Dr. Iris PrettyPaint,
ROSNA Co-Director
Research Opportunities in Science for Native Americans
Office of Research and Development
University of Montana
149 Corbin Hall
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: 406.243.6350
Fax: 406.243.5858
Email: iris.prettypaint@mso.umt.edu
Iris PrettyPaint, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Montana, received her B.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Kansas, M.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Minnesota, and her Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. PrettyPaint’s professional experience focuses on retention of tribal students at colleges and universities. She has served as the Interim Academic Vice President at Fort Peck Community College and as Project Coordinator for the W.K. Kellogg Family Collaborative, which developed a family-centered retention model for Tribal Colleges and Universities. Additionally, Iris directed the Twin Cities Healthy Nations Project and served as the Cultural Program Coordinator at Fairview Riverside Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. PrettyPaint’s honors include a Bush Leadership Fellow award (1999); four consecutive awards of National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education (NINLHE) Training Fellow; Emerging Scholar for the W. K. Kellogg Native American Higher Education Initiative (NAHEI); Bush Advanced Child Welfare Scholar (1994); and a Department of Education Faculty Development Fellow award (1996).
At The University of Montana, Iris serves as Co-Director of Research Opportunities in Science for Native Americans (ROSNA), which includes her work on the SAPAI project. Students and staff involved in ROSNA extend their thanks to Iris PrettyPaint for her steadfast efforts to enrich and establish connections between UM women scientists and Native American women scientists and students.
Dr. Penny Kukuk,
Research Professor
Research Opportunities in Science for Native Americans
Division of Biological Sciences
University of Montana
337 Corbin Hall
Missoula, MT 59801
Phone: 406.243.5896
Fax: 406.243.5858
Email: penny.kukuk@mso.umt.edu
Penelope F. Kukuk received her B. S. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Zoology and her Ph. D. from the University of Kansas in Ecology and Systematics. After postdoctoral work at Cornell University's Department of Entomology she undertook a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Kukuk moved to Montana in 1989 as a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences and is currently a Research Professor in that department. Her major scientific research focus is the evolution of sociality, particularly the fitness consequences of cooperation in groups made up of non-relatives.
In addition to her scientific interests, Dr. Kukuk is the PI, co-PI, and director of several projects with the goal of engaging the totality of human diversity in the scientific enterprise through the ROSNA (Research Opportunities in Science for Native Americans) Projects. Projects administered by ROSNA are aimed at supporting research experience for undergraduate American Indian students. NSF supported projects include Project TRAIN and the REU Site project. The Bridges to the Baccalaureate program is funded through NIH.
ROSNA programs supporting graduate and postgraduate students include the Sloan American Indian Graduate Student Program and Student to Academic Professoriate for American Indians (SAPAI). SAPAI is the NSF funded program that provides faculty employment opportunities for American Indian scholars with a Masters or Ph. D.
Dr. Kukuk also Directs Project PACE, a project aimed at increasing the numbers and status of women scientists in academia.
Dr. Maria Teresa Velez,
Associate Dean of Graduate College
University of Arizona
Administration 302
Tuscon, AZ 85721
Phone: 520.621.7814
Fax: 520.621.7112
Email: mvelez@grad.arizona.edu
Maria Teresa Velez received her Ph.D. in Socio-Clinical Psychology from the Wright Institute, joining The University of Arizona as a postdoc in 1983. She served as Staff Psychologist, Pre-doctoral Internship Training Director, Associate Director and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services until joining the Graduate College as Associate Dean in 1996, a position she still holds. Dr. Velez has appointments in the departments of Psychology and the School of Family Studies and Consumer Services, and is a licensed Psychologist in the State of Arizona.
In 1996, she became an Associate Dean in the Graduate College where, in addition to her regular duties, she focused her energies on increasing the number of minority students pursuing masters and Ph.D.s, especially in science and technology fields. As a result, minority graduate students currently represent 22% of graduate enrollment at the University of Arizona, an increase of 82% in the last 10 years. She accomplished this by developing intensive research and support programs for underrepresented undergraduates currently serving 100 underrepresented students per year, extensive recruitment throughout the Southwest and Puerto Rico, and the development of over 200 full and partial fellowships and scholarships per year dedicated to diversity. Retention has also been a strong focus with a full program that includes academic support, a Summer Writing Institute, funds to present at research conferences, complete theses and dissertations and take advantage of special training opportunities, a Ph.D. Completion Program and, recently, an NSF grant to help Native Americans complete dissertations. To support these efforts, Dr. Velez has garnered over 16 Million from the federal government and private foundations. She has also partnered with several departments to bring in six major grants that foster UA diversity in science and engineering, including a recent NSF grant to the Chemistry department to increase the number of Hispanic and Native Americans who obtain the Ph.D.
At the University of Arizona, Dr. Velez served as the first vice-president of the UA Commission on the Status of Women and is currently a member of the ADVANCE working group, the President’s Diversity Coalition, and the President’s Native American Advisory Board. Dr. Velez has served on many national boards advancing diversity as well, including the Council of Graduate Schools’ Minority Advisory Board and the GRE Board’s MGE Committee. She is also the recipient of many honors and awards for her commitment to women and minorities, including the University of Arizona's Vision Award, the American Indian Alumni Outstanding Contribution Award, the Martin Luther King Distinguished Leadership Award, the Hispanic Alumni Service Award and the Peter Likins Inclusive Excellence Award.
