the community is in our monthly newsletter for the college that highlights the accomplishments of the college. Our department makes sure that we get articles into the newsletter of our activities and accomplishments to be read by the community. In the Spring of 2014 LLTC's conference around Earth Day allowed the community to come to the college and listen to various presentations and speakers that highlighted the colleges activities. We had students present their research and the department gave a presentation on what is currently under way in our college. This coming spring we will be building on the conference to increase the numbers of people attending and the amount of information disseminated. This will be a great place for LLTC to do a survey of the community as there is good attendance and a variety of different community members. LLTC has also been going into the community centers around the reservation to do research on and develop a Native plant book. Being out in the various communities allows faculty and students the chance to talk about our programs and answer questions about the college. We have other research projects that have our students going out into the communities and LLTC feels this is one of the most important ways to relay information as their success is our advertisement. Students who are doing well in their classes, internships, and research are good ambassadors for the college and are far better at talking about the STEM department at LLTC than the faculty are. Students have a personal connection that faculty may not have with the community and I think it is this connection that gets the community to listen and engage. In the Fall of 2014 LLTC has started creating a new Strategic Plan that will guide us for the next 10 years. With this plan it is LLTC intention to survey the community periodically and disseminate the results back to the community through our assessment office. LLTC is currently collecting the first survey that is aimed at reaching 200 community members to begin this interactive project. For the NIFA grant we will be using this as a portion of our Stake Holder Input Plan along with input from the advisory boards created and the internship partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? LLTC plans on increasing the number of STEM research opportunities that we currently offer. As we get more STEM students interested in the program it will be important to have internships or research that they can do so they become an active students within our department. For the Fall of 2014 there are 2 students working within the department on research and this number could easily expand. In the high powered rocketry we usually have 3-4 students stay with the program for the term of the project. With the grant we will be adding an intern either during the school year or summer as a research experience. Students getting involved seem to stay with our program and graduate so this will be an important area that we will focus on. Student presentations follow after the students complete their internships. We have had 3 students present at conferences this past year and expect to have 4-5 present this coming year. Giving the students the opportunity to present has opened doors to further ventures. One student is looking to go to intern in Alaska in forestry and anther with NASA summer intern. Others have moved into jobs after the internships based on their excellence they showed their mentors. This area is one of untapped and possibly unlimited potential as the more opportunities we give students and the more successes we have reflect positively on our program at LLTC. LLTC will be working on increasing the number of students in our Forestry AS to where the numbers in this program support the degree. We have a full time science instructor working on making connections in the community and creating an advisory board to support the program. The Leech Lake Band is interested in helping increase the numbers of Native Americans in forestry as they have a hard time finding qualified Native American workers. We have found that the mathematics tutor has become increasingly utilized and are looking at adding an intern to help with this program. Building this area will allow our students access to help during their time at LLTC and hopefully increase their mathematics skills. Also, we will be looking at increasing the class numbers and completion rates in mathematics as a result of this hire. We are tracking the tutoring as we want to look at students time spent with tutor compared to their class grades. We will be getting a computer that will allow students to check in with their school Id’s and then output data surrounding the tutoring. This new centralized data will then be used in conjunction to what we are already manually doing to see if trends exist. LLTC has had data in the past that showed a direct correlation between having a tutor and increased retention. Due to budget constraints we had to cut our tutor but have realized there was a need and therefore hired one again. Developing the online portion for our Algebra courses as we feel this is a way of allowing students to do their work on their own time. We have been experimenting with various online platforms and have settled on MyMath Labs by Pearson and have worked with the program to customize it to fit our needs. Using the program will rely on students being self-driven to complete their work on time but we have found that students have become accustomed to the program and are now progressing through it at a faster pace and with less difficulty. As a department we have made a choice to stick with online math and students caught on that they need to commit their time in order to succeed. Time spent on the program is an area that we will be focusing on as our research has shown that students who have not made it through the program did not put in enough time or did not have the required pre-requisites. We also had an external consultant come