“They Won’t Do It the Way I Can Do It”: Native American Higher Education Personnel

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Indigenous Higher Education-Focused Roundtable Session

Abstract

Participants in a qualitative study of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) degree completion were asked to identify higher education personnel who were instrumental to their degree completion. This paper concerns the five Haudenosaunee personnel who were identified. Participants were asked about their work with Native students including any underlying philosophy. Cultural capital, (Yosso, 2005) and Native capital (Ward, 2008) form the conceptual framework of this study. Themes from the participant interviews are the varied pathways to the profession, motivation and encouragement, more than the job description, and incorporation of traditional value systems in their work.

Author

• Stephanie J. Waterman, University of Rochester