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Nicolet College Gets $350,000 Lumina Grant To Aid Native Studies

Nicolet Area Technical College

Longer interview with Brandon Thoms is at the link below:

Nicolet College has been awarded a $350,000 grant from Lumina Foundation to build clearer pathways to degrees and other credentials for adults, especially for people of color and Native learners.

Lumina’s All Learning Counts initiative will ensure that knowledge, skills, and abilities gained outside of formal higher education—through work, military, and other experiences—can be recognized and applied toward programs leading to credentials of value.

Brandon Thoms is the project specialist for the grant at Nicolet. He says there are three goals..

. "...the first one is to convene educators, faculty, and other experts to figure out how to integrate cultural competencies into the technical diploma, Associate Degree curriculums such as you find at Nicolet..."

The other goals include developing credit for prior learning and real world experience into that educational model, eliminating some coursework that students have already experienced. Thoms says the final goal is to create a model engaging Native American teachers or prospective teachers to add in their knowledge to education.

Thoms says they've partnered with the Forest County Potawatomi Community and others...

"We'll be partnering with the Lac du Flambeau band of Lake Superior Chippewa and also the Sokaogon band of Chippewa in Mole Lake we hope to build off the current resources we have and build a great program at Nicolet College..."

Nicolet partnered with the Wisconsin Indian Education Association to create the project proposal.

The Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Nicolet received one of nine grants awarded nationwide.

We have a longer interview with Brandon Thoms at the link above.

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