American Indian Education and Cultural Training

The purpose of this session is to introduce faculty and staff to the central themes of the Family Education Model (FEM) and provide a grounding experience for professional faculty & staff teaching, counseling, and advising Indigenous students. The historical mission of Indian Education (i.e., commitment to cultural preservation and revitalization, the enhancement of student well-being, and the alleviation of low achievement and high attrition) provides the context for this session (history, worldview philosophy, language, arts, and effective teaching methodologies). This workshop provides an introduction to the historical, philosophical, and ethical foundations of Indian education and builds upon a culturally competent perspective.

About our speaker: Iris PrettyPaint, Ph.C., M.S.W.

photograph of Iris PrettyPaint Iris PrettyPaint, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Montana, received her B.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Kansas in 1978 and her M.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Minnesota in 1996. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. PrettyPaint’s professional experience focuses on retention of tribal students at colleges and universities. She has served as the Interim Academic Vice President at Fort Peck Community College and as Project Coordinator for the W.K. Kellogg Family Collaborative, which developed a family-centered retention model for Tribal Colleges and Universities. Additionally, Iris directed the Twin Cities Healthy Nations Project and served as the Cultural Program Coordinator at Fairview Riverside Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. PrettyPaint’s honors include a Bush Leadership Fellow award (1999); four consecutive awards of National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education (NINLHE) Training Fellow; Emerging Scholar for the W.K. Kellogg Native American Higher Education Initiative (NAHEI); Bush Advanced Child Welfare Scholar (1994); and a Department of Education Faculty Development Fellow award (1996).

At the University of Montana, Iris serves as Co-Director of Research Opportunities in Science for Native Americans (ROSNA). Project PACE extends heartfelt thanks to Iris PrettyPaint for her steadfast efforts to enrich and establish connections between UM women scientists and Native American women scientists and students.

American Indian Education and Cultural Training

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