A two-year project at Ilisagvik College to create an online, interactive Inupiaq language database, to produce Inupiaq language materials for an online library, and to train faculty in the use of the database and related software.

The Iupiaq language, classified by UNESCO as severely endangered, is the regional language of Alaska's North Slope. The region, similar in size to Minnesota, is home to only 13,000 Iupiaq people, approximately 2,000 of which are fluent speakers. This project will create a simplified, online Iupiaq language database to provide multiple communities of users, from youth to elders, a platform to create, collaborate, and share dynamic content in Iupiaq. The project will facilitate the Iupiaq Studies Faculty and students in generating content in the form of Iupiaq books, both in digital and print format and applications for digital devices. This effort is grounded in the traditional Iupiaq values of sharing, knowledge of language and cooperation.

A two-year historic and cultural preservation project to strengthen curricular content for humanities courses in Liberal Arts and Dakota Studies.

Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) proposes a two-year humanities initiative designed to enhance the knowledge and understanding in the Humanities by strengthening the current curriculum related to Liberal Arts and Dakota Studies. The two-year initiative will consist of an innovative approach that the will create a bridge between the humanities courses, CCCC students and the archived collection of Dakota literature and oral history. Throughout the two-year humanities initiative, the CCCC will focus on: the historic preservation of the Dakota literature and language; strengthening current humanities courses; and expanding student and community awareness of the correlation between the humanities and Dakota culture.

A two-year project to record Piikani-speaking elders and incorporate interviews into liberal arts courses at Blackfeet Community College.

In an effort to bolster support for the storytelling tradition and language preservation on the Blackfeet nation, Blackfeet Community College (BCC) proposes a three-phase initiative that seeks to 1) document fluent language speakers, 2) translate, archive and organize their messages according to theme, and 3) integrate this work into units of study accessible by all BCC students as a part of their coursework. The first of these objectives will be completed in the first year by directly interviewing key Piikani speakers. Through planning general prompts and questions ahead of time, these interviews will be organized, and the first year will mainly be devoted to collecting and documenting this information. The second year will be focused on translating and organizing interview content into 60 concepts within four thematic units to be studied at BCC as well as integrating the archived, translated interviews into the BCC Liberal Arts curriculum.

The revision of a course on Mvskoke culture that will culminate in a travel-study trip to the original homelands of the Muscogee people in the southeastern area of the United States.

The College of the Muscogee Nation proposes a two-year Humanities
initiative to combine classroom lecture with a travel study to the original homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) people. Students enrolled in the MVSK 2343: Field Lab in Mvskoke Culture will have classroom instruction and complete the course with a trip to the traditional and historical sites significant to the Mvskoke. By redesigning the curriculum during the first two trimesters of year one, CMN will strengthen the humanities focus in this course and provide new experiences for students enrolled in the course. As the humanities focus for this course increases, the planning team will expand collections of Mvskoke (Creek) documents, oral histories, literature, and media resources to support the Field Lab in Mvskoke Culture and other courses on the CMN campus.

The development of curriculum and educational digital resources on Omaha tribal culture, drawing on artifacts and information collected by 19th-century Native American anthropologist Francis La Flesche.

Integration of new digital resources from a collection created by famous anthropologist Francis La Flesche into Native Studies courses, develop digital exhibit with student interns for community members and development of specialized materials for senior citizen participants.

A three-year curriculum development project, expanding an existing associate degree program to a baccalaureate degree program in Native American studies.

To create a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Native American Studies. This bachelor degree will be in aligned with the current associate degree in NAS that offers concentration areas of: History & Law; Arts & Culture; and Anishnaabemowin (tribal language). A Bachelor of Arts degree will offer students a deeper understanding of the Anishinaabe culture, language, and history as compared to just offering the basic associates degree in Native Studies.

A year-long series of workshops for faculty at Dine College that would explore Native American literature.

Fifteen interdisciplinary faculty from three Din? College campuses will conduct seminars through video-conferencing over two semesters to examine Native American literature and ways to use it across the curricula to advance active learning in diverse fields and as a way to challenge students to participate in critical writing in those fields. We will read foundational works in Native fiction and theory, guided by goals that seek a greater understanding of the complex relation that tribal colleges have to Native literature, a greater cohesiveness and communicativeness among faculty who have little opportunity for intellectual interaction, and a better understanding of the role that humanities can play in creating a vibrant and challenging intellectual climate for a community of learners. Visits from two noted scholars will enhance an exciting, intellectual experience that will positively impact our students and help strengthen the continuing growth of a dynamic academic community.

