Leaders from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke attended the inaugural Summit for Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institutions in Denver, Colo. July 26-27.

Representing UNCP were Provost David Ward, Alfred Bryant, dean of the School of Education, and Derek Oxendine, director of the Center for Student Success.

They were among 100 higher education leaders who gathered to discuss, debate, and problem-solve issues unique to 24 Native-Serving colleges and universities, and to the tens of thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native students who attend these off-reservation institutions.

During the poster session, Bryant and Oxendine outlined a planned project designed to increase the attainment rate of American Indian and Alaskan Native students at UNCP. UNCP has been awarded a two-year planning grant from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education project “Reducing the College Completion Gap for American Indians and Alaska Natives: Linking Policy and Practice.”

Senior academic and administrative leaders from 17 federally designated Native-Serving Institutions – spanning geography from Alaska to North Carolina – attended the summit. Also sharing insights were representatives from the U.S. Department of Education, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Tribal Education Departments National Assembly, and others key to the national conversation about equity and student success. 

The summit was the inaugural event in connection with a new partnership between the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and Lumina Foundation.