Growing Season: A talking circle evaluation of American Indian/Alaska Native student pathways to food systems and sovereignty higher education in Wyoming

Abstract

Despite rich contributions to higher education and the need for new and more diverse strategies to improve the sustainability, productivity, and health impacts of our nation’s food and agriculture sys­tems, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students only make up 0.7% of college enrollment and dropout rates continue to rise. While inherent resilience and key support systems such as family and peers are common among AI/AN students, they experience multiple barriers to success in higher education, including in the food, agriculture, nutrition, and health sciences (FANH) fields. We designed and implemented Growing Season: Native student pathways to food system and sovereignty studies (hereafter Growing Season) at the University of Wyoming to increase the number of AI/AN stu­dents in FANH studies through both recruitment and mentoring strategies. In the face of interrelated challenges that included the COVID-19 pandemic, dramatically reduced participation, and myriad institutional barriers, we pivoted our program eval­uation strategy to a culturally appropriate talking circle approach grounded in an Indigenous research paradigm with co-investigators and staff including AI/AN and non-AI/AN participants (N = 7). We identified successes, challenges, and hopes through thematic analysis. Successes include themes of people, relationships, and belonging and cultural competence. Challenges include capacity and defining student success. Hopes include themes of communication and alignment. Increas­ing the number of AI/AN students in FANH is invaluable, not just for the graduates but for our society to tackle problems in food systems, agricul­ture, and health. However, supporting the people who provide programs to achieve those outcomes is paramount. These findings and our overall evalu­ation approach offer a culturally appropriate story of a program- and relationship-focused vs. out­come-focused approach for recruiting and mentor­ing AI/AN students at the University of Wyoming. These findings also point to recommendations for higher education institutions more broadly.