To Support: A series of professional development activities for Montana school teachers on the history and culture of the Nakona and Dakota people.

This project will utilize the resources collected over the past two years in the development of an extensive bibliography, a complete writing of the history of the Nakona and Dakota people, utilizing historical documents and materials specific to these tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The history of the Nakona (Assiniboine) and Dakota (Sioux) will be presented for the first time to public school teachers, staff, parents, and community members, tribal college students and non-humanities faculty, by the humanities faculty and visiting scholars of Fort Peck Community College. This project will create opportunities for faculty members in the humanities division to study together while improving their compacity to teach the humanities, and to be able to share their knowledge with other faculty members that teach in other disciplines. It will fund visiting scholars with extensive knowledge of the Nakona and Dakota people, as guest speakers and workshop leaders.

A project to enhance the Institution's humanities program in Assiniboine and Sioux languages, tribal histories, and literature.

This proposed project will enhance the humanities offerings of the institution in the context of its Mission, in three components: Tribal Language Revitalization Summit, Assiniboine and Sioux Tribal Histories Resources Development, and Tribal Histories and Literature Curriculum Integration.

A three-year project to collect and preserve oral history narratives from elders of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and to develop curricular resources from this material.

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) proposes a January 2011 – December 2013 Humanities Initiative designed to enhance and develop areas of basic need in core humanities programs by gathering oral history narratives by community elders on the modern history of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. The narratives will be collected by KBOCC faculty who have participated in professional development on oral history. Information from the narratives will be used to develop resources for Native studies courses and to support the College’s mandate for Native American content across the curriculum. The narratives will be archived at the college as a resource for on-going scholarship. The proposal is motivated by lack of tribal historical materials and by the value placed on the wisdom and memory of elders. Many events of significance to the tribe since its constitution was adopted in 1936 are within living memory. The initiative will preserve and teach those memories.

A three-year project to create an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree program in Tribal Historic Preservation.

Salish Kootenai College proposes to expand the current humanities and liberal arts programs to create a Bachelor’s Degree program in Tribal Historic Preservation based in the Liberal Arts Department. This program would prepare students for employment in historic preservation, cultural resource management and cultural departments. An integrated, multidisciplinary course of study featuring diverse humanities content is the key component of the prospective Tribal Historic Preservation program of study and will include instruction in anthropology, English, history, Native American studies including numerous offerings in Native American arts, crafts, oral tradition, language, traditional technologies and visual arts. The planning process for THP program will provide the opportunity to improve instruction at SKC by coordinating the diverse multidisciplinary curricula across the humanities to emphasize the importance of Native American heritage, stewardship and historic preservation.

Faculty development and consultation with scholars and outside institutional partners to study Comanche cultural heritage and enhance American Indian Studies course offerings.

"Noobitu ranu ('Let's Set Up Camp Together'): Articulating Comanche Philosophy" is a project to support faculty development through consultation with scholars and outside institutional partners to study Comanche cultural heritage and enhance American Indian Studies course offerings at Comanche Nation College (CNC). The project begins with a week-long Winter Encampment guided by Gregory Cajete (director of the Native American Studies Program, University of New Mexico), whose book, Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education, is read and discussed by faculty participants. Thomas Kavanagh (assistant professor of anthropology and museum director, Seton Hall University), who serves as Consulting Anthropologist for the Comanche Nation, contributes to faculty professional development by sharing expertise in areas including Comanche historical accounts and encampment organization. Several other partner organizations, including the Comanche National Museum, Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Arlington, and the Three Rivers Foundation, also contribute knowledge and resources. CNC faculty participants work with colleagues from these partner institutions to produce curricula and classroom materials during the subsequent academic year.

A two-year program, based on the writing of Louise Erdrich, designed to enrich humanities courses by tying them to the Turtle Mountain reservation community.

Turtle Mountain Community College is proposing a two year humanities initiative designed to create a bridge between humanities courses and the reservation community. Academic coursework is usually separated from the world in which TMCC students live. The relevance of the courses is expected to foster student engagement in learning and encourage students to choose more humanities courses.