Working together, programs produce 22 doctoral graduates

Posted by Pauly Denetclaw | Jun 29, 2017 | Education |

WINDOW ROCK

Only 3.2 percent of Navajos receive a graduate or professional degree, according to a 2010 U.S. Census report. Miranda Haskie, from Lukachukai, Arizona, is part of this percentage.

Navajo Times | Pauly Denetclaw
Miranda Haskie, doctoral graduate from Fielding Graduate University, talking with fellow graduates and colleagues after the Graduate Research Conference at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock.

Haskie presented her research at the Research Graduate Conference that was held at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock last Wednesday. It focused on how to preserve Navajo culture, despite being integrated into the dominant American culture, through the principles of K’é and Hozho’.

Haskie graduated in 2002 with a doctorate degree in education from Fielding Graduate University. This three-year online program has graduated over 20 Navajo students with doctorate degrees since the early 2000s. “The unique aspect about this program is that they strongly supported the integration of Navajo knowledge,” Haskie said.

She was part of the first cohort of doctoral students that were recruited from the Navajo Nation. The program was designed with the intent to create a group of highly skilled educators who would take administrative positions at schools, colleges and universities on and near the reservation.

They would then support Navajo teachers who were part of the Navajo Nation Teacher Education Consortium. The consortium was successful in assisting hundreds of Navajos become certified teachers. However, school administrators, who were mostly non-Navajo, weren’t always supportive of integrating the Diné language and culture into the classroom once the teachers graduated and were hired.