UW-Green Bay accepting applicants for first-ever doctorate program

In spite of the University of Wisconsin System budget crisis, UW-Green Bay announces it is accepting applications for the first-ever doctorate program in education. The degree is specific to indigenous communities of northeast Wisconsin.

"We really have a responsibility to give back to tribal communities, and I think that was one of the driving forces behind creating the first doctoral program in First Nations Education,” said Lisa Poupart, Ph.D, Associate Professor at UW-Green Bay.

There are a number of tribal communities located within an hour's drive of UW-Green Bay, such as the Oneida Nation and Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. This program integrates professional fields like education, social work, and healthcare— with tribal culture.

"We wanted people to come through this program and be able to hit the ground running,” said Carol Cornelius, Ph.D, Instructor at UW-Green Bay. “They know how to operate programs. They know how to be an administrator. They know how to teach. They know the federal policies. They know the history of what's happened and the struggles that we're in right now."

The program includes courses you’d find In many doctorate programs, like a grant writing course; but also it includes indigenous education, ancestral leadership and first nations law and policy coursework.

It’s not possible to receive this doctorate online.

"We're working in the field. And students will not create a typical dissertation; they'll create a project that is applied primarily in educational settings in tribal communities,” explained Poupart.

She says faculty and administrators put in long hours over the past five years to make the program happen with almost no additional cost to UW-Green Bay.

“This program was created and started at a time when we were under a budget crisis and in spite of that, we went forward,” she said.

Applicants need a graduate degree in a related field.

To apply, got to http://www.uwgb.edu/fned/