Seminole State College recently received a $10,000 grant from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the Lumina Foundation to pursue homegrown projects on campus —ranging from culturally relevant programming, to faculty mentoring, to other high-impact practices.

As a part of the grant award, Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) Coaching Specialist Deedra Eldredge, SSC President Lana Reynolds and Sponsored Programs Compliance Officer Holly Newell were invited to attend a NASNTI National Summit in late July in Denver, Colorado where they had the opportunity to share SSC’s unique circumstances and strategies that are in place to help Native American students be successful. On average, about 26 percent of all SSC students are Native Americans.

The Summit was the inaugural event held in connection with a new partnership between the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and Lumina Foundation. In December, Lumina granted WICHE $990,000 to organize an alliance to help Non-Tribal Serving Institutions (NSIs) develop networks, speak with a strong and common voice on legislative and policy matters, and tailor strategies to help their students succeed.

According to recent WICHE research, fewer than 24 percent of Native American students earn an associate’s degree or higher, barely half the rate of Caucasian students. Of Native American students who do successfully reach college, just one-third graduate within six years; this rate drops below one-fifth when isolated to the public two-year school category that constitutes half of NSIs.

SSC President Lana Reynolds said, “It is very important to SSC to help all of our students be successful, and this includes our Native American population. We are beyond grateful to receive this grant from WICHE and the Lumina Foundation. This gift will provide our faculty and staff with the extra resources they need to help positively impact our Native American students.”

To learn more about the NASNTI program at Seminole State College, please contact NASNTI Director Carol Parker by phone at 405-382-9640 or by email at c.parker@sscok.edu.