HR: 13:40h
AN: ED23B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Integration of Geospatial Technologies and Enhancing Science Initiatives in the North Dakota Tribal Colleges
AU: * Bennett, B
EM: bbennett@ndatc.org ; badbull7@yahoo.com
AF: North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges, 919 S 7th St. Suite 205, Bismarck, ND 58504 United States
AB: The integration of geospatial technologies into the curriculum of Tribal Colleges (TCU's) has quietly emerged as one of the leading initiatives across Indian Country. Currently, there are over 54,000 American Indians residing on and managing greater than 3.8 million acres of Tribal land in North Dakota and parts of South Dakota. The reservations are undergoing extremely fast population growth within rural states that are experiencing rapid population declines. This poses an important dilemma. How will the Tribes meet (1) the resource needs of a growing population, (2) the demand for a skilled workforce, and (3) resource management goals in ways that contribute to Tribal infrastructure and equate to sustainable resource management? Creating cadres of indigenous scientists that possess skills in geospatial technologies to manage Tribal resources is the key to filling this important Tribal niche. Further, successfully building these cadres will require effective and viable partnerships among the academic, scientific and geospatial communities. The objective of this project is to illustrate the growing trend in geospatial applications and curriculum development occurring in TCU's to meet Tribal workforce demands and to identify successful partnership strategies for TCU's to link with private, State and Federal Agencies. Preliminary results suggest that developing strength-based collaborations that create an environment of investment and ownership by all participants proves an effective model for meeting partnership objectives. A number of these projects and the mechanisms that define the successful collaborations will be illustrated.
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 0855 Diversity
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005