Black Hills State University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Center for American Indian Studies formally partners with local high schools, tribal governments, and local nonprofits to organize and implement programs to benefit Native students working toward a college degree.

The Center for American Indian Studies was established at Black Hills State University by an act of the South Dakota Legislature in 1972. The mandate of the Center is to:
• Serve as the administrative unit for academic programs in American Indian Studies.
• To act as a coordinating and liaison facility for issues and programs dealing with Indian students
• To promote awareness of American Indian cultures, value systems, and social problems among both Indian people themselves and members of the larger society
• To assist the University in both recruiting and retaining students of American Indian ancestry
• To act as a liaison with tribal governments, tribal educational facilities, and American Indian organizations in the Northern Plains region when so requested
• To support, encourage, and seek funding for research and publication pertaining to all areas of American Indian culture, language, and heritage

Since its launch, the Center has thrived and grown into a long-standing program within the University. An Advisory Board governs the Center through planning, decision-making, implementation, and review and a mission to lead and guide efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate American Indian Students. Members of the Advisory Board include representatives from Academic Affairs, Institutional Research, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dean of Students, American Indian Studies Faculty, current students, representative from Sanford Underground Lab, and community members. BHSU supports the Center with two full-time staff and a campus office and meeting space.

The Center actively supports two student-led organizations, Lakota Omniciye (“a gathering, assembly”) and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Lakota Omniciye’s purpose is to develop and augment the Black Hills State University educational system to meet and specialize in the unique needs of American Indian students. This organization promotes fellowship among Indian and non-Indian students, and organizes an annual Cultural Awareness Week and Wacipi (pow-wow) in early April that is now in its 37th year. The Wacipi has attracted as many as 2,500 persons, making it one of the larger pow-wows in the state. This event is part of American Indian Awareness Week, a time dedicated to educating the community about Indian culture, featuring daily speakers and a variety of events at Black Hills State University. 2019’s American Indian Awareness Week featured the theme “American Indian Women: Leaders Across Communities and Disciplines” and brought women speakers to campus to explore a wide variety of topics relevant to rural South Dakota and the local Native American population.

The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is a national non-profit organization which nurtures building of community by bridging science and technology with traditional native values. The ultimate goal of AISES is to be a catalyst for the advancement of American Indians and Native Alaskans. AISES assists and supports Indian students who are preparing for careers in the areas of science, engineering, and technology.

The Center for American Indian Studies has a formal partnership with six other South Dakota Universities, including a tribal college, on the Jump Start program in fifty high schools across the state. High School students can contact a Jump Start Advisor to set up a personal visit. The Jump Start Advisor works with Jump Start students to make sure they successfully navigate everything from registering for Summer Bridge classes, to participating in orientation and campuses transition programming in the Living Learning Communities to connecting students with faculty, staff and other campus resources.

The Sustainability and Biodiversity Committee is a group of staff, faculty, students, the city of Spearfish, and various organizations or businesses in town that meets twice a year to update, share, and find ways to collaborate on projects involving sustainability and biodiversity on campus and in the community. For instance, the last time this committee met, we talked about ways that we might conserve and restore Spearfish creek, the main river that runs through town, adjacent to much of the land the city owns and some of the land that the University owns.

BHSU partnered with the City of Spearfish to offer recycling for the city campground and city events including a summer music series and arts festival. Student groups like the cross-country team helped the city to gather aluminum cans from the city campground and bring them to the campus where our facility services department took them to the recycling facility. The student groups that helped with this received the money received from the recycling facility for the cans. At the Arts Festival, BHSU parked a trailer for the weekend for cardboard recycling and then sent it back with the University's usual cardboard hauler. This has been a successful partnership between the University and the city that we plan to continue.