into the college and review our mathematics program. This will gave us insight into how we can adjust the program to better fit our students and their needs as the report came back positive. This was good to see as we are in the midst of transferring the math classes to online and wanted to see how the overall changeover was being received. With the relatively new STEM faculty we will be increasing the professional development that is needed to bring them up to speed on Tribal Colleges. We are planning on having all faculty go to one conference in their area and attend a culture sensitivity conference put on by the tribe. We will also be having the various faculty writing the next round of NIFA grants and this will be a learning experience into the grant world. We feel it is important to get our new faculty involved in writing the grants as they will have a vested interest. If the grants are received the faculty will be the ones implementing them so it is important that they be involved in the planning and submission of the grants. LLTC will look to increase the presence of culture into our coursework and department as we work with our cultural advisor. We have been having meetings that have been centered around ways to make culture the center of our teachings and are looking at ways to bring activities to the school to highlight the culture. LLTC will continue implementing changes to the department with culture at the center. An increase in activities that highlight STEM and culture will be pursued over the next year as we feel this is one way to let the community know what we are doing. Another area that we will be increasing is the outreach into the community in regards to the Stake Holder Input that we need to gather for the grant. We have created a Land Grant committee and are planning on having an overarching Stake Holder Plan that helps the college cover all of the areas needed for our grants. We have gathering input from various sources but having one central location for all of the information to be processed will aid the college in better understanding what the community needs and wants the college to offer. Having the community input will be valuable as we want to see the Leech Lake Band, Community, Businesses, and College all on the same page and working towards a common goal.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Leech Lake has implemented an AS in Natural Science and currently have 5 students signed up for the degree. We have seen a dip in our numbers in the STEM area but have our STEM Emphasis AA seeing growth as there are currently 15 students signed up. With these two degrees LLTC is able to encompass the STEM areas and get a student count that we can keep track of for our statistics. We have had 3 students move onto 4-year institutions for the Fall of 2014. At this time the students have transitioned well are working on completing their degrees in STEM related areas. LLTC is in the process of making and articulation agreement with Bemidji State University for our AS in Natural Science degree to ensure transferability of our curriculum. Also, 2 of our students have used their summer internships to transition into jobs for the local Department of Resource Management for the reservation. With the addition of a forestry instructor paid through an NSF grant, LLTC has created and implemented an AS in Forestry to complement its other two degrees. This degree is directed toward getting students in the field and entering the workforce as Forest Technicians. The degree will also transfer to 4-year colleges and an articulation agreement is being made with the University of Crookston. We have 5 students signed up for the degree and are looking for ways to partner with local agencies to allow the students to get into the field for more hands on research. LLTC has employed a cultural infusion assistant for the college that is able to help our STEM faculty infuse more Naive science into our classrooms. The STEM department has been meeting with her over our various classes to see where we can change our curriculum to include relevant concepts. LLTC has partnered with the tribes Department of Resource Management as they are the local experts in the STEM areas on the reservation. LLTC has had DRM staff come into the classrooms to present various topics and bring the Ojibwe perspective to the forefront. This relationship along with our own culture assistant should increase the culture into our classrooms. Our science teachers have revamped their curriculum to include longer labs that utilize the tools of our new lab. In the Spring of 2014 the labs moved from 1 to 2 hours and incorporate more outdoor labs and utilize the resources around our community. LLTC had the Department of Resource Management join faculty in the outdoors for the various labs and activities. This relationship has worked well as the students are getting hands on experience and the local connections to people in the field. LLTC will be looking to expand this relationship as it is good for all involved and definitely gives students a real life experience. With the expanded labs LLTC is doing more student led research projects during the school year and in the summer. We have had students doing High Powered Rocketry where they are using physics, mathematics, science, and computer programming to build and launch rockets with a climate change payload. LLTC has had 10 summer internships through our NSF grant that exposed our student’s local STEM careers. We have written internships into the NIFA grant to add to our research experience. This fall one student is working with an instructor to look at lakes and streams counting the organisms that are present. This research is being helped along by a DRM staffer. We have one student who is helping out as a lab assistant this semester for our science courses. LLTC is looking at using NIFA funds to expand the research and internship opportunities we offer as we now have the capability to do more research with