In 2003 the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Jeremy A. Sabloff, then Williams Director of the Penn Museum, and Janet M. Monge, Keeper of the Museum’s Physical Anthropology Section, a three-year grant to establish a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program entitled “Native Voices.” The primary goal of “Native Voices” was to involve visiting Native American and non-native Penn undergraduates in research on the Museum’s North American collections by helping fund six Native American students for a semester at Penn and covering the research expenses for all the students. Now, in its third and final year, it is clear that the “Native Voices” program has had an overwhelmingly positive impact by building bridges between Penn, the Museum, and Native American communities. The initial idea for this program grew out of Sabloff’s interest in American archaeology, Monge’s commitment to undergraduate research, and the collective desire in the Museum’s American Section to bring Native students to Penn. “The Museum is really interested in engaging with Native American communities and is serious about opening up the study of the collection to broader constituencies than we have in the past,” explains Jeremy Sabloff. “It’s not just for Ph.D. students, but also for Native American communities and Penn undergraduates.”
Robert W. Preucel, Curator in the American Section, elaborated on the urgency of bringing Native students to the University. “Penn has the smallest number of self-identified Native students in the Ivy League and no Native faculty. We have a responsibility to Native peoples to do something about that.”
Although the initial proposal to NSF was rejected, the “Native Voices” program stimulated interest among the NSF reviewers. “They really liked the idea and the concept,” Sabloff noted, “but they weren’t convinced we could do it [from an organizational standpoint].” Heartened by the NSF’s excitement, they revised their proposal and were awarded most of the funding for three years, with additional funding coming from the Museum and Penn’s Diversity Fund.
The Reu Program
“Native Voices” officially began operations in the Fall of 2004. Although initial recruiting went slowly, hard work by faculty, staff, and teaching fellows Utsav Schurmans (2005–2006) and Emily Renschler (2007) eventually helped raise Penn’s profile and the visibility of the Museum and its collections in Native communities. Since 2005, applications to the program from Native American students have steadily increased. The visiting students learned about the program in a variety of ways. For example, Calista John (Navajo, REU ’07) discovered the REU through a Native American-interest listserv, while Jennifer Brown (Haida, REU ’07) was directly recruited by a professor at her home institution, and other students responded to advertisements in Native American college journals.
For at least one student, knowledge and encouragement to apply came from a more unusual source. “I found out about the REU because my dad [Harry Ray, Pueblo of Laguna, REU ‘06] did the program before me last year,” said Michael Ray (Pueblo of Laguna, REU ’07). “He said it was a really great opportunity and he got a lot out of it.”
Indeed, the REU experience made such a positive impact on some of the alumni that they returned to Penn for a second spring term or even transferred from their previous university. Sonya Ashley (Navajo, REU ’06 and ’07) explained her decision: “I wanted to go back to Penn because I feel that they facilitate creative learning and they helped me to achieve my goals. I call it the ‘power of Penn.’”
Rico Worl (Tlingit, REU ’05), now a member of Penn’s Class of 2009, explained his transfer from Alaska by noting that his REU experience taught him “about all of the other resources that were available at Penn, especially for my interests in anthropology.”
After acceptance into the program during the fall semester, visiting Native American students arrive in Philadelphia in January and move into an undergraduate dormitory for the spring semester. Most of the REU students (both visiting Native Americans and their Penn partners) take two undergraduate classes and two credits of independent study, affording them time to work with the Museum’s collections and develop their own projects.
Over the course of the last three years a number of unexpected challenges did arise, particularly when the Native American students interacted with the Museum’s collections. “It can be so emotional for them to work with the objects,” observed Stacey Espenlaub, the Museum’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) coordinator.
“For Native students, objects are alive in ways that others might not realize,” observed Lucy Fowler Williams, Keeper of the American Collections. “Part of [our job] is to try and be aware of such issues and to have a heightened sensitivity to the student’s needs as they interact with the collections.”
Sonya Ashley emphasized that “it is important for any student participating to enter with an open mind, willing to look for learning opportunities in untraditional settings.”
