Aihec is the collective spirit and unifying voice of our nation's tribal colleges and universities (tcus). Aihec provides leadership and influences public policy on american indian higher education issues through advocacy, research, and program initiatives; promotes and strengthens indigenous languages, cultures, communities, and tribal nations; and through our unique position, serve member institutions and emerging tcus.

Arts & Culture , Cultural & Ethnic Awareness , Education

Bia technical assistance: aihec technical assistance program advances tcus' capacity to achieve their individual and collective missions, improve students' success, and maintain accreditation. The broad range of services upon which tcus depend include the coordination of annual collection and analysis of comprehensive institutional data to aid tcus with compliance with increasingly more rigorous accreditation standards and compliance reporting requirements; resolution of issues and challenges with federally-administered grants and programs; disseminating timely and accurate information regarding pending federal programmatic and legislative/appropriations matters of direct relevance to tcus; facilitation of meetings and fostering communities of practice that provide networking opportunities and sharing of best practices among tcu presidents, key staff, faculty, and students; the development of new initiatives for tcus to ensure their inclusion in emerging higher education strategies and best practices; and to ensure that tcus play a central role in developing and promoting a sustainable, collective, and accountable continuum of educational excellence within the tribal communities they serve. indian health service program: the aihec narch vii is a multi-site research project focused on the establishment of a network of community-based researchers and the development of the research capacities of tcus. The narch project provides professional development at the individual, department, and institution level and offers a coordinated approach to the identification, piloting, and evaluation of intervention strategies and models that address significant behavioral health issues in the communities served by the tcus. national science foundation programs:aihec indigenous evaluation framework: reseach and capacity building:the aihec indigenous evaluation framework (ief) project includes assessing the impact and usefulness of the ief approach when implemented in three different tribal communities. In the context of the project, the ief curriculum is refined by incorporating new research findings and the capacity of evaluators in american indian communities are strengthened by training american indians and others in conceptually sound and methodologically appropriate evaluation strategies for american indian-based stem education programs. Nsf-tcu stem student success collaborative:the tcu stem student success collaborative is a multi-campus team of stem faculty and academic administrators focused on incorporating culturally- and community-relevant problem-based learning (pbl) into the stem programs of at least six tcus. The multi-campus project team is building on the transformative work of navajo technical college, a tcu that has been highly successful in increasing the number of american indian students completing stem degrees, in large part by promoting and encouraging pbl activities campus-wide. The project is also expanding the existing tcu community of practice focused on american indian student retention and completion, helping to sustain an ongoing effort by aihec and the tcus to identify and share best practices in promoting student success at tcus. Nsf-tcu cyberinfrastructure initiative: a study of tribal college and university cyberinfrastructure and supported stem programs:the tcu cyberinfrastructure initiative aims to broaden participation in stem research and education. Aihec, in partnership with navajo technical university, the university of new mexico, and the network startup resource center (nsrc) based at the university of oregon are conducting a comprehensive study of the current status of the cyberinfrastructure of all 37 tcus, and the roles, both current and planned, of the colleges' cyberinfrastructure in supporting stem education and research programs and activities. The study outcomes will provide each tcu the information (and potential partnerships) necessary to develop and implement a campus cyberinfrast