875: EdUp Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs) Mini Series - with Dr. Celeste R. Townsend⁠⁠, President, ⁠California Indian Nations College⁠, & ⁠Manoj Patil⁠, President, ⁠⁠Little Priest Tribal College

Manoj Patil immigrated to the United States on January 1, 2001, to continue his higher education. After graduating with his master’s degree in May 2002, Patil joined Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) as a full-time chemistry instructor, serving in this role for 15 years. From 2008-2017, during his tenure at WITCC, Patil served on the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. He received WITCC’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year award in 2008, Siouxland’s “10 under 40” award in 2014, and a National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development award in 2015.

In August 2018, Patil joined Little Priest Tribal College as the vice president of academic affairs. He was promoted to vice president of academic and student affairs in May 2019. In November 2019, he became interim president of the college, and then he was appointed permanently as president in May 2020.

During his 20 years in higher education, Patil has served in many positions with his main areas of expertise being accreditation, strategic planning, student services and STEM education. He currently serves on the boards of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the Winnebago Tribal Education Advisory Board.

In March 2008, Patil started New Horizon Tutoring. NHT employs 20 part-time tutors who provide services including ACT/SAT prep and college consultation. Patil serves as president and CEO of the company.

Patil is the principal investigator of a $1.2M National Science Foundation Tribal Colleges and Universities Program STEM grant… Read More

Celeste Townsend is an enrolled citizen of the Guidutikad numu Fort Bidwell Indian Community located in Fort Bidwell, California, and a descendent of the Shoshone-Paiute tribe of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Owyhee, Nevada. She adds over 30 years’ experience in Indian education to her role at California Indian Nations College (CINC). President Townsend obtained both her Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Business and Management (concentrating in Finance) and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. President Townsend recently began a doctoral program at the University California San Diego in educational leadership, aiming to graduate in 2025.
Background
March 2015, Ms. Townsend was invited to round table discussions giving focus to concerns on mainstream educational systems, inequitable access, and substandard support for American Indian students. These discussions soon channeled towards the establishment of a tribal college in the state of California. After a few short months, visionary and founder of this committee (and soon-to-be college), Mrs. Theresa Mike, requested Ms. Townsend lead the discussions to what later became known as the CINC Strategic Planning Committee. It was Fall 2017, when the Mrs. Mike and Ms. Townsend presented a drafted charter to the Tribal Council of the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Missions Indians. This led to the official induction of California Indian Nations College; the charter was signed on September 19, 2017.
With this, the Tribal Council immediately proposed a … Read More