American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) announces graduate fellowships for 2004-2005

   The American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) of Alburquerque, New Mexico announces the availability of graduate fellowships for 2004-2005 for American Indian students from federally recognized U.S. tribes.

      For over thirty years the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) has awarded more than 10,000 fellowships to qualified Native American students to pursuing master’s, doctoral and professional degrees in all fields of study.

      AIGC has also helped to develop working professionals, many of whom are tribal and community leaders, and responsible for the development of programs that are vital to the well-beings of their communities.

      The number of applicants has increased and it is AIGC’s intent to fund all qualified applicants. In the future, AIGC will award more fellowships, and provide additional educational opportunities to encourage students to make critical connections with Indian communities, tribal leaders and Indian organizations, in order to ensure greater involvement to help rebuild strong, healthy, self-reliant American Indian communities.

The History of AIGC

      In 1969, important government positions related to Indian concerns were being filled by non-Indians who possessed the graduate education necessary to meet the job qualifications. Robert L. Bennett (Oneida), was Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at the time. He and John C. Rainer, Sr. (Taos Pueblo), realized that there was a lack of American Indians with professional degrees. Knowing that Indian people need financial assistance to complete their graduate work, they established American Indian Scholarships (AIS).

      AIS incorporated in the state of New Mexico as a non-profit organization in 1971, and in 1972, a seed grant from the Donner Foundation led to the development of a contract with the BIA. The Special Higher Education Program is still their major funding source, and had grown from $100,000 to $2,400,000 (1995), but had been drastically reduced since then.       In 1989, American Indian Scholarships, Inc. changed its name to become the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC). It is still the only national non-profit organization dedicated to aiding Indian graduate students in all fields of study. As a non-profit organization, AIGC prides itself on maintaining a very low administrative cost. In fact 90% of all contributions goes directly to student services. They view this careful management of their resources as just one way to meet their goal: to improve the cultural and economic well being of American Indians and Native Alaskans, individually and tribally, through graduate education.

Being considered for an AIGC Fellowship

      To be considered for an AIGC fellowship, the applicant must be an enrolled member of a U.S. federally recognized American Indian Tribe, or possess one-fourth degree Indian blood from a federally recognized tribe; be enrolled full time in a Master’s or Doctoral degree program at an accredited graduate school in the U.S.; demonstrate financial need–applicants must apply for federal financial aid at the college financial aid office; and submit an essay as described in the application packet.

      Fellowship awards are made by the AIGC staff pursuant to regulations established by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the AIGC Board of Directors. AIGC adheres to these rules explicitly. Because AIGC works with financial aid officers to determine all applicants’ financial needs, students must apply for campus based aid in a timely manner at the college financial aid office. AIGC requires tribal eligibility to be documented by each applicant’s tribal office. Applications are considered to be complete when all required documents are received in the AIGC office. Fellowships are awarded to all eligible applicants to the extent that funds are available.

      To be considered for funding for the 2004-2005 Academic Year, the original application form must be received by the AIGC office no later than June 1, 2004 at 5 p.m.

      To request an application or further information, visit www.aigc.com for complete details. You can also request information by contacting them directly at:

                        American Indian Graduate Center

                        4520 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite 18

                        Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109

                        Telephone: 505-881-4584

      Applications are mailed out from January through May 2004 only.

Gates Millennium Scholars Initiative

      The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS), funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to provide outstanding African American, American Indian, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in all discipline areas.

      The selection process is very competitive also and only one thousand extraordinary candidates are selcted. This award will be based on the cost of tuition, fees, books, and living expenses for the academic year, as well as the availability of grants and other scholarships reported on the submitted financial aid award letter. The awad may also be renewed for graduate study by continuing GMS Scholars who choose one of the five majors at their concentration: mathmetics, science, engineering, education, or library science.

      Students are eligible to be considered for the GMS scholarship if they:

                        Are Africian American, American Indian, Asian Pacific Islander American

                        or Hispanic American,

                        Are a citizen/legal permanent resident or nation of the United States,

                        Have attained a cumulative GPA of 3.3 on a 4.00 scale (unweighed)

                        at the time of nomination,

                        Will be entering a U.S. accredited college or university as a full-time,

                        degree-seeking freshman in the fall,

                        Have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in community

                        service, extracurricular or other activities, and

                        Meet the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria (Eligibility for Federal Pell

                        Grant can only be determined through the submission of a Free Application

                        for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the U.S. Department of Education.

      There are three components to the GMS Scholarship nomination process. First, a Monimee Personal Information Form must be completed by the student, a Nomination Form must be completed by the Nominator, and a Recommended Form must be completed by the Recommender. All these forms must be completed and submitted by the deadline to be considered for GMS scholarship.

      Principals, teachers, guidance counselors and other professional educators acting in their personal capacity not representing their institution, are invited to nominate students with outstanding academic qualifications, particularly those that would promote success in the fields of mathematics, science, engineering, education, or library science. Relatives may not serve as Nominators. Institutional nominations will not be accepted.

      Recommenders can be an adult who is familiar with the Nominee’s community service and leadership activities such as a supervisor at work or a community service leader. If you have signed to serve as the student’s Moninator and you are also familiar with his/her non-academic activities, you may also serve as the Nominee’s Recommender. All Recommenders must act within their personal capacity. Recommendations from relatives will not be accepted.

      The mission of the Gates Millennium Scholars initiative is to provide higher education and leadership development opportunities, and service to society. The Gates Millennium Scholars community of administrators, counselors, staff and Scholars pursue common goals to accomplish this mission. The goals briefly are:

To encourage and facilitate the intellectual, moral, an ethical development of individuals as Scholars and leaders for the changing society and community.

      To foster learning among all members of the Gates Millennium Scholars community while

      recognizing individual differences in achievement, experience, and aspirations.

To encourage excellence in educational, leadership, and service activity and accomplishment.

      To serve the community as a professional and intellectual resource.

To utilize the GMS Academic Intervention Plan when needed (i.e. if you fall below a 2.5 GPA as an undergraduate and a 3.0 GPA as a graduate student within a semester/quarter)

      All members of the Gates Millennium Scholars community take personal responsibility for conducting themselves in ways that support the pursuit and accomplishment of the Gates Millennium Scholars' mission. The Code of Community Expectation emphasizes specific responsibilities:

      To recognize that the intellectual, developmental, and educational climate of the Gates Millennium Scholars initiative shall be maintained as the highest priority.

      To protect the opportunity for each Scholar to attain their educational objectives.

To protect the physical and mental health, safety and welfare of each Gates Millennium Scholars community.

To promote and protect the human rights of all members of the Gates Millennium Scholars community.

      By accepting the GMS scholarship, a Scholar accepts the responsibility to comply with the Code of Community Expectations and/or the policies and procedures of the Gates Millennium Scholars initiative along with the rules, regulations, and policies of the Scholar's attending institution. Violation(s) shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.

      Nomination materials and further information is available at their website at www.gmsp.org, or they can be reached at 1-877-690-GMSP(4677).

      Direct links to both of these scholarship websites are available below, as well as in the links section of rlnn.com.