ISIS

Northern Arizona University
College of Education
PO Box 5774
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5774
(928) 523-2611

BACKGROUND

ISIS receives the Outstanding Acheivement and Contribution Award for a Group from
the Commission on the Status of Women at NAU's 2006 Diversity and Equity Awards Dinner. http://www4.nau.edu/insidenau/bumps/2006/3_29_06/diversity.htm

In two short years, a group of Native American NAU students who call themselves ISIS (Indigenous Sisterhood of Interdisciplinary Scholars) has crafted a powerful identity that creates a home away from home at Northern Arizona University. ISIS began in 2004 with a small grant from the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and supplemental funds from the School of Forestry. The group now includes students from three Tribes in diverse degree programs at Northern Arizona University, Coconino Community College, Purdue University, and in the work world outside of university studies.

MISSION STATEMENT

ISIS is the Indigenous Sisterhood of Interdisciplinary Scholars. We are a unique group of Native American women who represent the Indigenous populations at universities and community colleges.

As community representataves, we strive to maintain our traditional knowledge and through ISIS we mentor and educate our own people as well as the larger population.

ISIS integrates our traditional values with our academic careers. As Native peoples we view the earth as our mother. Research is a responsibility we pursue with respect and caring for her just as we would ourselves and our families.

We create kinships between ourselves and others by interactions based on equality, respect, trust, collaboration, and communication.

The legacy ISIS wishes to leave is the experience of empowerment, strength of identity, a collective voice, and communal support.
View the ISIS digital story

PURPOSE

The purpose of ISIS is to provide a culturally responsive context in which to support Native American female students' success in undergraduate programs at NAU and uniquely prepare them for graduate studies. Three core activites support these purposes:
1) peer and faculty mentoring; 2) wildlife and vegetation field research in a Native American community; and 3) dissemination of accomplishments to Tribal communities, regional and national conferences.

ISIS field crew captures and measures bat species for the Department
of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks on the Kaibab Paiute Reservation

Summer 2006 research was funded by a generous grant from the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research. ISIS will present their research at Dominican University of California in 2007 at the 21 st National Conference on Undergraduate Research www.dominican.edu/ncur21

ISIS field crew members, along with NAU's Dr. Thom Alcoze, examine a
kangaroo rat caught in a post-wildfire area on the Kaibab Paiute Reservation.

Ecological Research

ISIS research designs explore the effects of the 1500 acre Moccasin Fire on wildlife (small mammals, birds, mule deer), their habitats, and vegetation in pinyon-juniper and sage meadow ecosystems. ISIS research also continues the first inventory of bats on the reservation. ISIS works closely with the Director of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks for the Kaibab Paiute Tribe to contribute to the Tribe's ecological data, provide educational activities in ecology for Tribal youth, and mentor Tribal youth interested in ecological field research.

ISIS Field Research Camp

A Letter From Leanna!

Hello!
My name is Leanna Begay. I am Diné and originally from Tuba City/Howell Mesa , Arizona . I recently graduated from Northern Arizona University with a BA in Applied Indigenous Studies and an emphasis in Traditional Ecological Knowledge. I'm beginning my first year as a graduate student at Purdue University where my educational goal is to earn my master's degree in Ecology so that I can become a scientist in the academic world and a Native woman scientist for my community.

I hope to continue my work in a Native American community in Northern Arizona , but I would also like to work abroad. I hope to learn more about the scientific functions of our world and return home to tell the younger generations in Native communities that global collaboration is an important key to furthering our traditional knowledge.

ISIS has given me the opportunity to be among Native women with intriguing minds who have the same goals. I feel both privileged and spoiled to be among a distinct group of independent women who work together as a team and refuse the hierarchy of typical organizations. Being able to work with the Kaibab Band of Paiutes made this group the most excellent group to ever have been created. As Native women, working with the Kaibab Band of Paiutes helped us realize the importance of our work and relationships to each other as friends, colleagues, and most importantly, as sisters.

Love,
Leanna

PS I'm rooming with Hollie Anderson Kulago, a PhD student in Education from the Navajo Nation who completed her undergraduate degree in NAU's College of Education !!

ISIS Successes and Honors

2006 Graduates

Maricelyn Seaton	BS, Hotel and Restaurant Management
Amanda Manzo	MS Forestry 2006 and 2003 Outstanding Graduating Senior in Elementary Education, Teaching and Learning
Leanna Begay	BA Applied Indigenous Studies and emphasis in Traditional Ecological Knowledge

ISIS Honors

ISIS invited by the Director of the Honors Program at NAU to participate in the Celebration of Academic Achievement Showcase for Undergraduate Research during Family Weekend, in October 2005 and September 30, 2006 at NAU.
ISIS contributes poster presentations for the Kaibab Paiute Annual Community Meeting
ISIS awarded a President's Recruitment and Retention Grant (internal NAU grant from the President's Office) for AY 2006-2007.
ISIS awarded funds from the Institute for Native Americans at NAU to continue working with the Kaibab Paiute Tribe during AY 2006-2007.
ISIS awarded the Outstanding Achievement and Contribution Award by the Commission on the Status of Women at NAU's 2006 Diversity and Equity Awards Dinner.
Two ISIS members applied for and received funding for assistantships for AY 2006-2007 from the Community Forestry Research Foundation and will present their research to the Community Forestry Foundation's Annual Conference in Missoula , MT in September, 2006.
ISIS contributed to a 23-page article entitled Sego Lilies and Navajo Tea: Tribal Women's Experiences Together in Educational Contexts ( S. Alcoze ) currently submitted for publication.
Six ISIS members participated in a seminar at Purdue University with the Provost, six Purdue professors and five Native American graduate students, along with the faculty mentors for this project, to solidify a cohort of Native American students now known as the Tecumseh Project at Purdue, for successful recruitment and retention of Native American graduate students to Purdue.
ISIS presented a 2-hour seminar and a two-hour poster session at the Native American Pathways to Research and Careers in Ecology. Haskell Indian Nations University , Lawrence , KS

Faculty Supervisor for the NCUR/Lancy Award is Sally M. Alcoze, Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Alcoze extends her gratitude to Dean Daniel Kain for his enthusiastic support for this grant. Currently, there are eleven ISIS members, in eight different NAU programs, with one in education and two others undeclared. ISIS is now recruiting for AY 2006-2007. Please contact Dr. Alcoze ( Sally.Alcoze@nau.edu ) for further information.