Programs on campus at the University of Arizona, in Tucson

The Office of Native American Programs

This office coordinates College of Agriculture and Cooperative Extension programs on Arizona's Indian reservations to develop and improve relationships with the state's 21 Indian tribes, and to provide information on programs that would benefit both individual tribal members and entire tribes. Activities coordinated with tribal extension services include field days, workshops, livestock and crop improvement programs and research.

Specifically, the Office of Native American Programs plays a major and important role in making sure that an underserved clientele receives educational and problem solving programs from the college, by informing Indians of programs that are available to them, and by making faculty in turn aware of the ways they can serve their Indian clientele.

This office has also been instrumental in the organization and development of the Southwest Indian Agricultural Association (SWIAA) and has worked closely with the National Intertribal Agricultural Council (IAC).

Over the last ten years these responsibilities have broadened to include securing funding to support Indian programs; representing the College of Agriculture and Cooperative Extension on most matters concerning Native Americans; and serving as liaison for the College of Agriculture with the state's newest land-grant institution, Diné College, on The Navajo Nation. While considerable strides have been made in delivering programs to many of the Indian reservations, particularly the larger ones, much work still needs to be done to reach out to the remaining reservations, especially the smaller ones.

Programming for Indian Communities

Program coordination includes agriculture, 4-H youth development, family and consumer programs, community leadership resource development, educational and problem-solving programs. These programs are offered through county extension offices in all 15 Arizona counties, and through extension offices on the CRIT, Hopi, Navajo and San Carlos Apache reservations.

Coordinator of Native American Activities for Students

The College of Agriculture at the University of Arizona is unique in that it maintains the position Coordinator of Native American Activities within the Office of Academic Programs. This office, dedicated solely to the success of American Indian students, demonstrates the College of Agriculture's commitment to native students. The primary responsibility of the coordinator is to advocate for American Indian student interests in the college and the university. Recruitment duties include not only contacting individual students but making campus visitations to tribal schools and community colleges, presenting COA programs to on-reservation tribal and educational agencies, and developing a network of tribal community members to provide them an access point to the UA. This community outreach assists in COA maintaining a cordial presence in tribal communities.

Once a student has chosen the UA, the coordinator follows up on students by providing academic, financial aid, and career advising. The coordinator assists students in maximizing university services. In addition, the student list serve provides American Indian COA students with the most current financial aid opportunities, job listings, summer internships, and campus information. Graduating competent, well-trained professionals who are tribal members is a central goal of this office. The development of an expanse web of UA alumni professional contacts is a key factor in opening doors to our graduates.

The coordinator participates in university committees such as RETAIN (Retention in Education for Today's American Indian Nations) and American Indian agricultural organizations such as SWIAA (Southwest Indian Agricultural Association and NAF&WS (Native American Fish & Wildlife Society). The current coordinator is Joe Graham, a graduate student from Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico. He is working towards a Ph.D. in Arid Lands Resources Science, with an emphasis on agricultural, environmental and natural resource issues on tribal lands.

Student Coordinator

Through the Office of Academic Programs, a coordinator of Native American Activities offers the following services to Native American students in the College of Agriculture:

• Academic counseling and guidance
• Mentoring
• Lists of jobs available on reservations
• Student recruitment and career counseling at events held on reservations throughout the year. The coordinator visits high schools across Arizona and New Mexico to discuss college programs and answer questions.

The coordinator also works with the Southwest Indian Agriculture Association (SWIAA) to enhance economic development.

Opportunities for Native American Students in the UA College of Agriculture

Each semester about 60-70 American Indian students pursue their undergraduate degrees in the UA College of Agriculture (approximately 10%-12% of the total tribal student population). Many native students express a desire to return to their tribal lands to help address environmental, resource, agricultural or societal issues to help improve the quality of life "back home."

"It would be good if each tribal group had enough well-trained, knowledgeable resource people who grew up on the reservation, to handle their own agricultural and environmental issues," says Joe Graham, the current coordinator of the Native American Activities office in the college's Office of Academic Programs. As tribes recognize and set their priorities in these arenas, they can address their concerns with trained personnel who were raised hearing about the issues at hand.

"College graduates returning to their reservations with their academic credentials can have the opportunity to work with other tribal members who have maintained a life-long association with the land and environment," he says. "They're able to learn from each other."

Tribal land comprises about one-third of the state of Arizona. There is a definite need for an increase in the number of American Indian scientists. Currently much of the scientific work carried out on Indian reservations is done by someone representing one of the federal agencies.

"It's logical to believe that scientists who have a definite connection to the reservation where a project is being carried out have more of a vested interest in making sure that the project will be completed safely and with as little impact as possible," Graham says. "They care more about the outcome."

When presenting the College of Agriculture's programs to tribal students, Graham stresses the diversity of the programs available in the college. The college offers a wide variety of majors in agriculture, natural resources, environmental science, and family and consumer sciences (see Majors offered by College of Agriculure). Graham noted that one of the most valuable assets of a COA degree for native students is that "it equips students to work anywhere. Agricultural, resource, and environmental issues are worldwide. Expertise in those areas is only going to become more important, and adventurous students can utilize those degrees anywhere in the world if they want. At the same time, a student can still come home and fill professional positions on the reservation."

While hopeful, Graham acknowledges that many students have faced difficulty securing those professional positions on the reservations.

