Progress 07/01/23 to 06/30/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiance for this period include: students enrolled in ESPM 3014/5014 Tribal Natural Resource Mangement Fall 2023 (8 graduate students and 114 undergraduatestudents); graduate students enrolled in FNRM5140 Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Natural Resource Management (8 students); and Forest Resource Department faculty who participated in a departmental search for a new tenure line focused on Tribal Natural Resource Management, Ecology, and Fire. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?PI Dockry continued to hold weekly lab meetings with Indigenous graduate students to build community and support Indigenous students so they can be successful in the graduate program. For example,students were given feedback on their thesis chapters, job talks, and job application materials. Additionally, Students in the Tribal Natural Resource Management course visited a tribal natural resource departmentand participated in other American Indian cultural events as part of the class. These are professional development experiences designed to increase the broad understanding of the realities with tribal natural resource management. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As students graduate from our Forest Resource and Environmental Policy and Management undergraduate majors, they are entering the professional work force with direct knowledge about tribes, tribal values, tribal goals, and ethical and legal requirments of natural resource professionals. This is exciting because this is beginning to have broader impacts on the forestry and natural resource profession as a whole. Additionally,Forest Resource Department has continued to advertise the "Tribal Natural Resource Management" track within the Natural Resources Science and Management graduate program and we now have students applying for the program each year. Several students are on pace to graduate with advanced degrees in 2025. Also,Indivdual co-Project Directors also continue to do their own outreach to find student applicants. Finally, the Forest Resource Department continues to highlight tribal natural resource faculty, staff, and activities and posted informaiton onthe departmental website, social media, and thier news magazine, the Forest Scene. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Next reporting period we will continue to fund graduate students, teach two courses on tribal natural resource management, develop one or two new tribally-focused courses, and graduate two or three graduate students in the tribal natural resource management track!
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There are fourmain accomplishments this reporting period. First, the Forest Resource Department continues to require the Tribal Natural Resource Management course for all students. Second, the Tribal Natural Resource Managment graduate track in the Natural Resources Science and Management graduate program continues to grow and includes students funded through this NIFA grant and students funded using other sources. Third, the Forest Resource Department completed a successful search for additional tenure track faculty to develop teaching and research in tribal natural resource management. The department hired two faculty members at the tenured Associate-level working in the area of Indigenous fire and forest management. This accomplishment doubles the number of American Indian faculty members to two, with a total of three faculty members directly working on tribal natural resource management. Finally, the grant continues to fund graduate students in the Tribal Natural Resource Management track.
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Progress 07/01/22 to 06/30/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project has beengraduate students seeking study in natural resources. In particular this includes students from historically underrepresentd populations, including Black, Indigenous, and other persons of color. The recruitment and advertisement of these students highlights research areas of the co-Project Directors. We have encouraged applicants to contact one or multiple prospective faculty members to serve as their advisor. In 2023 we had four graduate students, 2 MS and 2 PHD students funded under this agreement. Changes/Problems:Challenges this reporting period included finding funds to support student tuition. With the change in PI, there was some confusion about the expences NIFA was able to cover and we needed to find tuition and fringe funds for each student funded. We navigated this in two ways. First, individual graduate advisors used their own research funds to cover tuition and fringe. The Forest resource department also covered tuition and fringe for one student. Another challenge was that one student who was funded under this agreement had additional scholarship funds and we had to work with financial aid to make sure that the student was not being overpaid and that the NIFA funds would cover their stipend. This was also a new situation for us, however, it is a common situation with American Indian students because they often receive funding outside of the university system. Finally, one PhD student funded on this agreement decided to drop out of the program. The main reason for this was that they were getting married and moving out of state. A secondary reason was that they were already a working professional with a MS and they wanted to do on-the-ground tribal natural resoruce work and not take more classes. We believe this was an individual issue and not reflective of our program or the preperation of the student. In fact, the student mentioned that the program was excellent and he would love to continue to work with us (if he wasn't moving out of state)but not be a student on the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development training was in the form of supporting students thesis defenses and job search. Students who were finishing up their degrees (these were students not funded by this agreement but participents in the weekly cohort meetings). These students were given feedback on their thesis chapters, job talks, and job application materials. Each member of the weekly meetings gave feedback to the graduating students and the PI guided discussions and provided resources for successful thesis defense and job search. