Warm Springs Meetings
2/12 - 2/13/03
I had separate long telephone discussions with Warm Springs Education Manager Wendell Jim and ADEC PCO Bob Rost from OSU. I think those talks really helped set the stage for two days of productive meetings at Warm Springs. We had a good amount of momentum after the July meetings that didn't get channeled very well. We all agreed to not let that be the case in the future.
2/12/03
The following people were in attendance:
- Wendell Jim, Warm Springs Education Manager
- Bob Rost, OSU Extension
- Bob Pawelek, OSU Extension
- Cody Yager, Central Oregon Community College (COCC)
- Kelli Muskopf, Warm Springs AISEP Technical Contact
- Tim Finch, Warm Springs Language Assistant
We had a fruitful meeting that bore the following ideas:
- Tribal Virtual College (institute without walls)
- Web-based Language Program (with high school and two middle schools)
- Workforce Certificate
- OSU Extension and main campus (providing courses and degrees)
- WSU Extension (partnering with some of their 26 learning centers)
- Lewis and Clark Project
- High Desert Resort and Casino (web-based training opportunities)
One of the most promising projects for the future is the Tribal Virtual College. Wendell and Bill McCaughen, Dean of Distance and Continuing Education at OSU, have been developing this idea for some time. The nine Tribes in Oregon have agreed to move forward on this initiative. Wendell and Bill will be taking further action in the near term.
2/13/03
Everyone but Bob met the next morning at GeoVisions, the Tribe's GIS department. As both Bob and Wendell have entertained the thought of creating a mobile unit, we wanted to see the department's mobile. The unit is a fully functional GIS laboratory on wheels. Its main use has been to coordinate fire fighting on some of the western blazes in the area last summer. Better fire management is achieved by having a lab close by to monitor fires in near real-time, create maps on the fly, and provide and receive information to and from fire fighters. Apparently, they've had great success with it. Unfortunately, the for-profit status and work plan leave the trailer basically unusable by Education manager Wendell Jim and other departments at Warm Springs.
The county is also using a Tachyon CPE in a mobile configuration called the Frontier Science Lab. Apparently, there isn't enough funding to have modern science labs at many of the smaller schools. The solution is to have a mobile lab available to travel to the different schools. The unit is a fully functional modern science laboratory. The director centers work on local problems and local solutions. Although these mobiles are much grander than anything that Wendell or Bob have in mind, they did give ideas on different approaches and uses.
For the rest of the morning, I worked with Kelli on getting the unit re-routed as well as trouble-shooting the deicer problem. Apparently the deicer had never been installed from the beginning. This problem is currently being resolved. The two days were well spent with a new push for utilization of the CPE and participation in ADEC being set in place.
I would like to thank Wendell for his hospitality and work in getting all of these meetings coordinated. He booked my stay at beautiful Ka-Nee-Tah Resort on the reservation. These exceptional accommodations made for much needed relaxation time. Thanks to everyone else as well for your participation.
Click here to view some photos from this meeting.
- Craig Campbell, June 4, 2003