BLACKFEET COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Blackfeet Community College
(BCC; Blackfeet Reservation) faculty participated in all four Tribal College
Faculty Summer Institutes and many statewide faculty professional development
workshops; actively recruited and supported preservice teachers to STEP
programs, including Summer Bridge Institutes at MSU-Bozeman; initiated
an ongoing partnership with the Browning Schools (Blackfeet Reservation);
helped to design an Environmental Science course offered jointly at five
STEP campuses; instituted a calculus course, for the first time, and involved
NSF Scholars as Peer Instructors in this course; and worked with other
STEP faculty to write the successful TC-MAST grant (NSF) which provided
ongoing professional development for tribal college faculty. A number of
BCC students, including several NSF Scholars are now teaching at the elementary
school level in Montana. One of the Scholars is now teaching high school
mathematics, including calculus, in Poplar on the Fort Peck Reservation.
One member of the BCC faculty chaired the STEP State Steering Committee
for four years. Building on STEP’s modest ($30,000) contribution toward
a teaching laboratory, BCC added its own funds to build an entire classroom
building for mathematics, science, and other subject areas.
Dull Knife Memorial College (DKMC; Northern Cheyenne Reservation) faculty attended each of the four Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes, as well as numerous statewide faculty professional development workshops. With a tiny faculty, and considerable administrative turnover, Dull Knife nonetheless managed to maintain steady involvement in STEP professional development for SMET faculty. A transfer student from Dull Knife who became an NSF Scholar at Montana State University-Bozeman is now teaching elementary school, with an emphasis on mathematics, at Pretty Eagle School (Crow Reservation). Although the campus has been slower than the other tribal colleges in initiating a pre-education program, this year the first NSF Scholar in attendance at Dull Knife was funded. A recent partnership between Dull Knife and MSU-Northern will enable additional students to begin a preservice program at Dull Knife with transferability to the MSU system.
Fort Belknap College (FBCC; Fort Belknap Reservation) faculty actively participated in many aspects of the project, attending all four of the STEP Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes; attending statewide professional development meetings for college faculty, as well as MSTA and MCTM; serving on the STEP Steering Committee; helping to develop and pilot an environmental science course offered simultaneously at five STEP campuses; and recruiting and retaining NSF Scholars, including a cadre of students who continued in certification programs at MSU Northern. Fort Belknap’s STEP faculty and Academic Dean also instituted a degree option, now in their catalogue, for students pursuing elementary education certification at a four-year college. STEP faculty at FBC have been active grant writers, obtaining sizable funding for technology, a life sciences teaching room, and assisting in the writing of the NSF TC-MAST grant, which provided further professional development for tribal college faculty.
Fort Peck Community College (FPCC; Fort Peck Reservation) faculty have been active in the STEP Project, attending all four of the STEP Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes; attending and giving presentations at statewide professional development meetings for college faculty; recruiting and retaining NSF Scholars, and other preservice teachers, a cohort of whom are now teaching in Montana; providing coursework toward teacher certification on-site at FPCC through partnerships with STEP faculty from MSU-Northern, and with Rocky Mountain College (Billings); bringing NSF Scholars to numerous statewide meetings such as MSTA and MCTM; attending a STEP writing workshop; serving on the statewide STEP Steering Committee and the NSF Scholars Steering Committee; and contributing to the writing of the TC-MAST grant which is providing ongoing professional development for tribal college faculty.
Little Big Horn College (LBHC; Crow Reservation) faculty attended each of the four Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes, helped to write the NSF TC-MAST grant that provided continuing professional development for tribal college SMET faculty, recruited numerous students to the NSF Scholars program, and provided extensive professional development elementary science at the STEP K-12 Partnership Site at Pryor (Crow Reservation), and at other schools on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations.
Salish Kootenai College (SKC; Flathead Reservation) faculty have been active participants in the STEP Project. The faculty worked with an inter-campus group to develop and offer STEP environmental science and mathematics courses; spearheaded a team of STEP faculty (from the tribal colleges and universities) who wrote the successful TC-MAST grant, providing ongoing professional development for tribal college faculty; attended all four of the STEP Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes, and gave presentations about innovative teaching at several STEP statewide college faculty conferences; recruited and retained NSF Scholars and other pre-education students, including a cohort now certified and teaching in Montana; and formed a partnership with Western Montana College which has allowed SKC to co-offer a four-year elementary education degree program on-site. SKC provided significant campus funding to match a STEP contribution of $30,000 to improve its student computer lab, used extensively by preservice and SMET students.
Stone Child College (SCC; Rocky Boy Reservation) faculty attended all four Tribal College Faculty Summer Institutes; attended numerous statewide workshops on teaching, learning, and equity issues for college faculty; recruited and retained a cohort of preservice teachers, including NSF Scholars, who continued for certification; and instituted a new two-year degree option for students planning to continue for elementary education certification at a four-year college.