The U.S. Department of Education has required educational collection and reporting. For postsecondary institutions, this requirement has evolved from the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), which was used from the 1960s to the 1980s, to the Integrated postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Aliyeva, Cody, & Low, 2018).…

There has been a steady decline in the number of Indigenous people pursuing and achieving PhD degrees in the U.S. In 2021, barely 0.3% of the 31,674 students in the United States who were conferred PhDs were American Indian or Alaska Native, as there has been lack of support for the advancement of Indigenous students to doctoral-level study. This…

For a tribal college or university (TCU), cyberinfrastructure includes not only the campus computer labs, servers, routers, and software applications, but the classroom technology, research laboratories, library facilities, and personnel who operate and maintain these resources. The cyberinfrastructure at a TCU is a foundational tool that ties the…

What does it mean to be a good citizen? In some ways, the answer is simple: participate in government (vote), pay your taxes, don't break the law, and contribute to the economic well-being of the United States. But there is more. The definition of being a good citizen is bound up in society's core cultural values and how those values are practiced…

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) is helping to facilitate tribal colleges' role as a link between Native communities and national and global scientific resources. AIHEC's STEM initiatives are in the early stages of what is a long-term effort to respond to the rapid acceleration of emerging challenges and opportunities that…

The story of Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl (D-Q) University is rooted firmly in the land and peoples of California, but also in other Native nations and nationals who have recently relocated. There are many versions of where and how D-Q began. D-Q's articles of incorporation, which were based on the "brief proposal" of June and August 1970,…

The Navajo Technical University (NTU) Land grant Program has been building community focused horticultural extension for the past five years. The long-term goals are to develop an extension program that will serve as a hub of Navajo and Native-specific agricultural information and conversation, build individual and community capacity, support…

With support from Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) in Cass Lake, Minnesota, solar energy infrastructure--as well as specialized training and well-paying jobs--are coming to the Leech Lake Nation. Rather than power LLTC's facilities, a 40- kilowatt solar garden installed on the college's campus during the 2017 fall semester, along with four similar…

From the beginning, preservation and continuity of tribal histories and cultures have been at the center of the strategic vision for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) (Bordeaux, 1989). TCUs have developed the infrastructure and networks to support the revitalization, preservation, and teaching of Indigenous languages and cultures. But while…

The lives of tribal people emerge from the stories of creation and teachings about how to be in relationships. For tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) the essence of who they are can be seen in how tribal institutions were created and in how they deliver their missions every day. Over decades of interaction with American education systems,…

American Indian Higher Education (AIHEC) Student Congress president Chris Sindone (Pawnee of Oklahoma) was headed down a rough road, until Haskell Indian Nations University helped turn his life around. This profile describes Sindone's path to Haskell, highlights his successes and influences, as well as his plans for the future.

Tribal colleges seek to approach education from the perspective of American Indian people and create an educational experience that promotes tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Indigenous studies--its mission, teaching strategies, curricular focus, research, and academic and community engagement--makes it possible for tribal colleges to…

Navajo Technical University first opened its doors in 1979 as the Navajo Skills Center with the simple intention of training an unemployed workforce and putting people to work. At the time, the Diné were just a generation removed from attempts at forced assimilation, which included unwarranted military action by the U.S. Cavalry during the Long…

Sinte Gleska University (SGU) grew from humble beginnings and a lofty vision to an institution that offers a full range of post-secondary programs for its students. The founders of SGU envisioned a higher education institution that allowed tribal students to complete their entire college education within the boundaries of their tribal nation. They…

This article describes how positioning an organization to be seen as trusted and expert on an issue requires careful relationship-building, patience, and an abundance of time. Such an effort often requires help, and so American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and Washington Partners are working together to further AIHEC's goals.…