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New partnership helps empower educators improve the higher ed experience for Native American students
Fort Lewis College and San Juan College hosted the inaugural POWER Teaching Conference in Farmington, New Mexico, which aimed to improve the higher education experience for Indigenous students.
Four Corners—The campuses of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, stand at a crossroads.
To the west lies the vast expanse of the Navajo Nation. To the north and east, the skylines of these college towns rise against a backdrop of desert mesas and high-alpine mountains.
For many Native American students, this is more than a landscape. It’s a metaphor for the challenge of navigating their ancestral traditions and the demands of a contemporary education system.
“A lot of Native American students live with a foot in two worlds,” said Jennifer Rider, director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at FLC. “Students are disconnected from their value systems, families, and communities. That’s why this conference focused on ways to support Native American students and create learning spaces that embrace Indigenous knowledge systems.”
Building POWER
The inaugural POWER Teaching Conference brought together educators from across the Southwest for a collaborative event to bridge the gap between cultures. It is a bold step toward addressing a critical challenge: supporting students who feel caught between their cultural heritage and the expectations of mainstream academia.
“Many of our Native students are first-generation college students,” Rider added. “They’re trying to succeed in a Western educational system while staying connected to their cultural values and communities. It’s our job as educators to help them navigate this complex journey.”
Inside SJC’s School of Energy Building, conversations flowed in English and Native languages. Educators, Native and non-Native alike, exchanged ideas on how to create learning environments that honor traditional knowledge while preparing students for success. 
“We’re building a collaborative approach that makes sense for our students and our region,” said Michelle Bonanno, director of FLC’s Academic Hub. “Students make a big sacrifice by leaving their home communities to come here. We need to make that journey worthwhile.”
The conference featured presentations, workshops, and panel discussions addressing challenges Native American students face in higher education, including disparities in college preparation, the difficulty of leaving home, and financial barriers. They also included practical strategies for supporting Native American students, such as culturally responsive advising and innovative financial aid strategies. One session demonstrated how Diné’s educational philosophy was integrated into a Spanish language class, creating a unique cross-cultural learning experience. Another workshop focused on how to make courses more culturally responsive without sacrificing academic rigor.
Seeing the whole student
Majel Boxer, a professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies at FLC, has been teaching in Durango for 16 years. She attended the POWER conference because of the unique diversity of students both colleges serve.
Boxer said the event underscored the importance of meeting students’ basic needs before expecting them to focus on academics. Faculty must recognize when students are struggling and know how to connect them with resources such as emergency housing or food assistance.
“It’s about seeing the whole student, not just their academic performance,” she said.
One of the day’s highlights was the keynote address by Wendy Greyeyes, Ph.D., a Diné scholar and associate professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico. Greyeyes emphasized the importance of connecting Indigenous history and identity to community engagement and education, calling for a new generation of learners grounded in their cultural heritage and equipped to meet modern challenges.
The higher ed pipeline
The POWER Teaching Conference is part of a broader initiative funded by a Title III Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This five-year plan seeks to create seamless pathways for students from high school to community college and, eventually, to four-year degrees.
Bonanno, the director of FLC’s Academic Hub, said the regional focus of the POWER grant is central to the FLC-SJC partnership. Both institutions recognize they serve a unique geographic and cultural area that requires innovative approaches to education.
Thanks to a new grant, the College Connect program is expanding to support students better as San Juan College graduates transition to Fort Lewis College for their four-year degree. This revamp includes increased staff to provide personalized guidance, intentional cohort-building to foster community, and enhanced programming to help SJC students feel at home at FLC. With a clear path to degree completion and faculty dedicated to understanding their unique needs, students in the program will be better equipped to succeed in their academic journey. 
By leveraging each other’s strengths, they aim to create an educational pathway greater than the sum of its parts.
“We have similar values in how we serve Native students, which helped us secure the grant,” Bonanno said. “Many community college students don’t complete their degrees. If our partnership can help more students start and finish their degrees, especially in our region, that’s a win for everyone.”
“By embracing our role as a Native-serving institution and recognizing our unique place in this region, we’re better positioned to help our students achieve their higher education goals,” Bonanno said. “This starts with structural changes, like streamlining credit transfers and creating clear degree pathways. But it also extends to fostering a campus environment that honors and supports our students’ diverse cultural backgrounds.”
“As faculty, it is important to consider the learning styles of our students,” said Stacy Wolfe, assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at San Juan College. “The sessions I attended helped me to understand the strong preference many Navajo students have toward visual learning and the deep connection they have with the four seasons and storytelling. Now I have tools that I can implement immediately in my classroom to improve my students’ success.”
Center for Teaching and Learning