the space and equipment that was put in place through the grant. We have not included internships in our past NIFA grants and plan on looking at the RFA's to see where we can incorporate more internships as this is an area our students have excelled in. We are finding that students that are doing internships and research are maintaining better grades and attendance as they are active in our department. Also, the learning experience that we are providing is helping our students explore areas of interest and determine what STEM career choice they want to pursue when they leave LLTC. For our mathematics we have had a tutor/instructor in place through the grant since the Fall of 2013. We have been tracking the tutoring and performance of our students and have found that those who are actively involved in our tutoring program are doing better in the classroom. This has led us to increase the hours of tutoring and hold group sessions that allow students to make connections to each other. Raising the mathematics level on Native Communities is important to our college as the high school scores on the state test are around 10% for the Native schools. Mathematics is not given the attention it deserves and therefore when the students come to LLTC they are behind. This deficiency relays into the STEM areas and makes science classes more difficult. Raising their math skills quicker allows them to progress better in all of their classes where math is present. This will be an area we look at more in future grants.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences we reach with this grant are Native American and non-Native American students who are attending Leech Lake Tribal College. We have implemented the grant to concentrate on higher level STEM students but also use it to attract freshman students into the STEM area. With this grant we are able to offer higher level science and mathematics courses that have low enrollment. Catering to the top STEM students in this way prepares helps prepare them for transfer and makes for a successful transition to a 4-year institution. Also, with the grant we have enhanced our lab capacity at LLTC and this raises the level of science that our students are exposed to. We are now capable of offering quality labs and research experiences to the students that show them the usefullness of STEM careers. This will lead to more Native AMerican students becoming interested in STEM. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have hired three new STEM faculty and there is a learning curve that we are trying to overcome. Understanding that our Land Grant status and our NIFA grants are important we have concentrated on getting people into the NIFA system quickly. We have had an instructor attend the 2012 and 2013FALCON conferences along with the 2013 NEORAC conference in the spring. In June one faculty attended the Land Grant fellowship in DC and this has added to their understanding of the Land Grant system. Getting faculty up tospeed has prepared us for the 2014 round of NIFA grant competition. Getting more grants will benfefit our college and students and expand what we already have in place. Kelly Nipp attended the2012 High Powered Rocket workshop helpd in Green Bay by the Wisconsin Space Grant. This helped strengthen his background on payloads and altimeters that was used in the building of our 2013 competition rocket that was launched at the First Nations Tribal College Launch in May. Annette Drewes, our forestry faculty went to Slaish Kootenia College to visit thier forest faculty and make connections that will help her build our program. Annette has been busy making local connections and building an advisory board for her program that will direct its development. The program is new and it will take a couple of years to see how it develops and is accepted by our students. In April of 2013 we held a conference around Earth Day and brought in guest speakers that covered the area of water quality. This conference was our first attempt at holding informative conferences on our capmpus.The conference was well attended and wentcomplemented the activities ofEarth Day. After the experience we will be planning another one for Spring of 2014 and will look to expand our audience. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results have been disseminated to the community through various activities that the college engages in throughout the year. One way that we accomplish this is by creating an advisory board that is made up of local agencies that are involved in the STEM careers. Through this interaction we are able to showcase and distribute the accomplishments of LLTC and interact with many people in the community. A second way is through our internships as they are run through the different community agencies. Our interns are one of our most important advertising for the college as they spread the message of the college through their work. We have found that having interships spread the word faster than faculty traveling around and want to increase the number and scope of our internships to make our presence in the communtiy greater. LLTC has started offering classes through our local Native hig school and looks to increase the connections to the school as this is where a large portion of our students come from. LLTC has implemented a recruitment plan that concentrates on the Native American high school students in all of our area schools. We know that there are students that can benefit from coming to our school in the high schools and it is up to us to get the message out to them. LLTC has hired a STEM recruiter to undertake this task and increase our STEM numbers. Another way we get news to the community is in our monthly news letter for the college that highlights the accomplishments of the college. Our department makes sure that we get articles into the news letter of our activities and accomplishments to be read by the community. In the Spring of 2013 LLTC's conference around Earth Day