Working with the nonprofit Project Quipu, AISES is aiming to open more academic and career opportunities in the burgeoning fields of video gaming, competitive gaming, and esports. Project Quipu enlists professionals from academia and industry to enhance social and cultural cohesion and expand opportunities for Indigenous people through the gaming and esports industries.For more information or to get involved, visit quipu.gg
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $1.4 million grant to AISES and the Kapor Center, which promotes access to STEM careers for underrepresented people. The grant, made through the NSF ITEST (Innovation Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers) program, will provide a sequence of three computer science courses at Native-serving high schools over four years. The courses will be tribe specific, culturally relevant, and gender responsive. One goal of the project is to increase participation in computer science, and ultimately degree completion, among Native girls.
Results of the 2021 AISES Board of Directors election, where AISES members voted for a slate of outstanding candidates who represent a range of expertise, are in. Incoming members of the AISES Board of Directors, who will serve a three-year term, are Sequoyah Fellows Gary Burnette and Jonathan Clark. Gary Burnette, Cheroenhaka, was reelected as Board chair. He has served on the Board since 2018 and is a senior executive at IBM with over 30 years’ experience in technology and in leading global teams. Jonathan Clark, San Carlos Apache, has a strong background in information systems and IT management. Currently the project management manager at his tribe’s healthcare corporation, Clark has been involved in AISES since college and is the two-term past president of the Phoenix Professional Chapter. He actively devotes his time to local and national initiatives that further diversity and equality.
The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) has recognized Winds of Change with two 2021 National Native Media Awards for Best Feature Story and Best Environmental Coverage in the Print/Online category. Winning stories are “Fighting Fire with Fire,” Spring 2020, and “Sustaining Wildlife — Sustaining Culture,” Fall 2020. Both stories were written by Allison Herrera and Lyndsie Bourgon.
Living Legacy: Dr. Charles A. Eastman
This column celebrates pioneering Indigenous people in STEM who helped establish a heritage of accomplishment, perseverance, and service. In this issue, a remarkable physician dedicated to his people: Dr. Charles A. Eastman, Ohiyesa, Santee Sioux (1858–1939).
Born in a buffalo hide tepee in his Sioux homeland in Minnesota, the young Ohiyesa was traditionally raised by his uncle and grandmother in exile in Manitoba after the Sioux Uprising of 1862. When Ohiyesa was 15, his father was released from prison for his part in the uprising. Now known as Jacob Eastman, his father took Ohiyesa to Dakota Territory to be educated in white culture and religion. Ohiyesa became Charles Eastman and excelled in his studies, graduating from Dartmouth College in 1887 and medical school at Boston University in 1890. He served as government physician on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota during and after the Ghost Dance rebellion of 1890–1891, and he cared for the wounded after the massacre at Wounded Knee. He also served the Crow Creek Reservation, where his immunization program prevented many deaths from smallpox and measles. During his tenure, for the first time in years, births on the reservation outnumbered deaths. A noted author, political leader, lobbyist, and public speaker, Dr. Eastman traveled widely and held several prominent positions during his long life, including president of the Society of American Indians, and founded a camp for girls to teach Indigenous ways of life. He spent his final years with his son in Detroit, where he died at age 80.
Do you or a member you know have a new academic degree, promotion, or award? Newly published book or paper? Let us share the good news — just email Winds of Change editor Karen English at kenglish@aises.org.