Black Hills State University’s Center for American Indian Studies (CAIS) was awarded a three-year $660,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, according to an official announcement held Oct. 2 in Jonas 101.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was founded in 1969 to strengthen, promote and defend the arts and humanities as essential to democratic societies. It strives to build a deeper understanding of cultural expression and to learn and evolve with the changing world. 

Jon Kilpinen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at BHSU made the announcement in front of faculty, staff, and students involved with CAIS. The entire grant process was a total of ten months. There were six people who worked directly with the Mellon Foundation for the grant: Urla Marcus, Director for American Indian Studies (AIS); Rosie Sprague, Instructor for AIS; President Laurie Nichols; Dr. Amy Fuqua, Dean for the College of Liberal Arts; Cate Caldwell, Director of Grants and Kilpinen.

“Mellon initiated the conversation,” Kilpinen said. “With them, it’s a ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you’ type of interaction.” 

Mellon contacted BHSU in March and was open to learning more about CAIS and the academic studies for Native Americans. Nichols assembled the budget, Marcus and Sprague provided a lot of information of needs, Caldwell did the budget/grant writing and Kilpinen and Fuqua did the editing work on the grant proposal. The group developed a lot of ideas and ways to broaden CAIS. The team wrote proposal after proposal and waited to hear back.

“They cut our budget down and every time we had to prove we were going to do and put in the work across the region,” Marcus said. 

The original grant money was $500,000, but eventually awarded CAIS a grant of $660,000.

“They liked what they were hearing,” Kilpinen said. “It was realistic. I mean they didn’t choose us for nothing. It feels like winning the lottery.”

The grant was an affirmation for CAIS and expands the work it is able to do.

“This [grant] means a lot more support staff for the center,” Marcus said. 

Most of the grant will be used for faculty and getting more people to help teach and to support students. Being able to hire assistants for Marcus and Sprague means that a wider range of courses can be offered, and more courses means the center can support more students.

“We want people to be as excited for this as we are,” Kilpinen said.  

For BHSU to bring more funding to the area means working with and educating the community. One of the goals is to add a small certificate for AIS for people that work with Native Americans in their everyday lives such as social workers, counselors and bankers. Another idea is to bring back some important courses such as “Indian Law” to educate students about land holding, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and tribal laws and processes.

“Knowing they called us was intimidating,” Kilpinen said. “It was always knowing that [the grant] was ours to lose. We are grateful for every grant we receive but Mellon’s grant is more than an average grant.”

While this grant helps provide a lot of support for CAIS, BHSU also needs to find ways to overcome future challenges associated with the grant. 

“Grants don’t last forever, and we need to find a way to be able to provide these courses even after the money fizzles out,” Kilpinen said.

Kilpinen has already been preparing by working continuously with Caldwell for more grants and working with the state. 

“We had a lot of support from the president, admin, and faculty,” Marcus said. “I really want to acknowledge Cate for helping Rosie and I because she did a lot of work.” 

The grant and the opportunities it will provide enhance the BHSU mission.

“For American Indian Studies it feels more significant and feels kind of special,” Kilpinen said.