College of Letters & Science
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The College of Letters and Science, the largest center for learning, teaching and research at Montana State University, offers students an excellent liberal arts and sciences education in nearly 50 majors, 25 minors and over 25 graduate degrees within the four areas of the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and social sciences.
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Item Different hunting grounds: American Indian tribal college student perceptions of predominantly white institutions(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2017) Birdhat, Cheryl Polacek; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sweeney WindchiefAmerican Indian students who have attended tribal colleges have expressed gratitude, appreciation and pride in their educational and cultural experiences at these institutions. Most of the 37 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the US and Canada currently offer two-year degree and certificate programs. Many American Indian students who wish to continue onto a bachelor degree program from a two-year TCU consider transferring to a predominantly white institution (PWI). This qualitative study was meant to better understand the perceptions that American Indian TCU students have of PWIs and what these students believe would be helpful for them to both transfer and succeed at a predominantly white four-year institution. A phenomenological qualitative study was chosen to better understand the perceptions of PWIs and the needs related to attendance at a PWI by American Indian TCU students. Fifteen American Indian TCU students were interviewed at six TCUs in the state of Montana. There were two research questions that were used to guide this study, the first was what are American Indian TCU student perceptions of predominantly white institutions? The second was how do American Indian TCU students believe PWIs can better assist and support American Indian students who desire to matriculate to a PWI? Although a qualitative phenomenological research approach was chosen to approach the research questions and potential answers to those questions, my research was heavily focused on appropriately utilizing Indigenous research methodology in all areas of this study. It was of paramount importance for me as an Indigenous researcher to be responsible, respectful, reciprocal and relevant in all the relationships that were both enriched and created in this research endeavor. The stories shared with me from 15 American Indian TCU students resulted in six themes emerging from their collective interviews. Those themes were 1.) family and community, 2.) acceptance and acknowledgement of cultural identity, 3.) PWI support and excitement for new opportunities, 4.) TCU love/pride, 5.) Fear and isolation and 6.) Humor and relationships. The findings for this research have significant implications for all those interested in working with and for American Indian students, specifically for PWIs and their constituents.Item A study of Crow reservation-oriented college students who attended baccalaureate degree offering colleges from 1965 to 1990(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2002) Enemy Hunter, LukeItem Piety, politics, and profit : American Indian missions in the colonial colleges(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1985) Wright, BobbyThe royal charters which sanctioned the settlement of the American colonies invariably expressed as their primary purpose the propagation of Christianity among the American Indians. Throughout the colonial period, the English viewed education as a primary means to accomplish this pious mission. The purpose of this study was to examine critically the educational Indian missions in the colonial colleges. In doing so, this investigation employed ethnohistorical perspectives and methodology in examining the institutional experiments at Henrico, Virginia, Harvard College, the College of William and Mary, and Dartmouth College, spanning a period from the early seventeenth to the late eighteenth centuries. The study found that, while the colonial educators professed their own piety as if this were their singular motivation, they capitalized on the charitable impulses of the pious English and on the opportunities which the charity presented in furthering other political and economic interests. This investigation also established that mixed motives led to diversions from the purposes for which money had been collected and further that this was a primary cause of the ultimate failure of these/ educational experiments. In revealing that missions in the colonial colleges were not expressions of unblemished piety, this study has confronted the declarations espoused in the early records and much of the later historical literature, thus enhancing the growing body of ethnohistorical scholarship on Indian-white relations during the colonial period, while simultaneously offering a fresh insight into the origins of higher education in America.Item An investigation of learning strategy, selected characteristics, and achievement of tribal college students in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1992) Hill, Michael Joseph