Assistant Project Director
The Assistant Project Director, Sheree Watson, will be the cultural relations specialist and academic coordinator. Sheree has worked at Montana Tech of the University of Montana in minority programs for three years prior to teaching. She began her science teaching career in Gallup , New Mexico and has been teaching for the last three years at Great Falls High School and the University of Great Falls . Sheree has over 5 years of experience in teaching and mentoring Native American students. As an assistant project director for DOC, she will be the liaison with reservation and area educators, counselors, teachers, tribal college faculty and students as well as with engineering professionals. She will also have primary responsibility for coordinating the pre-college programs with reservation students, educators, counselors, and engineering professionals. She will be responsible for coordinating and supervising the DOC component of the Montana Apprenticeship Program (MAP), will help develop and implement the bridge program for new Native American students in the COE, and will coordinate the DOC seminar throughout each semester. She will also advise students in the program, as well as work with academic support services and Native American student programs on campus.

Student Advisor
The student advisor, Alicia Littlewolf, will serve as a mentor, tutor and advisor for the COE Native American students. Alicia Littlewolf is a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe of southeastern Montana. She is a second year graduate student in the Computer Science department at Montana State University. While at MSU, she has been employed with the COOP Native American Nursing program and the Center for Computational Biology. She is a member of the MSU AISES chapter and American Indian club. As student advisor, Alicia will assist with the summer bridge program as well as the seminar, and will work closely with the Assistant Project Director on the implementation of each of the project elements.

Assistant Dean/Project Director
The project director (Heidi Sherick, Assistant to the Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Diversity) will have the primary responsibility of administration of the overall project. Ms. Sherick has a Masters of Education in Higher Education Administration with a Student Affairs emphasis. Ms. Sherick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Broad Field Science teaching, and taught junior high sciences in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for 5 years. She started her career in Higher Education as the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations at Montana State University prior to accepting her current position in the College of Engineering. She has been involved with the MSU Orientation Staff for 9 years and is extremely familiar with the transition from high school to college. Administration of the Designing Our Community Program includes management of the budget -- hiring, supervising and evaluating project personnel, managing communications, and providing bridging activities among other campus organizations and programs. The Project Director will oversee the COE diversity committee and the diversity and cultural sensitivity training program. The Project director will also be involved in advising students as well as overseeing the planning elements of the MAP program, the bridge program, and the seminar. This position is funded 100% through the COE.

Director of Strategic Projects and Assessments
Carolyn Plumb, the Director of Strategic Projects for the College of Engineering, will be responsible for assessing the progress of Designing our Community and for evaluating the project’s success. Dr. Plumb’s background includes an M.A. in English, an M.S. in Technical Communication, and a PhD in Educational Psychology. For 15 years, she directed the communication program in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. This program included introductory and advanced technical writing and oral presentation courses as well as the Engineering and Information School Writing Center and an ongoing writing assessment program. More recently, she worked for the School of Law at the University of Washington as an Instructional Development and Assessment Specialist. She also is the ongoing evaluator for “Learning at the Life Sciences/Engineering Boundary,” a University of Washington grant-funded initiative aimed at attracting engineering students into careers at the engineering/life science boundary. She joined the College of Engineering at MSU in August of 2004 and will be involved in several curriculum and assessment projects, including Designing our Community.

College of Engineering Dean
The Dean of the College of Engineering will ultimately oversee all aspects of the Designing Our Community Program. Dean Robert Marley, a tribal member of The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has experience in funded NSF diversity grants and in understanding precisely what challenges present themselves to incoming Native American students. Robert Marley began his professional career at the Rehabilitation Engineering Center in Wichita, KS, in 1983. This work led him to pursue advanced degrees in industrial engineering specializing in ergonomics and human factors engineering. After completion of a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Wichita State University, Marley began his formal academic career at Montana State in the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department in 1990. Author of over 60 refereed publications including one textbook that is now undergoing revisions for a 2nd edition, Marley continues to teach regularly in the department. He is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Ergonomics Society, and several other related organizations. He is currently an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics. Marley is also a member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society where is has actively pursued creating new technical opportunities for Native American students in Montana and beyond. Since 1997, he has been either PI or Co-PI on several Federally funded projects totaling over $1.5 million aimed at improving the learning atmosphere and overall opportunities for women and minorities within the science and engineering disciplines, particularly those from very rural environments.