AIMA Recommendations Action Plan 2025

Action Plan

Next Steps

Person(s) Responsible

Implementation Date

Recommendation 1: Establish and share American Indian student retention and completion goals.

Use Native American Retention data (as detailed in Recommendation 4) to inform and shape the plan. Achieve retention and completion rates for NA students at least equal or surpass those of the rest of the student population.

Continue to leverage interdepartmental coordination to enhance the community of care to support NA students.

Retention efforts in 2025-2026 will include the disaggregation of retention data by race and ethnicity, and as part of our work with deans and faculty we will highlight these data as we work with each other to develop their own retention strategies. In addition, we plan to disseminate more widely the Financial Barriers Indicator dashboard so that advisors and support staff have access to dynamic student financial data so they can advise appropriately.

Brian Reed, Associate Vice President for Student Success

July 1, 2026

Recommendation 2: Identify an individual at each campus who is at a more senior level who will serve point of contact for American Indian student success efforts. This person will work with college/university leadership to advise retention and completion strategies for American Indian students. The individual will also be available as a first point of contact to guide American Indian students to the appropriate college personnel as needed to address problems or specific needs.

 “Enhance Native American student access and culturally informed support" is one of the FY26 University Playbook’s continued Projects. In FY26, this project will focus on fostering campuswide understanding of Tribal sovereignty and self-determination so that we honor and embed those principles into our practices, processes, and student support efforts.

We have selected individuals, listed in order of seniority, whose shared leadership will ensure that the American Indian and Minority experience is consistently attended to across sectors. They are the formal leaders for the Playbook project as well.

Ensure consistent communication between AIMA Council, primary senior points of contact, and the President’s Native American Advisory Council, the Executive Leadership team, and the University Leadership Council.

Brian Reed, Associate Vice President for Student Success

Karla Bird, Tribal Outreach Specialist

Michelle Guzman, American Indian Student Services

Kristina Lucero, Director of the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute

July 1, 2026

Recommendation 3: Assign departmental points of contact who have the unique cultural perspective to serve American Indian students most effectively in the areas of (these efforts will be coordinated by the individual identified in recommendation #2).

Develop or enhance academic and service units' goals to improve coordination with Tribal Outreach by enacting AIMA recommendations. Ensure that each unit has clear objectives to support American Indian students effectively.

Ensure points of contact are well-versed in the specific challenges and opportunities related to American Indian student success.

Establish specific responsibilities for each point of contact.

Develop a collaborative working group that meets regularly to discuss progress, share best practices, and address challenges. Focus on interdepartmental coordination to enhance the overall quality of care for American Indian students.

Lucy Logan, Executive Director, Student Financial Services

John Nugent, Housing and Community Standards

Kelly Nolin, Admissions

Amy Capolupo, Dean of Students and Associate Vice Provost for Wellbeing

Patrick Beckwith, VETS Office

Brian French, Office for Student Success

Jimmy Kendall, Missoula College

Meri Telin, Bitterroot College

Mika Watanabe, Office of Disability Equity

Zach Rides At The Door, PFNAC Program and Building Manager

Michelle Guzman, Director of AISS

Jasmine, Experiential Learning and Career Success

Laura Bird, Financial Aid

July 1, 2026

Recommendation 4:

Collect/Share/Analyze quantitative and qualitative data to guide and improve American Indian enrollment and student success.

Gather and disaggregate data within the Native American student population by Pell, first-generation, and disability.

Adopt a strength-based approach to evaluating the success rates of Native American students across different majors and for non-declared majors compared to the overall student population.

Use Edify and data tools to Identify trends and patterns in student success rates within various academic disciplines. Focus on majors where Native American students have higher or lower success rates to understand underlying causes.

Determine which courses serve as critical entry points (gateway courses) and which have high rates of D, F, or Withdrawal (DFW) grades. Understand why Native American students stop out (temporarily leave) or drop out (leave before degree attainment).

John DeBoer, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Brian Reed, Associate Vice President for Student Success

Karla Bird, Tribal Outreach Specialist

Pope Ashworth, Director of Institutional Research

 July 1, 2026

Recommendation 5: Request campuses consider how to include American Indian voice in the search process when hiring campus leaders and assess leadership candidate’s knowledge and experience working with American Indian students, faculty, and staff

The new People and Culture Sector will provide guidance to search committees and on best practices for assessing candidates' knowledge and experience with American Indian students, faculty, and staff as a sovereign political identity.

This action plan changed over the past year. We are still committed to having Hiring Managers collaborate closely with committee chairs to maintain a culturally informed and thorough digital onboarding of committees in the hiring process.

Training and guidelines are being developed and provided to search committees to standardize legally compliant practices. Data on American Indian representation will be collected and shared to better understand the effectiveness of these practices will be monitored and evaluated to ensure they meet the intended goals.

Jay Stephens, Vice President for People and Culture

Marcie Briggs, Director of Talent Acquisition & Systems Management

Alex Lawson, Director of Organizational Culture

July 1, 2026

Recommendation 6: Provide annual professional development opportunities for all faculty and staff in the areas of Indian Education for All, American Indian culture and cultural sensitivity and the history of Montana’s First Peoples

We will continue to offer professional development opportunities to ensure ongoing education and improvement in these areas. The FY26 University Playbook includes a project that aims to build campus awareness of Tribal sovereignty and its impact on campus programs and processes.

Design learning opportunities to equip faculty and staff with the knowledge and skills, and quality of care needed to create a supportive and inclusive learning and work environment. This includes putting IEFA training into our new HR training system.

Continue to provide learning opportunities that include Indigenous perspectives and traditional knowledge.

Jay Stephens, Vice President for People and Culture

Kelly Webster, Vice President for Strategy and Community Relations

Jasmine Zink Laine, Office of Organizational Leadership Development

July 1, 2026

Recommendation 7: Request campuses incorporate American Indian professional development referenced in recommendation #6 in all new employee orientation including faculty

The People and Culture sector is creating an onboarding program for all new employees, including faculty. In addition to the mandatory Indian Education for All we will continue expanding upon IEFA training content at new faculty orientation and will incorporate content into the orientation for all employees as well.

Implement new orientation and onboarding program for new employees to incorporate content expanding upon American Indian professional development.

Build upon the established New Faculty orientation by adding a NAGPRA component.

Integrate Community-Based Research training into new Faculty Orientation.

Jay Stephens, Vice President for People and Culture

Jasmine Zink Laine, Office of Organizational Leadership Development

Karla Bird, Tribal Outreach Specialist

Courtney Little Axe, NAGPRA Coordinator

TBD, Research and Creative Scholarship

Alex Lawson, Director of Organizational Culture

 July 1, 2026

Recommendation 8: Develop a plan to use Apply Montana and FAFSA completion efforts to support American Indian students access to the MUS.

Provide enhanced support for Native American families during the transition to college via established Tribal Outreach efforts and the Payne Family Native American Center.

Coordinate with the FY26 Project Leads working to adapt our systems and processes to support a wider range of learners

Continue to update the American Indian Gateway website functionality to emphasize student success and community care.

Create customized Apply Montana and FAFSA materials and resources for the PNAC.

PNAC mission fulfillment work.

Create dedicated time within the Family Education Model and tribal outreach dedicated to FAFSA and Waiver application completion.

Karla Bird, Tribal Outreach Specialist

Zach Rides At The Door, PFNAC Program and Building Manager

July 1, 2026