Portland State Offers American Indians Online Classes
PORTLAND, Ore.—The state has linked three American Indian tribes to Portland State University by a high-speed computer network that allows students in a master's degree program to take classes without leaving the reservation.
The state Department of Administrative Services test program allows instructors in Portland to teach and meet with students by video.
"I can just go upstairs, 100 feet from my office, leave five minutes before class starts, and be in class and learning," says Chris Leno, director of operations for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
Leno is one of a handful of American Indians studying tribal governance through a new master's degree program from the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State.
Theresa Julnes Rapida, an associate professor of public administration and member of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe of coastal Washington, developed the program. She says she wanted to bring training opportunities to Northwest tribes at a time when casino gambling profits are fueling record growth of tribal governments.
Rapida has worked with faculty to tailor the examples and projects to resemble those a tribal government might face, such as protecting petroglyphs or public areas the tribes consider sacred. She started the program last fall, connecting Portland State with the Grand Ronde, Siletz and Umatilla reservations.
The Department of Administrative Services has lent equipment to the three tribal sites through next year and is covering transmission costs in exchange for being test sites.
Rapida has applied for a $420,000 grant though the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program, which would help all nine of Oregon's federally recognized tribes get connected, as well as Evergreen State College in Washington state.
She's also talking to local American Indian organizations, such as the National Indian Child Welfare Association, about the possibility of using the network to deliver training and workshops.
"I would really like to see a Northwest regional hookup that would include the tribes being able to access any higher ed instruction," Rapida says.