Attendance (13): Wayne Brewer (AMS), Dave Bell (HRM), Rick Chavez, (CSREES), Emily Wright (OCR), Garet Moravec (NASS), Colonel Locklear (APHIS), Andrea Lewis (REE), Mary Welch (FSA); Guest Speakers were Joan Gill (CSREES) and Sandra Green (N-Link); American Indian Student Interns, Yolanda Anthony and Franky Jackson from APHIS and Hispanic (HACU) Student Intern Miguel Ornelas from CSREES.

Yolanda ("Annie") attends Idaho State University and is majoring in Biology and Chemistry; Franky attends the University of Morris Minnesota and is majoring in Environmental Sciences; and Miguel attends University of California at Berkeley and is majoring in Math and Computer Science.

The meeting was called to order at 12:10 by the Historian, Emily Wright. Minutes for May were accepted with no changes.

The rest of the meeting was spent listening to our two speakers: Joan Gill and Sandra Green.

Joan Gill spoke to us about her work with CSREES (the Extension Service) and the 1994 land grant schools. She emphasized that much of the work her Agency does is actually implemented by its "partners," the land grant institutions. There are three categories of land grant schools, named after the year they were given land grant status: 1862, 1890, and 1994. The 1890 schools are historically Black (African-American) institutions and the 1994 schools are American Indian Tribal Colleges. Most, but not all, of the 1994 schools are two-year colleges. The Agency's work with land grant schools is divided three ways: 1) higher education 2) research 3) extension services. Research is currently not funded. The schools must compete for extension funds. Joan works mostly with the extension services part. She and the manager of the "higher education part" have just completed a workshop in New Mexico in which the needs of the regional 1994 schools were identified and prioritized. They will conduct two more workshops this year in different parts of the country. For more information, call Joan at 720-6487 or e-mail her at: jgill@reeusda.gov.

Sandra Green is the President of n-Link Corporation, an "8-A" company based in Issaquah, Washington. She has worked with several tribes, including the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, to develop their information technology systems. N-Link's customers include GSA, the Corps of Engineers, the Forest Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Navy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Smithsonian Institution. In working with tribes, a major challenge has been to get tribal council members to appreciate the economic development that improved technology can offer. Sandra passed out a booklet and some brochures describing her company and its accomplishments. Call Emily if you need a copy (720-2975). For more information about n-Link, call Sandra at 425-222-7002, or e-mail her at sgreen@n-link.net.

The handouts this month were:

Garet provided us with the following handouts for this month's meeting -- thanks, Garet!
Three USA Today articles, "Court: Tribe doesn't own its coal's gas"; "Harvard returns Indians' bones for reburial in N.M."; and "Makahs celebrate a successful hunt"

Our speakers also provided handouts related to their respective topics:
1. A list of the tribal colleges in the United States, along with their locations, chartering tribe(s), accreditation status, and the year established.
2. A map of the United States showing the locations of the 1862, 1890, and 1994 land grant institutions.
3. A booklet and a brochure describing the n-Link Corporation.

The next AIC meeting will be on Thursday July 15, at noon, in room 2854-S. We also have room 2854-S scheduled for Thursday August 12. Mark your calendars! AIC Chair Wayne Brewer adjourned the meeting at 1:05 pm.