Eminence Credentialing of American Indian Faculty

dborn@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Wed, 9 Apr 97 13:46:10 CST

A colleague and I are looking into the credentialing of Indians as faculty
members in higher education. We are particularly interested in those who
do not have formal higher ed degrees, masters and doctorates. Departments
of fine/studio arts and music, and some writing programs, are able to offer
regular (tenure track) appointments and positions to "esteemed" individuals,
but I haven't found evidence yet of such recognition (and its concomitant
rewards and status) being extended to Indians who are not artists or writers.

I know that some elementary and secondary school systems have eminence
credentialing of tribal members for language and culture programs, but thus
far have found very few references to the credentialing of traditional
people (story-tellers, spiritual leaders, medicine people and healers,
etc.) in post-secondary institutions.

If you know of ANY such programs, elementary, secondary, or post-secondary,
would you please contact me directly at

dborn@tc.umn.edu

At the same time, perhaps this is a topic deserving wider discussion. If
you would like to initiate or participate in such a discussion, please post
your replies to MINN-IND@tc.umn.edu and NAT-EDU@gnosys.svle.ma.us.

Thanks to all who might contribute to this project and discussion.

_\ /_
( o o )
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When an artist reasons, it's because
he [she] no longer understands anything.
Andre Derain
_______________________________________________
David O. Born, Ph.D.
Professor and Director
Division of Health Ecology
15-136 Moos Tower
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
612 - 625-9438 Voice 612 - 626-6096 Fax
e:mail dborn@tc.umn.edu
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