allowed the community to come to the college and listen to various presentations and speakers that highlighted the colleges activities. We had students present thier research and the department gave a presentation on what is currently under way in our college. This coming spring we will be building on the conference to increase the numbers of people attending and the amount of information disseminated. THis will be a great place for LLTC to do a survey of the community as thier is good attendance and a variety of different community members. LLTC has also been going into the community centers around the reservation to do reseach on and develop a Native plant book. Being out in the various communties allows faculty and students the chance to talk about our programs and answer questions about the college. We have other research projects that have our students going out into the communities and LLTC feels this is one of the most important way to relay information as thier success is our advertisement. Students who are doing well in thier classes, internships, and research are good ambassadors for the college and are far better at talking about the STEM department at LLTC than the faculty are. Students have a personal connection that faculty may not have with the community and I think it is this connection that gets the community to listen and engage. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? LLTC plans on increasing the number of STEM research opportunities that we currently offer. As we get more STEM students interested in the program it will be important to have internships or research that they can do so they become an active students within our department. For the fall of 2013 there are 3 students working within the department on research and this number could easily expand. Students getting involved seem to stay with our program and graduate so this will be an important area that we will focus on. LLTC will be working on getting a Forestry AS off the ground and the numbers in this program increased to support the degree. We have a full time science instructor working on making connections in the community and creating an advisory board to support the program. The Leech Lake Band is interested in helping increase the numbers of Native Americans in forestry as they have a hard time finding qualified Native American workers. Increasing the tutoring and retention in our mathematics area as we now have a full time tutor. Building this area will allow our students access to help during their time at LLTC and hopefully invcrease thier mathematics skills. Also, we will be looking at increasing the class numbers and completion rates in mathematics as a result of this hire. LLTC has had data in the past that showed a direct correlation between having a tutor and increased retention. Due to budget constaints we had to cut our tutor but have realized there was a need and therefore hired one again. Developing an online portion for our Algebra courses as we feel this is a way of allowing students to do thier work on thier own time. We have been experimenting with various online platforms and have settled on MyMath Labs by Pearson and will work with the program to customize it to fit our needs. Using the program will rely on students being self-driven to complete thier work on time. This is the area that we will be focusing on as our research has shown that students who have not made it through the program did not put in enough time. We will also be having an external consultant come into the college and review our mathematics program. This will give us insight into how we can adjust the program to better fit our students and their needs. With the new STEM faculty we will be increasing the professional development that is needed to bring them up to speed on Tribal Colleges. We are planning on having all faculty go to one conference in thier area and attend a culture sensitivity confernce put on by the tribe. We will also be having the various faculty writing the next round of NIFA grants and this will be a learning experience into the grant world. We feel it is important to get our new faculty involved in writing the grants as they will have a vested interest. If the grants are recieved the faculty will be the ones implementing them so it is important that they be involved in the planning and submition of the grants. Another area that we will be increasing is the outreach into the community in regaurds to the Stake Holder Input that we need to gather for the grant. We have created a Land Grant committee and are planning on having an overarching Stake Holder Plan that helps the college cover all of the areas needed for our grants. We have gathering input from various sources but having one central location for all of the information to be processed will aid the collge in better understanding what the community needs and wants the college to offer. Having the community input will be valuable as we want to see the Leech Lake Band, Community, Businesses, and College all on the same page and working towards a common goal.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Leech Lake has implemented a AS in Natural Science and currently have 5 students signed up for the degree. We have seen a dip in our numbers in the STEM area but have our STEM Emphasis AA seeing growth as there are currently 20 students signed up. With these two degrees LLTC is able to encompass the STEM areas and get a studens count that we can keep track of for our statistics. We have had 5 students move onto 4-year institutions for the Fall of 2013. At this timethe students have transitioned well are are working on completing thier degrees in STEM related areas. We have successfully placed a student with an USDA internship and this has now turned into a full time job as he finsihed his 4-year degree this May. LLTC is in the process of making and articulation agreement with Bemidji State University for our AS in Natural Scienc degree to ensure transferability of our