Cultural standards for educators, students, schools, curriculum and communities all across the board have been brought forward by Minnesota Native educators. Their goal is to establish a path way for schools and communities to support the educational and cultural well-being of students in their care.

Dr. Vivian Delgado, assistant professor of indigenous native nations studies at Bemidji State University, will discuss how these cultural standards are essential as part of BSU’s Honors Council Lecture Series.

Delgado’s presentation, “Minnesota Culturally Responsive State Standards,” will be held Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. in Hagg-Sauer 112. Honors Council lectures are open to everyone free of charge.

“Cultural standards are essential for identifying the natural attributes and appropriate character associated with culturally responsive educators, curriculum and schools,” Delgado said.

Delgado’s lecture will show how culturally responsive standards serve as a complement to, not a replacement for, those standards adopted by the State of Minnesota.

“Most state standards stipulate what students should know and be able to do,” she said. “The cultural standards are natural laws that provide guidance on how to immerse students in their environments in a way that students become responsible, capable and whole human beings in the process.”

About Dr. Vivian Delgado
Dr. Vivian Delgado is an assistant professor of indigenous native nations studies at Bemidji State University. She won the 2006-07 Hazel Petrocco Award for Women’s Leadership and Educational Advocacy from the Colorado Education Association, was a diversity trainer at the National Education Association’s Office of Human and Civil Rights and was a regional native advisor to the U.S. Department of Education.

Delgado earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of South Dakota and has a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Mary. She earned a doctorate in Native American philosophy at the University of North Dakota.

About the Honors Council Lecture Series
The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council. The council is the advisory group to the honors program composed of 12 faculty members representing each of the university’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.

Contacts
• Kari Caughey, BSU honors program
• Dr. Vivian Delgado, assistant professor of indigenous native nations studies

Bemidji State University, located in northern Minnesota’s lake district, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling nearly 5,000 students, Bemidji State offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate programs encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. University signature themes include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and global and multi-cultural understanding.