Young recognized with national award for mentoring work at MSU

Building bridges has been the focus of Sara Young’s professional life. An enrolled member of the Crow tribe, she is the driving force for three major programs that engage American Indian students in research at Montana State University.

Brenda McDonald MSU News

For that work, she was selected as one of 10 individuals to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) at ceremonies in Washington D.C. today.

"Sara is recognized at all levels as a true catalyst for MSU’s successful mentoring programs for American Indian students," said Jim McMillan, dean of the MSU College of Letters and Science. "Her role in these efforts does not fit the mold of a traditional mentor, but the efforts of our faculty members would not be nearly as effective without her leadership. She truly has made a difference in the lives and careers of a large number of students."

She will also be honored by MSU with a reception at 4 p.m. on March 19 in the atrium of the Burns Telecommunications Center on the campus of MSU.

Young is currently the director of the American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO) program at MSU and guides the MSU research mentoring programs of the Montana Apprenticeship Program (MAP), the Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD) Program, and Leadership Alliance. She also provides mentoring for American Indian students participating in the Montana Biomedical Research Network’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and collaborates with other programs who have American Indian students in their summer and academic year research internships such as the Messengers for Healing program and the Bridging Tribal College Students to MSU (BRIDGES) and the Caring for Our Own Program (COOP).

MAP, which is now funded through a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, brings 20 high school students, most of whom are from schools on one of Montana’s seven Indian reservations, to MSU for six weeks in the summer. The students spend half of their time with faculty mentors in research laboratories and the rest of the time in a variety of learning experiences. Through a grant the College of Engineering recently received from the Hewlett Packard Foundation, MAP will expand this summer to include 30 students.

The Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD) program has until recently supported 14 undergraduate students who work in research laboratories with individual faculty mentors as well as participate in other learning experiences. Through a new grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Messengers for Healing grant from the American Cancer Society, Young has increased the number of student positions in the IMSD program to 20 undergraduate students and two graduate students.

"Sara has used her understanding of the group dynamics of Indian students to develop an innovative strategy for motivating Indian students," McMillan said. "She pushes the system to shape the programs to meet the need of her students, rather than shape the students to fit into a program."

Young is the MSU-Bozeman institutional coordinator for Leadership Alliance, a national organization headquartered at Brown University. The Leadership Alliance is a consortium of 31 of the nation’s leading research and teaching academic institutions, including minority-serving institutions, all dedicated to improving the participation of underrepresented students in graduate studies and Ph.D. programs and, ultimately, research professions in the academic, public and private sectors.

Through Young’s efforts, a number of American Indian students from tribal colleges in Montana and undergraduate students from MSU-Bozeman have participated in summer research programs through Leadership Alliance. Last summer the first Leadership Alliance students selecting MSU-Bozeman for their research experience were on campus and this summer the number of students applying for the MSU-Bozeman Leadership Alliance summer program increased to 10. Students in the Bridges and IMSD program attend the annual Leadership Alliance Research Symposium along with over 200 minority students from across the country who have been conducting research in other Leadership Alliance schools during the summer.

Young’s work with Leadership Alliance is another example of finding opportunities for American Indian students interested in research and expanding their opportunities. Although the students are in research programs far from the MSU campus, Young is part of their mentoring and has traveled to the distant campuses to provide support for the students when needed.

BRIDGES is a partnership between MSU and three tribal colleges, Little Big Horn College, Fort Peck Community College and Fort Belknap College. The program’s objective is to build a seamless educational experience between the three reservation-based colleges and MSU.

The Caring for Our Own Program provides stipends, tutoring and networking support for American Indian students in MSU-Bozeman’s College of Nursing. Students in pre-nursing, lower division and upper division nursing are involved in the program. Young works with undergraduates in the program as well as with reservation middle and high school students interested in learning about nursing. Young’s primary role with the Caring for Our Own Program is to coordinate outreach to students in reservation schools.

Young’s role in the mentoring process has been to identify students who have the desire and potential to successfully participate in a research program; identify and encourage faculty members to be mentors for the students; and develop activities outside of the research arena which supplement the students’ laboratory experiences and help remedy any problems that might arise along the way.

"Mentoring makes a significant impact on students," Young said. "I’d like to see mentoring programs established in all colleges at MSU."

Education had always been important to Young. "When I was in the sixth grade, I decided I wanted to go to college so I started looking at encyclopedias to learn more about college," she said. "I didn’t have anyone to talk to about college. My mother didn’t finish high school and didn’t have much education, but she told me, ‘what you learn can’t
be taken away from you.’"

Young knew that after she received her college education she wanted to first return home to Lodge Grass. "I wanted my own community to benefit from the education I had been given," Young said.

Through AIRO, her work has focused on creating a campus environment at MSU that supports Indian students as they earn their degrees.

"In the AIRO program, we remind students of why they make the sacrifice to leave their home communities to come to college, the reason is to better serve our people," she said. "Ninety percent of the students in AIRO want to return to their home community to serve in a professional capacity ."

Young is constantly on the road, commuting from Bozeman to her home in Lame Deer and traveling throughout Montana doing outreach work in reservation communities and the tribal colleges. "We want the reservation communities to know that MSU will provide a welcoming environment for their young people," she said.

The PAESMEM Award is administered and funded through the National Science Foundation and goes to people and institutions who work with students in K-12, undergraduate or graduate level education. Young will receive a $10,000 grant to go toward continuing mentoring activities at MSU.

The mentoring awards have been given annually since 1996.

Contact: Sara Young (406) 994-5847

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=799