curriculum. With the addition of a forestry instructor paid through an NSF grant LLTC is working on creating an AS in Foresty to compliment its other two degrees. This degree will be directed toward getting students in the field and entering the workforce as Forest Technicians. The degree will also tansfer to 4-year colleges and an articlutation agreement is being made with the University of Crookston. We have 3 students signed up for the degree and are looking for ways to partner with local agencies to allow the students to get into the field for more hands on research. LLTC has highered a cultural infusion assistant for the college that is able to help our STEM faculty infuse more Naive science into our classrooms. The STEM department has been meeting with her over our various classes to see where we can change our curriculum to include relevant concepts. LLTC has partnered with the tribes Department of Resource Management as they are the local experts in the STEM areas on the reservation. LLTC has had DRM staff come into the classrooms to present various topics and bring the Ojibwe perspective to the forefront. This relationship along with our own culture assistant should increase the culture into our classrooms. LLTC has used NIFA grant money to build a stand alone classroom laboratory, freeing up our existing lab for research use. We completed construction of our classroom lab space in December of 2012 and the space has served us well. This lab has made it possible for 20 students to do labs at one time and has led to an increase in lab instruction. Our science teachers has revamped thier curriculum to include longer labs that utilize the tools of the lab. In the Spring of 2014 the labs will move from 1 to 2 hours and incorporate more outdoor labs and utilize the resources around our community. LLTC has has the Department of Resource Management join faculty in the outdoors for the various labs and activities. This relationship has worked well as the students are getting hands on experience and the local coneections to people in the field. LLTC will be looking to expand this relationship as it is good for all involved and definately gives students a real life experience. WIth the remodel of our classroom lab the research space at LLTC ws freed up for the instructors to do more student led research. We have had students doing High Powered Rocketry where they are using phsyics, mathematics, science, and computer programming to build and launch rockets with a climate change payload. This summer we had two students doing water quality research with an instructor that has continued into the fall semester.LLTC has had 10 summer interships through our NSF grant that exposed our students local STEM carreers. This fall two students are working with an instructor to look at lakes and streams counting the organisms that are present. This reserach is being helped along by a DRM staffer. We have one student who is helping out as a lab assistant this semester for our science courses. LLTC is looking at using NIFA funds to expand the research and internship opportunities we offer as we now have the capability to do more research with the space and equipment that was put in place through the grant. We have not included internships in our past NIFA grants and plan on looking at the RFA's to see where we can incorporate more internships as this is an area our students have excelled in. We are finding that students that are doing internships and research are maintianing better grades and attendance as they are active in opur department. Also, the learning experience that we are providing is helping our students explore areas of interest and determine what STEM career choice they want to pursue when they leave LLTC. For our mathematics we have been conducting an evalualtion of the program and have hired a mathematics tutor to help teach and tutor full time. This person was put in place in August and has worked out well so far as our tutoring has increased. We have been tracking the tutoring and performance of our students and have found that those who are actively involved in our tutoring program are doing better in the classroom. THis has led us to increase the hours of tutoring and hold group sessions that allow students to make connections to each other. Raising the mathematics level on Native Communities is important to our college as the high school scores on the state test are around 10% for the Native schools. Mathematics is not given the attention it deserves and therefore when the students come to LLTC they are behind. This deficiancy relays into the STEM areas and makes their other classes more difficult. Raising there math skills quicker allows them to progress better in all of thier classes where math is present. This will be an area we look at more in future grants.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The outputs of this grant are improved faculty, curriculum, and science labs at LLTC that allow for quality classroom, lab and research experiences for our faculty and students as we continue to grow and expand our STEM student count. Faculties are encouraged to attend conferences to enhance their teaching with one person form our STEM department attending FALCON and AIHEC conferences. Attending FALCON has become a priority as NIFA has now been in attendance for the past few years and this is a good way of keeping in touch. As for the science labs, LLTC has purchased equipment to keep labs current and kick start our efforts to move into the field of research. LLTC has had several research experiences for our students that have allowed them access to internships with other agencies. LLTC has seen a growing number of internship opportunities near and far that our students are taking advantage of. The vision of building a standalone research lab that would introduce students to research procedures at the beginner's level was moved forward as LLTC remodeled an existing science classroom into a classroom lab using NIFA funds