"The official line of most tribes is that they want their students to get degrees and come home to utilize them. But for whatever reason many graduates find that there are no positions for them when they finish. I hope the tribal agencies will learn to have faith in their own graduates because most students really do desire the chance to improve conditions for their tribal people. In turn, tribes need to ensure that their own tribal graduates are compensated at the same levels as visiting professionals working on their reservations."

As a UA graduate student himself, Graham understands the difficulties in navigating the university system. He has been working towards developing a mentoring network for beginning students that pairs a student with an American Indian professional person. He believes it is important for students to get connected at the University of Arizona with professionals in their discipline, with their professors, and their with academic colleagues.

"These connections will help the students get through the tough times they will face while earning their degrees, " he explains. Overall, Graham believes there is considerable opportunity for tribal students in the fields of agriculture and natural resources.

"Each of the tribes have their lands and good students. Now we need to use the UA to bring them together for the benefit of both."

Agricultural Education on the Reservations

The College of Agriculture's Department of Agricultural Education assists with and conducts continuing education programs for agricultural education teachers in eight schools, six of which are on reservations, where the student body is predominately Native American. In those schools, complete agricultural and vocational education curricula are offered, including FFA and youth leadership development programs.

Through federal funding for a Cultural Diversity Grant sponsored by the Arizona Department of Education, the Department of Agricultural Education sponsored career development activities in five rural school districts. One of the participating districts was Indian Oasis/Baboquivari Unified School District. The total project served 280 students, 40 of whom were freshmen and sophomore students at Baboquivari High School.

Kathryn Hollenback, adjunct associate professor, directed the project. Associate professors Jack Elliot and James Knight, and assistant professor Billye Foster worked with students on their own campus and on campus at the College of Agriculture. The main activities provided to the Tohono O'odham students were 1) The development of student career portfolios for agribusiness and health careers and 2) Four on-site presentations: "Connecting to Careers", "Connecting to Technology", "Connecting to Yourself" and "Connecting to Education."

The Minority Training Program in the School of Renewable Natural Resources

This project, formerly known as the Native American Training Program, benefits all tribes by producing undergraduate and graduate Native American students in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources. For the last decade the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit in the School of Renewable Natural Resources has supported a natural resource training program for American Indians who are recommended by tribal councils, individual tribal members, or cooperating agencies.

Three students from the White Mountain Apache Tribe, two from The Navajo Nation, and one from the San Carlos Apache Tribe are currently enrolled in the program. Fourteen students have received bachelor of science degrees through the program, six have completed or are enrolled in master's programs and one has completed a doctorate. (See accompanying article on student research conducted by David Chris Kitcheyan.)

In 1999 two members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe graduated with bachelor of science degrees in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources. Both began careers with the White Mountain Apache Game and Fish Department.

Another member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe completed a master's degree in Fisheries. The student has been supported under a Cooperative Education Agreement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during both his undergraduate and graduate training. He has accepted employment with a Fisheries Resources Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Minority Training Program is coordinated by Eugene Maughan, a professor of Wildlife and Fisheries Science, and is funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which recently renewed its support for another five years.

Student Research on the Reservation:

Population Structure of Apache Trout in Flash and Squaw Creeks on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Arizona

–School of Renewable Natural Resources

Reduced populations of the native Apache trout in streams prompted David Chris Kitcheyan (White Mountain Apache) to conduct his recently completed graduate study regarding fish habitat and survival. He focused on the recovery of a threatened species on the reservation and began to develop techniques that would allow it to be reintroduced into areas from which it's been eliminated.

In 1995, Kitcheyan, a graduate student in wildlife and fisheries science in the College of Agriculture's Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, renovated Squaw and Flash Creeks on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation to remove non-native fish that had been stocked there, then introduced Apache trout from Flash Creek into Squaw Creek.

"Two years later, we found various size classes of Apache trout," Kitcheyan says.

Apache trout above a natural barrier on Flash Creek were allowed to repopulate the renovated section, and three years later, 45 Apache trout were found below the natural barrier. Kitcheyan tagged juvenile and adult fish to track their preferences for different stream habitats.

"I tried to identify exactly what types of areas they occupied in the stream, and to get an idea of habitat preferences between juveniles and adults," he says. "This was the historic habitat for the Apache trout. By reintroducing it, we're making an attempt to recover the species and hopefully one day take it off the endangered species list."

The results show that it is feasible to reintroduce these fish into areas from which past trout have been eliminated, but that some techniques result in lower survival rates than others.

Still, Kitcheyan notes that the Apache trout population has risen to 30 self-sustaining populations, a dramatic increase.

For future restocking, it's best to use fish from the area.

"Last I heard, the plan was to monitor the fish in Squaw Creek, and use the fish in Flash Creek as source stock," Kitcheyan says.

The project was supported by the White Mountain Apache Game and Fish Department, and the Arizona Fisheries Resource Office.

Kitcheyan was recently hired as a fisheries biologist with the Fisheries Resource Office in Vernal, Utah. He's working with other fish right now--razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, bonytail, and possibly cutthroat trout. He hopes to return one day to the reservation, to give back some of what he learned from eight years of university work.

"I'd like to work on Apache trout again, to work for Game and Fish on the reservation," he says. "I owe it to my people to go back home and help out any way I can to manage their natural resources."

Document part of 1999 Native American Programs in the College of Agriculture
Located at http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/general/azlp47-2/on_campus.html
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