PORTLAND, Ore. — As tribes come into their own, there’s an increasing need
for Indian teachers to fill the ranks. That’s why federal funding that will
enable Lewis & Clark College’s Graduate School of Education and Counseling
to begin training teachers from Indian country this fall has come at a
perfect time.

Maria Tenoria, doctoral candidate in educational leadership at Lewis &
Clark, member of the San Felipe Pueblo and coordinator tapped for the
program, said of the $93,000 grant from the Office of Indian Education in
the U.S. Department of Education: “I think that’s what is so serendipitous
about this grant — the timing. The need for tribal education — charter
schools, urban schooling — is coming at the same time students will be
graduating from this program.”

The pilot project will train 12 — 15 students over 15 months and offer
full stipends that pay for housing, tuition, books and fees. Once this
select group has completed the master’s in education degree program, it
will then be required to go through an induction period. The equivalent of
a residency program for freshly minted medical doctors, students will work
for a minimum of one year at a reservation charter school, BIA school or
even urban school districts with significant Indian populations (like the
one in Portland that has a Title 7 Indian education program). Throughout
that time, the fresh recruits will be mentored and supported by Lewis &
Clark faculty and staff.

Lewis & Clark College partnered with the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs on the grant; and graduate school dean Peter Cookson credits Antone
Minthorn, Elizabeth Furst and Roy Sampsell among others for helping make
the dream a reality.

“The partnership between the Warm Springs tribe and the college is in
keeping with Lewis & Clark’s interest in cultural diversity. In particular,
the opportunity to provide full boat for 12 students who represent a group
that has been historically silenced is something very much a part of the
mission of the college,” said Cookson. “Also, the idea that these students
will go forward and teach students who might not be living on the
reservation is especially attractive, since urban schools like Portland
tend to be understaffed when it comes to Native faculty.”

Lewis & Clark College, one of Oregon’s finest private liberal arts schools,
has enjoyed that reputation throughout the 20th century and into the 21st.
Established in 1873 and open to women from the very beginning, the
institution has grown to encompass a law school as well as develop graduate
programs in education, counseling psychology and public administration.
With its liberal arts mission, Lewis & Clark is committed to helping
students seek knowledge for its own sake and to prepare for civic
leadership, even as — according to the college catalog — “they join a
community of scholars who are alive to inquiry, open to diversity, and
disciplined to work in an interdependent world.”

Clearly, then, the dozen-plus students selected to take advantage of what
Lewis & Clark has to offer will hone their “abilities as thoughtful
readers, effective writers, and articulate participants in intellectual
discourse” with the very best minds the region has to offer. As they do,
future Indian educators will discover the joys inherent in studying a
discipline at the graduate level at this prestigious institution.

More, the college is bending over backwards so that Native students will
feel as at home as possible. “The faculty at the graduate school is
committed to serving students of all backgrounds and is dedicated to
creating innovative ways to support the learning and well-being of
historically marginalized communities. Students will be participating in
our normal program, but with some extra, culturally relevant courses added
in,” said Cookson. “We’ve also hired Maria Tenoria, who is an Indian and
will be working with the students through our Oregon Center for Inquiry and
Social Innovation, a place where the students will be able to gather and
talk among themselves.”

Minthorn, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, thinks the college is on the right track. “Tribes are
changing, and education helps give us the expertise we need to manage our
governments and succeed. Any time a school like Lewis & Clark steps up to
offer service to our Native American communities and individuals, it
lessens the shock that our students encounter when they leave their home
communities.”

Indeed, bridging the considerable cultural and communication gap that
exists between mainstream society and tribal worlds has always been more
than a bit of an enigma. Still, if the Lewis & Clark demonstration program
is successful, the 12,479 American Indian students out of Oregon’s larger
500,000 K — 12 population could begin benefiting in the near future from
direct interaction with Indian educational leaders who have graduate
degrees.

Mary Clare, professor of counseling psychology and director of the
college’s Oregon Center for Inquiry and Social Innovation, is enthusiastic
about the program. “One of the things that became clear to me when we met
with tribal officials was that we needed to create curricula specific to
Indian culture,” said Clare. “While we at Lewis & Clark have always been
committed to maintaining an awareness of international and cross-cultural
issues and gender relations, we realized that this was an area that hadn’t
been accomplished quite as well as we wished.

“So our plan is to provide two courses,” she continued. “One is on Indian
history, and the other on law related to the education of and teaching of
Indian students that would be particular to this subject. We’ve got both
rural and urban student populations, as well as the myriad of different
Indian nations that figure into the mix. So we know we have a lot to learn
and are relying on Maria Tenoria to help us.

If we are really going to provide a program that makes a difference, we
cannot do it through our eyes and good intentions alone. Maria has learned
a lot about the tribes up here and seems very well accepted and regarded.
So she’s a profound source of knowledge for us — and for people that come
from marginalized cultures into our dominant culture. It’s just imperative
that there be some cushioning and recognition of cultural differences in a
real way, not just theoretical.”

That those in positions of power at Lewis & Clark are going out of their
way to accommodate the special needs of tribal students seems clear; and
the Warm Springs tribes’ Director of Education, Wendell Jim, thinks it’s
high time. “The partnership will empower the Native American Indian
students, tribal communities, and Lewis & Clark College to become
knowledgeable and respectful of our unique heritage and histories. From the
tribal perspective, we envision a program designed to empower and engage
all learners to better understand and respect the tribal lifelong learning
process.”

In addition to the 1,025 American Indian students enrolled in the Portland
Public School District, 700 students are entered in tribal schools in the
area — including 375 at Warm Springs, 122 at the Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians elementary charter school and 47 at the Nixyaahi Charter
School on the Umatilla reservation.

That tribes throughout the region concur with Jim and hope for the
program’s success and continuation goes without saying.