for the equipment purchases. This was a major area that needed to be addressed as we move into more research. The research done would be varied with an emphasis put on research protocol as we are not prepared at this time to maintain significant projects. Kelly Nipp, was able to further his knowledge through the use of the grant by going to conferences about High Powered Rocketry. With this newly gained knowledge, LLTC implemented a rocket team to compete at the First Nations Launch for Tribal Colleges. LLTC is proud to say we took 1st for the launch portion of the competition and 1st for the overall in the Tribal College Division. LLTC has included funding to continue and expand the High Power Rocketry program for 2012 as this is a fun and exciting way to get students interested in math, computers, and physics. With the grant allowing LLTC to teach low enrollment courses, we have been able to offer higher level courses STEM courses to the few who are interested. This in turn has allowed interest to build and our Natural Science Degree to be formed. Our STEM department now has two degrees, our Liberal AA with STEM emphasis, and a Natural Science AS that allows our STEM students pathways to four year degrees in STEM. With our degrees being new and more difficult to obtain than the Liberal AA the number of students declaring our degrees is low. LLTC has a STEM recruiter and retention officer to help increase our numbers and make students aware of the opportunities in the STEM fields. We will also be looking into the development of a forestry degree as we move forward. This is an area that LLTC plans to investigate and possibly tie it into our Natural Science degree in the next few years. With the grant we have built the foundation from which to build and solidify our student success in STEM fields at four year institutions. We currently have students attending and will continue to track their success at the four year institutions to see how we can make the transition smoother. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
When we started building our research lab our goal was to expose students to basic research procedures and protocol so when they moved onto a four year institution they would be able to do further research. What we have found is that our research capabilities are expanding and our students that have gone through our program are being offered diverse STEM internships with possible long term implications and jobs. Leech Lake Reservation has a Department of Resource Management that takes in two students every summer as interns. Our graduates will have the opportunity to enter the workforce of DRM upon completion of their 2-year or 4-year degrees in STEM. Leech Lake will benefit by our program as we are supplying qualified workers to manage their natural resources. Undergraduates will increase their knowledge in research, thus be able to mentor incoming students and pass on their knowledge. This will increase the number of Native American students that are literate in research and be able to contribute back to their communities. Success at four year institutions would have to be listed as an achievement of the grant as our students are better prepared leaving LLTC. We currently have students working on their four year STEM degrees and new ones moving into the areas in the fall of 2012. Our students are expanding further from the reservation when attending four year institutions. Many people will be affected by our students as they take their traditional knowledge they have learned at Leech Lake and apply it with their western knowledge that is taught at most four year institutions. This exposure will increase the knowledge of people outside the western knowledge and give them insight into Native American culture and views. The increase of students to four year institutions will be something we track along with completion rates at the higher institutions. Another project we are just beginning to get off the ground is our High Powered Rocketry Program. LLTC placed 1st in the launch portion and overall at the First Nations Launch for Tribal Colleges. All students are welcome to participate and help out on the build through the program. The department feels this will be a less threatening exposure to the STEM area for non STEM students and could help as a recruitment tool. Our students are presenting at various conferences. I already have two students presenting at conferences from this summer's internships, one from his internship in Costa Rica. Our students are being exposed to power point and poster presentations to audiences, thus improving their speaking skills and making their research relevant. This is one of the bonuses that we see really helping the students as they are allowed the opportunity to be recognized for their work and efforts. Our program directly impacts the number of Native Americans (minority) entering the STEM workforce as we are 90% tribally enrolled. Students attending four year institutions will ready to be gainfully employed in STEM areas. Recently, we have seen an increase in our four year institution numbers and look forward to tracking our students as they complete their degrees and enter the workforce.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
