FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Nicole Adams
303.426.8900

THE AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND NAMES NEW MELLON FELLOWS

DENVER , CO (August 17, 2006) – The American Indian College Fund has selected four recipients for its prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship Program. Valerie Jojola, Valerie Montoya, Harriet Skye and Dawn Tobacco-Two Crow-Frank will each receive the $30,000 fellowship aimed at assisting tribal college faculty members who are in the final stages of completing a terminal degree.

Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fund launched the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship Program in 2004. Intended to increase the number of faculty at the nation's 32 tribal colleges and universities possessing a terminal degree, the program is designed to provide each Fellow enough financial assistance to complete the dissertation writing process unfettered by financial and professional demands.

This year's recipients include:

Valerie Jojola (Navajo) is a Ph.D. candidate at New Mexico State University and a faculty member at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque , New Mexico . Her dissertation is entitled, “The Perceptions of American Indian Tribal College Students on the Sense of Community in Distance Education”.

Former SIPI Interim President Valerie Montoya (San Juan Pueblo) is also a Ph.D. candidate at New Mexico State University . Her dissertation is entitled, “Tribal College Responses to Federal Workforce Initiatives.”

Harriet Skye (Standing Rock Sioux) is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of California at Berkeley and a faculty member at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck , North Dakota . Her dissertation is entitled, “Mini Nataka Pi: The Standing Rock Sioux and the Oahe Dam, 1900-1960.”

Dawn Tobacco-Two Crow-Frank (Oglala Lakota) teaches Lakota Leadership and Management and Environmental Management and Protection at Oglala Lakota College in Kyle , South Dakota while pursuing her Ph.D. at South Dakota State University . Her dissertation is entitled, “Second Animal: Porcupine Contributing to the Lakota Diet.”

American Indian College Fund President Richard B. Williams commented on the quality of this year's Fellows, “We are thrilled that the in the third year of this program we are able to support the academic endeavors of so many stellar educators. It is truly a testament to the growth and success of the tribal college movement.”

About the American Indian College Fund

The American Indian College Fund has spent more than a decade helping to increase educational opportunities for Native students. With its credo "educating the mind and spirit," the Fund is the nation's largest provider of private scholarships for American Indian students, providing 5,000 scholarships annually for American Indian students seeking to better their lives through continued education. In addition to distributing scholarships to students attending tribal colleges across the country, the Denver, Colorado-based Fund also supports endowments, developmental needs and public awareness for the tribal colleges. Tribal colleges, commonly referred to as "underfunded miracles," serve more than 30,000 part-and full-time students, representing over 250 tribes.