Fortunately, each challenge led to increased support for the students, especially as the Museum united around the REU program. For example, the teaching fellows organized an informal seminar series with various Museum departments to orient the students to archives, publications, conservation work, and the collections.
Mia King (REU ’06, Penn ’09) commented that “we saw all parts of the Museum, and had access you wouldn’t normally get as an undergraduate . . . it really enfranchises you to go look at any collection you’re interested in.”
Most interesting were the introductory lectures about the Museum’s NAGPRA program (see Expedition 45(3):21-27), where the students “were willing to just jump right in even on controversial issues,” remarked Utsav Schurmans.
“We’ve tackled a lot of hard issues,” notes Janet Monge positively.
The visiting students stressed the central role played by Penn Museum’s staff in the success of the program. “I think the most important part of it is the interaction between the student and the faculty in Philadelphia,” asserted Jennifer Brown.
Sonya Ashley agreed, “The biggest things I took out of the program were my strong friendships with the REU participants and the faculty.”
Although the program was initially geared toward supporting student engagement in collections research, Associate Keeper William Wierzbowski observed that “many people were not as interested in that aspect, so we had to be open . . . to a more fluid approach of working with objects.” Projects included creating replicas of Pueblo shields, assisting with or researching the repatriation of objects and human remains, studying particular objects, and even curating exhibits in the Museum and online. Inspired by his Tlingit heritage, Rico Worl chose to work with the Museum’s Louis Shotridge collection of Tlingit objects—“I thought the freedom that you had in choosing your project was a great thing.”
“The projects they produce are awesome!” beams Janet Monge. The “Native Voices” program has shown “that undergraduates can step out of their comfort zones and do something really special.”
Two of the research projects—the repatriation work on human skeletal remains done by Rebecca Horsechief (Pawnee-Osage, REU ’07) with the Pawnee and by Herbert Poepoe (Hawaiian, REU ’06 and ’07) with the Hawaiians—have helped to establish new relationships between the Museum and Native communities.
“We want to do more with tribal groups and to be more engaged, especially with our work with repatriation, so the REU fits nicely and also opened up new areas,” explains Jeremy Sabloff.
Other projects will also benefit the Museum and Penn. For example, Robert Preucel notes that Abigail Seldin’s (REU ’07, Penn ’09) upcoming exhibit, which is being curated with the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, will not only serve to build a stronger relationship between the Museum and the tribe, but will also “go beyond a normal class project to show the work to the community.”
“With some collections we have a built-in tie and we tend to focus resources on where we have a history,” explains William Wierzbowski. But with the REU “the great thing is the opportunity to make new connections.”
Despite the tremendous positive impact of the REU on all involved, the National Science Foundation has elected not to renew the Museum’s “Native Voices” program for an additional trial period. Unless new sources of funding are found, this may result in a program hiatus.
Although the REU program’s future is uncertain, what does seem clear is that it is an important step toward achieving the greater goals of increasing collaboration with Native communities, stimulating more undergraduate research at the Museum, and building a Native American studies program.
Mia King, now heavily involved in Penn’s Native American interest group, “Six Directions,” believes that those goals are now within reach. “The All-Ivy Native Conference that we hosted this past spring would not have been possible without the REU students. They opened us up to their connections and networks . . . having more Native students at Penn allows us to be more active.”
“Our intent was always to increase awareness of research opportunities in the Museum and to foster and support a Native American program,” says Janet Monge. “I think that we’ve done more than any other single entity in the University to make that happen and, of that, I feel especially proud.”
THE GOALS OF “NATIVE VOICES”
• To introduce and integrate Native American undergraduates into research conducted at the Museum.• To use the Museum’s extensive and multiple resources to aid in the experience and knowledge of museum studies by Native students and to use that experience to enhance their own undergraduate academic pursuits.• To increase the scholarly value of the North American collections with the addition of Native American knowledge and perspectives on both the material culture elements and, if possible, on the skeletal remains.
• To increase the presence of Native American students on Penn’s campus.
• To re-evaluate recruitment strategies in Penn admissions so that in the future the University can engage more Native American students in a variety of academic pursuits even beyond anthropology.