LLTC used the grant to build its science lab, improve its curriculum, provide higher level classes with small enrollment, assess our program and enhance faculty's education and training. This strategy has produced results as we saw a growing number of students interested in STEM and signing up for our STEM degrees. LLTC currently has four graduates enrolled in four year institutions and will add three more this fall in the STEM areas. LLTC has seen a steady increase in the number of students moving onto four year institutions, and although our numbers are small it is still a significant increase from the past. LLTC maintained its STEM club as a way to disseminate information and help students take advantage of the opportunities that are available in the STEM area concerning minorities. This spring LLTC traveled to Fon du Lac Community College for a lecture on Native Sky Watchers with 6 students and two faculty. LLTC will continue to make progress in the area of exposing students to various lectures and events surrounding STEM. LLTC has moved into the field of faculty and student research and used grant money for lab upgrades, buying startup research lab equipment that will be used for research and classroom experiences. We currently have a summer GIS project through NASA/AIHEC in cooperation with the local Department of Resource Management. We currently have a Wild Rice research project Funded through the Department of Agriculture that is studying nine area lakes that have not been managed or tested due to their small size. One faculty and a student are examining the wild rice potential of these lakes over the next two years. We have one student interning with USDA in southern Minnesota and has been given the opportunity to join their program this fall at the University of MN Crookston. LLTC started research on rockets and plans on launching our first rocket at the First Nations Launch in Milwaukee, WI in the Spring of 2012. The interest level of the students has been high and the research experiences result in quality hands on education of the research process. Also, we are branching out more with our internships and the opportunities our students are getting. Students presented their findings from the summer of 2010 at FALCON and AIHEC. LLTC has made it a goal of our research to give students participating in research the opportunity to present their results at various conferences. In the next few years LLTC plans on building a research lab that will offer faculty and students the chance to expand the research currently going on. In the Spring of 2010, LLTC handed out surveys to faculty, staff, and students to evaluate the progress of the department. The results of these surveys are being compiled over the summer and impacts to the department will be discussed in August before the start of school. LLTC knows that the Stake Holder Input is important and will concentrate on increasing this area. LLTC's STEM department is growing at a consistent pace and our goal is to have enough space for quality classroom, lab and research experiences for our faculty and students as we continue to grow and expand our STEM student count. PRODUCTS: The products of this grant are improved faculty, curriculum, and science labs at LLTC that allow for quality classroom, lab and research experiences for our faculty and students as we continue to grow and expand our STEM student count. Faculties are encouraged to attend conferences to enhance their teaching and one person form our STEM department attends FALCON and AIHEC conferences. This in turn improves the curriculum and teachings at LLTC, which enhances the students overall learning and keeps us current on federal grant regulations. Attending FALCON has become a priority as NIFA has now been in attendance for the past few years and this is a good way of keeping in touch. As for the science labs, LLTC has purchased equipment to keep labs current and kick start our efforts to move into the field of research. LLTC has had several research experiences for our students that have allowed them access to internships with other agencies. LLTC has seen a growing number of internship opportunities near and far that our students are taking advantage of. Research and internships are areas LTLC sees potential for growth in the future and will be using grant funds to develop and expand faculty and student research. The vision we have is to build a standalone research lab that would introduce students to research procedures at the beginner's level. The research done would be varied with an emphasis put on research protocol as we are not prepared at this time to maintain significant projects. The research would lead into more comprehensive research as we build the program over the next few years. With our new STEM degree LLTC has found the grant vital in allowing us to teach higher level math and science course. With this grant our new degree was born and now has students signed up and committed to a STEM degree. Although our number of graduates is low we see only room to grow as our determining factor of success. With the grant we have built the foundation from which to build and solidify our student success in STEM fields at four year institutions. We currently have students attending and will continue to track their success at the four year institutions to see how we can make the transition smoother. OUTCOMES: The outcomes of this grant are an increase in student research and internship opportunities that have surfaced. When we started building our research lab our goal was to expose students to basic research procedures and protocol so when they moved onto a four year institution they would be able to do further research. What we have found is that our research capabilities are expanding and our students that have gone through our program are being offered diverse STEM internships with possible long term implications and jobs. We encourage our students to take advantage of the scholarship and opportunities that come before them in pursuit of their STEM education. Success at four year institutions would have to be listed as an achievement of the grant as our students are better prepared leaving LLTC. We currently have students working on their four year STEM degrees and new ones moving into the areas in the fall of 2011. The increase of students to four year institutions will be something we track along with completion rates at the higher institutions. Another project that we are just starting is our rocket completion build for the First Nations Launch. This will allow non STEM students to help out on the build and possibly open their eyes to the opportunities in the STEM area. The department feels this will be a less threatening exposure to the STEM area for non STEM students and could help as a recruitment tool. Our students are presenting, and doing it well, at various conferences. I already have three conferences asking for presenters from this summer's internships that I will need to set up. Our students are being exposed to giving power point presentations to audiences and thus improving their speaking skills and making their research relevant. This is one of the bonuses that we see really helping the students as they are allowed the opportunity to be recognized for their work and efforts. