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A meeting of the minds

By Kim Swaney

PABLO — The Circle of Tribal Nations grew a little stronger as the presidents from Salish Kootenai College and The University of Montana met last Friday to discuss ways to bring more tribal languages and histories to the University of Montana using technological advances.

The Circle of Tribal Nations is part of President George Dennison's succession of visits to all of Montana's seven reservations and tribal colleges. Dennison who became The University of Montana's 16th president on August 15, 1990, earned his Bachelor's degree (with the highest honors in history) in 1962 and his Master's degree 1963, from The University of Montana and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington in 1967.

With a passion for history, receiving all the tribal histories from the people who not only lived through it, but who continue to perpetuate it through oral tradition, remains to be of the utmost priority for Dennison, especially with the implementation of Montana's Indian Education for All Act, which was passed in 1999.

According to the University's Executive Vice President Jim Foley, one of the half-dozen faculty members who accompanied President Dennison, The U of M is ranked in the top 20 for graduating Native American students with baccalaureates out of 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide. With 13 foreign languages taught at The U of M, none of the languages are native to its people here. Dennison hopes to change that.

Currently, The U of M offers Arabic language through technological aides in collaboration with Stanford University, which it hopes to use as a model to bring Salish and Blackfeet languages to Missoula.

There are a host of collaborative efforts with The U of M and SKC. Tribal college registrars have been helping students from tribal colleges transfer credits to the University for quite some time. President Dennison knows that students, who attend tribal colleges before transitioning to The University of Montana, graduate at a higher rate than students who dive into the University's system.

Bonnie Allen, Dean of The U of M's Mike and Maureen Mansfield Library, and Carlene Engstrom, Librarian for SKC's D'Arcy McNickle Library, share library catalogues enabling U of M and SKC students to check-out resources from either library. Currently, the U of M is in the process of digitizing the Char-Koosta News. "Digital collections are not a collection of Web pages," Allen said. "Images that are scanned from photos and text are cataloged and organized for Web searching. In this way, they not only are findable, but also are documented for scholars to use in their research." As current technology makes working together across long distances more feasible, both librarians look forward to collaborating on other projects.

President Dennison visited SKC's new Language Teacher Training Institute with its director, Josh Brown. Brown knows all too well the scarcity of fluent speakers, native language curriculum and learning/teaching aides. The Institute, located in the basement of SKC's D'Arcy McNickle Library, has been working on developing learning and teaching materials for area schools.

After meeting with Salish Kootenai College staff on areas where technology can help bridge gaps, President Dennison and Exec. Vice-President Jim Foley journeyed across the highway to meet briefly with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

President Dennison is one of two university presidents to ever meet with tribal officials. The visit primarily focused on bringing tribal histories to The U of M and to see what other areas of interest The U of M might be able to bring to communities by way of education.

Areas of concern for tribal officials were financial aid for students and orientation/registration. President Dennison reassured tribal headquarters that efforts have been made including hosting an orientation session just for Native American students. Last fall approximately 150 students attended the Native American student orientation, which was designed to connect Native American students with who they need to know.

"I've always said, if you can get through registration, you can get through college," said Polson Tribal Council Representative, Steve Lozar.