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Forest Resource Department has continued to advertise the"Tribal Natural Resource Management" track within the Natural Resources Science and Management graduate program and we now have students applying for the program each year. Indivdual co-Project Directors also continue to do their own outreach to find student applicants. Finally, the Forest Resource Department highlighted several tribal research projects that students and faculty are engaged in. This outreach was broad and stories were posted on the departmental website,social media, and thier news magazine, the Forest Scene. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to fund graduate students under this agreement. We also will continue cohort meetings and professional development. We also plan to expand the"Tribal Natural Resource Management" track within the Natural Resources Science and Management graduate program by hiring additional faculty and partnering with other departments to increase outreach, research, and educational opportunities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We provided the first year of our integrated training cohort under this agreement. Students who were funded attended a weekly meeting with PI Dockry. The weekly cohort meeting goals were to build a strong community, navigate the complexities of graduate school, and build a supportive environment for students to share successes and challenges. This cohort model has proven to be successful to help students with thier classes andthesis research. This cohort forms the heart of the "Tribal Natural Resource Management" track within the Natural Resources Science and Management graduate program. The weekly meetings were also attended by other under-represented graduate students. Weekly meetings averaged between 4-6 people.
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Progress 07/01/21 to 06/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project has been prospective graduate students seeking study in natural resources. In particular this includes students from historically underrepresentd populations, including Black, Indigenous, and other persons of color. The recruitment and advertisement of these students will highlight research areas of the co-Project Directors. We haveencouraged applicants to contact one or multiple prospective faculty members to serve as theiradvisor. Changes/Problems:There have not been any major obstacles for this project. Seeking feedback through the consultation process took a lot of time and energy on the part of graduate program staff. Getting approval for the track required significant administrative work to get to the stage of Board of Regents approval. There will be a change to the PD on this award which will be made to the appropriate contact at NIFA. Mike Dockry, currently a Co-PD on the project will become PD after Matt Russell leaves the University of Minnesota in summer 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our program/college approved a new graduate-level course in this area. The courseFNRM 5480: Traditional Ecological Knowledge & Western Natural Resource Management is currently being taught by co-PD Dr. Mike Dockry. the course description is to "to refine yourunderstanding of traditional ecologicalknowledge, Indigenous knowledge, and the relationship to western natural resource sciencesand ecology. Students read and discuss foundational and current literature on the topic. Thecourse has a focus on Indigenous scholarship. Students will lead class discussions and preparean individual research project (typically a research paper) related to the class topic and/ortheirthesis. Students will also discuss and practice how to be good relatives. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To date, we have solicited feedback from others through our consultation process,including university programs and tribal partners. While we have not disseminated any results to others, everyone we have discussed the track with is excited about the opportunity that it will bring to our program and its students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our main focus over the next year will be to recruit students asNational Needs Fellows that are to be supported through this award. Given we have the program track approved and on our webpage, we can begin to do more targeted recruitment to prospective students in this area.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This year our university approved the establishment of the Tribal Natural Resources track within the Natural Resources Science and Management Program at the University of Minnesota. This process required a discussion and vote among NRSM program faculty, soliciting feedback from current students, and engaging in a consultation process with other academic departments and programs at the UMN-Twin Cities Campus and other programs ant the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The consultation process was required to ensure no overlap with existing programs in terms ofcourse offerings and program content. We also consulted with tribal partners across the university and region. After getting approval through our College's Graduate and Research Policy and Review Committee, ultimatelythe Tribal Natural resources track was approved by our Board of egents at its May 2022 meeting. We also began recruiting for the National Needs Fellows that are to be supported through this award. While we had three people interested in the opportunity, two of them received funding through our college's diversity fellowship program. We made a news release and flyer which contains info on the fellowship opportunity:https://nrsm.umn.edu/news/nrsm-usda-funding
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