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: LLTC has a monthly news letter that the college puts out highlighting the accomplishments of the college. The STEM program at LLTC regularly puts articles and pictures about the progress it is making within the program in the newsletter. LLTC had students present participate in the summer NASA/AIHEC GIS research experience and present their research at various conferences. During the academic year, students present at FALCON and AIHEC with posters. With the current research and internships going on we should have reports for the conferences and will continue to expand in the future. In the Spring of 2012, LLTC will have a gathering where we will be able to survey our community and outline the progress that was made within the department. This meeting will be part of the stakeholders input that is required by the grant. FUTURE INITIATIVES: In the future, LLTC will also be concentrating on the assessment part of our grant, as this is an important area as we grow, to ensure we are moving in the direction the determined by the Stakeholders Input. LLTC will strive to serve the community and student interests as we are looked to for knowledge and guidance. LLTC has been doing assessment of our degrees, programs, and courses as we move through the Higher Learning Commissions process. Through this assessment LLTC is able to identify its strengths' and weaknesses. LLTC will also be buying research equipment and building a research lab where we will be able to conduct quality research. Our goal is to have a start up research lab that can develop into a strong lab that can serve the research needs of our community. We currently have one faculty doing research and look towards hiring another that can extend our research capabilities for our students. It is our goal to have faculty and students doing research reports that can be presented at the various conferences to show case the development of LLTC's research program. The next few years will be challenging and yet exciting as LLTC works to build a strong research program. LLTC will be competing in the First Nations Launch rocket competitions for Tribal Colleges. LLTC has been looking at starting a rocket build to generate interest in pour STEM areas. In the Spring of 2011 LLTC went to the First Nations Launch and watched what went into the rocket builds and launches. With our new found knowledge LLTC will be building a rocket for competition in the 2012 spring launch. Students have already expressed interest in the rocket build and the build will involve all students, not just STEM. This will allow non STEM students to get hands on experience and help them become interested in the STEM fields. LLTC has a relationship with the University of MN that is funding our project and our goal is to eventually build more complicated payloads as our knowledge base increases. LLTC looks forward to increasing the number of STEM graduates as we have two degrees, one broader and one more Natural Science emphasis. With these degrees in place we will be able to give hard numbers whether we are increasing or decreasing in our area. LLTC plans on using the STEM club as a recruitment tool and offer various trips to STEM related activities that may jump start students in becoming interested in the STEM areas. LLTC has had several students move on to four year institutions in the STEM field. LLTC looks forward to tracking these students to see if they are successful in their quest as this will be a reflection of our program. LLTC has built a strong STEM program with the help of NIFA and with a commitment of another four years we look forward to sustained growth that will allow our students the education they need to be successful.
Impacts
Leech Lake Reservation has a Department of Resource Management that takes in two students every summer as interns. Our graduates will have the opportunity to enter the workforce of DRM upon completion of their 2-year or 4-year degrees in STEM. Leech Lake will benefit by our program as we are supplying qualified workers to manage their natural resources. Our students are expanding out further from the reservation when attending four year institutions. Many people will be affected by our students as they take their traditional knowledge they have learned at Leech Lake and apply it with their western knowledge that is taught at most four year institutions. This exposure will increase the knowledge of people outside the western knowledge and give them insight into Native American culture and views. Undergraduates will increase their knowledge in research, thus be able to mentor incoming students and pass on their knowledge. This will increase the number of Native American students that are literate in research and be able to contribute back to their communities. We have seen this already as our students pass their knowledge from one to another as they cycle through our program. Our program directly impacts the number of Native Americans (minority) entering the STEM workforce as we are 90% tribally enrolled. Students attending four year institutions will ready to be gainfully employed in STEM areas. Recently, we have seen an increase in our four year institution numbers and look forward to tracking our students as they complete their degrees and enter the workforce.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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