Renata Birkenbuel
ICT
Sandra Boham refuses to slip quietly into retirement after leading Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana to the highest retention and graduation rates among all 36 tribal colleges in the nation.
Her journey has come full circle, as a former staff employee-turned-CEO recently hired her former boss to fill a key slot in a vital nonprofit for Native students seeking scholarships – and reliable, ongoing guidance – for college.
Angelique Albert, chief executive officer, hired Boham to be her new chief operating officer at Native Forward Scholars Fund, a robust organization based in Albuquerque that not only secures a wide range of scholarships for Native students – but also genuinely, actively supports them along the way.
Once a staff member who worked for Boham at Salish Kootenai College, Albert said her nonprofit is “very honored” to bring Boham on board to fill the position.
“We’ve had it open for 14 months, and it was important to us that we find the right person,” said Albert, Confederated Salish and Kootenai of Western Montana. “And what that means to us is that we needed someone whose personal value systems matched the values of our organization. We wanted someone who was extremely passionate about serving Native students. We feel that that person is Dr. Boham.”
Native Forward funds Native college students between $11 and $15 million worth of scholarships every year. So it’s crucial that an experienced educator take the helm of the chief operating officer.
Ironically, Boham, Confederated Salish and Kootenai, is now her former tribal college staffer’s second-hand person in command.
“We were looking for someone that had extensive experience in working with students from the ground up,” Albert told ICT. “In addition to us being a scholarship organization, we provide a wide range of support, services and resources to our students. So we needed someone who understood the college going process and what it takes to get our Native students to and through college.”
Native Forward also sought someone savvy about running a large nonprofit at an executive level.
“She brings with her that experience as well,” added Albert. “That’s what kind of made her shine for us. She was the one person who checked all the boxes.”
Boham, who worked just about every job available in education during her 45-year career, will oversee the organization’s finances, technology programs, human resources and also work with the scholarships team and programs team.
Boham paid her dues several times over, as she worked at all levels before becoming a college president: adult education, work-force development, faculty, registrar, admissions, financial aid, academics and administration.
As usual, she will collaborate across the board with other experts in their specialties. She already invokes an expertise on Native Forward itself, which was founded in 1969.
“We have served about 22,000 students in the 55 years,” Boham told ICT. “All 500 tribes in every state in the United States. What’s exciting about Native Forward, it used to be called the American Indian Graduate Center, but now it is Native Forward with new branding – and the organization provides scholarship assistance for undergraduate and graduate programs.”
Albert, who grew up in Montana, said the program was founded at a significant time as it marked the end of the boarding school era and the ongoing need to “fight for sovereignty rights.”
Native Forward scholarships encompass all demographics: non-traditional and high school students who are college bound across the board, as long as they plan to attend any accredited institution.
Historically, it funds students studying law and education, but now its reach is much wider.
“So we fund students where they are in Tribal College Universities, Ivy League schools, wherever they want to go and get educated in the degree fields that they want,” added Albert. “We do educate a lot of scholars in the health fields and then also in business, but also we’re seeing a pretty big trend and an uptick in environmental sciences and language preservation.”
As one of the oldest and largest scholarship providers to Native students in the United States, Native Forward remains forward-thinking.
“We are carrying on the legacy of our founders and all of our predecessors and ensuring that we are educating Native people at the highest level possible so that they can go out and create change for us in those industries and sectors that matter,” said Albert.
Boham said she built her entire career around “increasing educational attainment levels” for Natives, “building nation capacity” and improving the lives of students, their families and their communities.
“And one of the things that we know about education is that many times it’s the cost that’s the barrier, right?,” Boham added. “And then someone will get into an undergraduate program, which is amazing, and they graduate.”
Yet as tribal goals change, so does the demand for academic programs built for advanced-degree Native students to return to their communities and share their knowledge.
“As our nations get more sophisticated, as our tribes begin to operate in the new arena that they’re in, managing energy and natural resources and the environment and being on the forefront of care for the climate,” Boham said. “We’ve got to build Native people with advanced degrees to be able to take over those operations.”
Tellingly, Native Forward boasts a 69 percent graduation rate of the students that it funds in their undergraduate programs.
It also boasts a 95-percent completion rate among students it funds in graduate-level programs.
“I am a dedicated believer in student success,” said Boham. “It’s not enough just to say, ‘come on in.’ We have to work with students to make sure that they have the best possible chance for success. So Native Forward doesn’t just do the scholarships and walk away. There’s a whole system of wrap-around services that they provide to the students to make sure that they are successful.”
As Boham looks back on her eight years as a tribal college president, she beams with pride as Salish Kootenai Interim President Michael Munson takes over.
“It’s so important that when we’ve been given opportunities in our life, that we turn around and share those with others,” said Boham. “And I was so fortunate to have many opportunities in my life because I was willing to try things. I have really tried to encourage other people to take those risks and try out college, try out new jobs, try out new experiences, because you never know where that can lead you.”
Among her successes at Salish Kootenai College, she helped create two new master’s degree programs – in education and natural resources.
She won the 2023 Jeannette Rankin Shining Star Award and the 2024 Achieving the Dream 20th Anniversary Award.
In 2022, Salish Kootenai College was one of several tribal colleges that received an unsolicited big-money gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
Boham called the surprise gift “a game-changer for the college” because it allowed the institution to create a reserve account for the first time. The grant also enabled the college to devote finances to key initiatives, such as culture, language preservation and professional development for staff and faculty.
“It was incredible. I can’t even put it into words what that was like,” Boham said about the grant.
Most of all, she said leaving the college in a stronger, more stable place is most important to her retirement.
“That, that to me says more than anything,” added Boham. “If you’re a leader and you leave and everything crashes, then you probably weren’t really leading. So I’m very proud of this team and the work that they’re doing, and I’m sure the next president will do a great job.”
The lack of financial aid for college remains one of the biggest barriers for Native students. Native Forward applicants only apply once, instead of filling out several different scholarship forms – a big advantage in a busy student’s life.
“Native Forward is a very small piece of the need that’s out there, but it can make a huge difference in a student’s life when they get one of those scholarships,” Boham added. “I encourage students to apply.”
To apply for a scholarship, contact Nativeforward.org. Webinars and tips abound for free on the nonprofit’s website, which offers much more information on its Student Center page.
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