Heartwork: Supporting and Telling the Story of Indigenous Students with Dr. Tiffany Smith
Description
When discussing indigenous students, research often focuses on the small number of students in these communities on college campuses, and often we don't see their experiences represented on campus, in marketing or in data sets.
But our heartcentered guest today hopes her work will help dismantle the deficit narrative, and hold institutions accountable for providing culturally relevant support and space for indigenous students. She is also working tirelessly to visabilize indigenous people.
Dr. Tiffany Smith is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and is also a descendant of the Muscogee Creek Nation. In her role as Director of Research and Career Support for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), she manages grant-supported research projects and conducts research related to indigenous students and professionals in STEM disciplines.
Dr. Smith joins Josie to chat about her "heartwork" — whether it's her work within NASPA creating supportive communities for native students in higher ed spaces, her dissertation "Indigenizing the Academy, a Storytelling Journey to Native Student Success and Engineering," or how marketing and communications teams can better tell stories of indigenous students and staff on their campuses. They also chat about how she is caring for herself, through her recent stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis and treatments. Please send love and light to this warrior as Tiffany continues her journey.
For all resources mentioned, find the show notes: https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/tiffanysmith
Josie and the Podcast is a Dr. Josie Ahlquist production produced by University FM.
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Mentioned in the episode:
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Dr. Wilma Mankiller, one of the former principal chiefs of the Cherokee Nation
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Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education, by Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy
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Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education
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Tiffany's award winning dissertation: INDIGENIZING THE ACADEMY: A STORY-TELLING JOURNEY TO DETERMINE PATHWAYS FOR NATIVE STUDENT SUCCESS IN ENGINEERING
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Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson



