The American Indian College Fund will support women in STEM careers, including computer sciences.
Denver, Colo,-The American Indian College Fund has received a four-year, $300,000 grant from the Clare Boothe Luce Program at the Henry Luce Foundation, specifically to help Native American women get degrees and build their careers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Native American women currently have the lowest representation in the STEM fields.
The College Fund will award $75,000 to four outstanding American Indian and Alaska Native women seeking a bachelor's degree in the hard sciences at four-year granting tribal colleges and university (TCU). Students will receive $18,750 disbursed per year, based on the average cost of attendance at a four-year TCU. Areas of study include computer science, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, and hydrology.
In addition to the scholarship award, the program will also provide AIAN women scholars with programs to support their retention, graduation, and career readiness. These programs include internships, mentorships, career readiness programs, leadership development, career readiness, professional development, financial literacy training, coaching, and more.
"Being a Clare Boothe Luce scholar has put me in a position to mentor and talk to students from different schools about being an engineer," says Adriane Tenequer (Diné), a former scholarship recipient and 2019 graduate from Navajo Technical University. "I am able to reach out to other females who are interested in engineering and assist them with a plan for scholarships and schools."
Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, said, "Indigenous people possess great science, mathematical, and engineering knowledge and have been remarkably adaptive to technologies. Supporting Indigenous women, who have been underrepresented in STEM fields, as they pursue STEM degrees, honors that knowledge and helps us to contribute to modern society."
In 2018-2019 the American Indian College Fund provided $7.72 million in scholarships to 3,900 American Indian students. The College Fund also supports various academic and support programs at the nation's 35 accredited tribal colleges and universities, which are located on or near Indian reservations.
