By Susan Biemesderfer
When you start looking at colleges, sometimes the hardest thing is to narrow your choices. The small sample of college profiles here will give you an idea of the range of schools you might consider, but it’s up to you to select your target colleges based on what’s important to you, like cost, programs, and location. Do your research, starting with the “Top 200 Colleges for Indigenous Students," consult with your counselor, teachers, and family members; and visit as many campuses as you can. Figuring out what’s important to you in the beginning will help you refine your list and make this big, exciting decision easier.
sittingbull.edu
SBC campus in summer.
Photos courtesy of Sitting Bull College
When you look at a college named after a legendary Native American, you’re going to see a proud legacy. You’re also going to find a strong focus on your future, perhaps best articulated by Chief Sitting Bull himself: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children (Wakháŋyeža kiŋ lená épi čha táku waštéšte iwíčhuŋkičiyukčaŋpi kte).” The famous quote is the official vision statement of Sitting Bull College.
Based in North Dakota at Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Sitting Bull College (SBC) has two additional campuses in Mobridge and McLaughlin, S.D. The school offers master’s, bachelor’s, and associate degrees as well as technical and vocational certificates. With a nine-to-one student-to-faculty ratio, SBC provides education that is tailored to each student’s aspirations and guided by the Ochethi Sakowin values of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people.
The student population is approximately 300, making SBC a place where people will know your name and you can access resources for academic success. The college sponsors an active peer mentoring program, and each student is assigned a faculty advisor to help with selecting courses and meeting degree requirements. For STEM students with an environmental focus, the Fort Yates Prairie Ecosystems Research Center is where faculty and their classes are conducting advanced research funded by the National Science Foundation. And if you want to learn more about the public policies that impact Indigenous communities, SBC’s Native American Studies (NAS) program prepares students to take on the challenges unique to Native people.
Outside class, SBC encourages students to broaden their knowledge and perspectives. Campus organizations range from an AISES College Chapter and an American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) Chapter to a Two Spirit Club for LGBTQ+ students and allies and a Geek Oyate Club. There are also popular SBC campus groups organized around anime, rodeo, ecology, art, fitness, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (think “Knowledge Bowl”).
Since it was founded by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in 1973, SBC has served geographically isolated populations with no other options for accessing education beyond the high school level. Its 50th anniversary was marked earlier this year with a ceremony, powwow, and other events to honor the school’s Indigenous roots and its ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Clockwise from left: Environmental chemistry students take water samples in the Cannonball River in North Dakota; a focus group at the SBC Research Center for a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe mobile app; students play an egg toss game on the campus lawn during the college’s 50th anniversary celebration.
mcmaster.ca
Clockwise from left: A meeting at the campus Indigenous Circle; the garden at McMaster Museum of Art; fall on campus; students at work in a lab.
Photos Courtesy of McMaster University
It’s been called the world’s tech hotbed and credited with some of the best laboratories and brightest minds in North America. McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is a renowned public university with over 60 research centers and institutes. More than 32,000 undergraduates and 5,300 graduate students call McMaster home, approximately 18 percent from other countries. It is one of only four Canadian universities listed among the top 85 in the world by major ranking systems.
Nearly 1,000 full-time faculty members lead McMaster’s six academic schools in Science, Engineering, Health Sciences, Business, Humanities, and Social Sciences. A comprehensive academic advising program is also organized around the fields of study. The school’s commitment to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace has repeatedly earned McMaster recognition as one of Canada’s top employers for diversity. Inclusion also features prominently in the membership of the school’s more than 300 student clubs, including an AISES College Chapter.
More than 32,000 undergraduates and 5,300 graduate students call McMaster home.
The sprawling McMaster campus along Lake Ontario includes four world-class libraries, more than a dozen residence buildings, a planetarium, a state-of-the-art athletic complex, and a bustling student center. It also houses the McMaster Museum of Art, a public gallery at the heart of campus that exhibits the university’s prized art collection (with pieces from the likes of Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh). Oh, and there’s the McMaster Nuclear Reactor that provides neutrons for research and medical isotope production — really. And when your brain needs more fuel, your next meal is never far away with more than 20 dining outlets on school grounds.
But there’s a catch. If you enroll there, you have to become a Marauder. That’s Marauder with a capital M, the school’s beloved eagle mascot. The moniker belongs to all students, not just the championship varsity athletic teams. Regular-people-Marauders who want to stay in shape have easy access to team intramurals, drop-in activities, seven gymnasiums, three studios, natural-grass and soft-surface fields, a 50-meter pool, a 200-meter indoor track, squash courts, an indoor climbing wall, and even a high ropes course.
As a testament to the university’s global tradition of excellence and engagement, its 235,000+ alumni represent 147 countries, and many remain active in the McMaster community. They include cabinet ministers, business leaders, scientists, professional musicians, university presidents, Hollywood actors, Olympians, and an astronaut.
AISES College Chapter Profile
Rochester Institute of Technology
rit.edu
Clockwise from left; Ganondagan White Corn Project; May Day Hawaiian Day of Celebration; Native American Heritage kickoff event; chapter members at the 2023 AISES National Conference in Spokane, Wash.
Photos courtesy of RIT AISES Chapter
High school students visiting the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) at last year’s Native American Outreach Day lit up with excitement as they listened to Abby Reigner. Treasurer of the AISES College Chapter, Reigner talked about her work with the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, RIT racing, and her experience being part of the RIT and AISES communities.
When it comes to the RIT College Chapter and its members, there is plenty to talk about. The chapter is discussing organizing a symposium based on chapter president Sherry Sneezer’s PhD dissertation work on tribal energy sovereignty. Robbie Jimerson is working on Seneca language revitalization and preservation, and last summer he presented at the first Seneca Language Conference. In addition, the chapter is participating in the First Nations Launch competition with Reigner as the lead project manager, Kaualani Ceberano as assistant project manager, and Nathaniel Kilbridge handling PR and outreach for the project as he does for the chapter. Catherine Caraballo is the chapter secretary and Kendall Scott is the chapter advisor.
The RIT AISES College Chapter also fosters an environment that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Seneca Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, on whose ancestral lands the RIT campus is situated, and they promote the contributions of the confederacy to the academic community.
This chapter has been making a difference for Indigenous students at RIT for 18 years. (In fact, the inaugural chapter advisor, Paul Shipman, is still at RIT, where he is an associate professor in the School of Life Sciences.) The chapter meets every Tuesday in the recently renovated Wallace Library. The newly finished Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) is connected to the Wallace Library — which makes the space especially attractive to the members because it is right next to the popular Java’s coffee shop.
At the first meeting of this academic year, Sneezer began by announcing the theme for 2023–2024: positivity. That theme is evident at every meeting, “Prospective members might be surprised by how much the members laugh and readily support each other,” says Scott. “This small community is bonded by their shared dream of creating a better future for themselves and their communities.”
The RIT AISES College Chapter fosters an environment that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Seneca Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, on whose ancestral lands the RIT campus is situated.