Weaving the Fabric of Our Campus Community

Tiffany Tuttle G’22 holds a star quilt made by the Lakota grandmother of a close colleague with whom she and her father worked at Indian Youth of America, a summer camp for intertribal youth. In keeping with traditional ways, when Tuttle’s father died in 1993, the quilt was laid across his casket and then given to her upon his burial on the Santee Sioux reservation in Niobrara, Nebraska. Photo by Rowan Elleman ’16, 2021.

First Nations Scholarship Benefits Indigenous Students

Tiffany Tuttle G’22 is an intricate tapestry of identities, all stitched together. She is a UVM student working on a master’s degree in social work, a mother, a yoga instructor, a daughter, and a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe of the Dakota Nation, of the Great Sioux Nation. Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Tuttle has encountered her fair share of both struggle and success, and she intends to carry this beautiful patchwork of lived experiences into the next phase of her career, serving children and families in the State of Vermont. Tuttle is one of two inaugural recipients of the First Nations Scholarship, established in 2020 by Bob Fallon ’73 and Joan Leenig to benefit students enrolled in the College of Education and Social Services (CESS) who are interested in issues impacting communities of Indigenous peoples, with a preference for supporting Indigenous students. CESS Dean Scott Thomas says this fund gives the College a unique opportunity to engage with students from communities that have historically been underserved in higher education. “I am so moved by Bob and Joan’s gift and by our ability to attract more First Nations students to the University,” says Thomas. “And our colleagues in Indigenous communities around Vermont and elsewhere have been very responsive. We approach this opportunity with a deep commitment to reciprocity. We are grateful that this scholarship will enable more Indigenous students to continue their education and expand their impact. At the same time, we know we have much to learn from the wisdom and ways of traditional knowledge.” In her early years, Tuttle says she was subject to the economic, health, and educational disparities that persist within native communities. “Even though there was assimilation, where people moved from the surrounding reservations—the Santee, the Omaha and Ponca and Winnebago—and into Sioux City, there’s still all of the dysfunction that comes with reservation life for ‘urban Indians’. There’s still the poverty, there’s still the addiction. The struggles are still there.” And Tuttle and her family were no exception. “I had a really rough upbringing,” she says. “My mother was incarcerated and I was homeless, living on the streets of uptown Minneapolis, when I should have been graduating from high school with my friends. That reflects the nature of the environment that I grew up in.”

Despite the desperate circumstances of her youth, Tuttle managed to earn her GED and go on, then as a single mom, to receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees from major universities. Later, when she and her young daughter were living in Omaha, Nebraska, the homeland where much of her extended family had migrated, she felt a yearning for a more serene environment. “People don’t realize that, per capita, there’s actually a very high percentage of gang violence in Omaha, and people in my family had been affected,” says Tuttle. “This was a part of my reality.” In fact, her own father had been killed in 1993 while trying to break up a fight involving gang members. Tuttle had done some hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and found the state to be an idyllic place to raise a child. “I sold everything I owned. I sold my little beat-up Cabriolet. I had managed to save a little bit of money, so I bought a used Nissan minivan and we came to Vermont with what we could carry and just started completely fresh.” That was 15 years ago, and Tuttle is again looking to make a fresh start. With her daughter grown and living on her own, Tuttle has contracted with the State of Vermont to work with the Department of Children and Families as a social worker when she completes her master’s degree. She says she feels uniquely equipped to take on the challenge of working with families in crisis. “I didn’t just take it on a whim. I knew that I was signing up for a very serious commitment, but I have a personal background that allows me to empathize with those whom I will serve. I’ve been teaching yoga for almost 20 years now, so I also have tools for self-care that will assist and sustain me in child protection work.” Thomas says the First Nations Scholarship Fund dovetails nicely with CESS’s emphasis on place-based, service-oriented education. “Indigenous students who come into our programs, thanks to this scholarship, are going to walk out with expertise that many of them are far more likely to bring back to their communities,” says Thomas. “They’ll be more likely to create community transformation where they live, because we know that educators and social service providers have a much higher probability of going back to their home place to practice. We also know that our programs will benefit greatly from the knowledge and experiences of Indigenous students. Their presence will contribute to our growing understanding of how to integrate Indigenous models, methods, and content into the caring professions.” Tuttle says she hopes the First Nations Scholarship will encourage other Native Americans to consider UVM. “Poverty is a real issue in most native communities, and I’d like to see more resources that make it possible for Native Americans to be in college. Because for me, higher education is a key factor that helped change the direction of my life.”

“Poverty is a real issue in most native communities, and I’d like to see more resources that make it possible for Native Americans to be in college. Because for me, higher education is a key factor that helped change the direction of my life.”

Letter from the Foundation Chair

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