(New program, not in printed catalog.)
Fall, Winter and Spring quarters
Faculty: David Rutledge, Raul Nakasone, Gary Peterson
Enrollment: 75
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or above, transfer students welcome.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: $10 
Internship Possibilities: No

This program will examine what it means to live in a pluralistic society at the beginning of the 21st century. We will look at a variety of cultural and historical perspectives and use them to helpaddress the program theme.  
We will pay special attention to the value of human relationships to the land, to work, to others and to the unknown.
We will concentrate our work in cultural studies, human resource development and cross-cultural communication.
We shall explore Native American perspectives and look at issues that are particularly relevant to Native Americans. 
We will ask students to take a very personal stake in their educational development.
Within the program’s themes and subjects, students will pay special attention to how they plan to learn, what individual and group work they plan on doing, and what difference the work will make in their lives and within
 their communities. Students will be encouraged to assume responsibility for their choices.
Faculty and students together will work to develop habits of worthwhile community interaction in the context of the education process and liberation. The faculty are interested in providing an environment of collaboration where faculty and students identify topics of mutual interest and act as partners in the exploration of those topics.
This program is for students who already have a research topic in mind, as well as for those who would like to learn how to do research in a student-centered environment.
Students will be exposed to research methods, writing workshops, computer literacy, library workshops, educational technology and the educational philosophy that supports this program.
In fall, we hope to state our research questions. In winter, we plan to individually, or in small study groups, develop the historical background for the chosen question and do the integrative review of the literature and data collection. In the first part of spring quarter, we will write our conclusions and prepare for a public presentation. The last part of spring will be entirely dedicated to presentations. Research topics will be related to the program theme of how to live in a pluralistic society and a globalized world under humanistic standards for social justice, freedom and peace.
Students will use and explore Bloom’s Taxonomy, the theory of multiple intelligence, the relationship among curriculum, assessment and instruction, quantitative reasoning, self- and group-motivation, communication, e-mail, resources on the Web and  Web crossing, and develop skills in interactive Web pages and independent research.
Credit awarded in: history, philosophy, cultural competency, communication, writing, political science, cultural anthropology, literature, indigenous arts,  technology, indigenous studies, Native American studies, education and individual project work.
Total: 16 credits each quarter.
Program is preparatory for: careers and future studies in education, anthropology, the arts, multicultural studies, social work, human services and the humanities.
Planning Unit(s): Society, Politics, Behavior and Change and Native American and World Indigenous Peoples Studies.