Rainer Scholarship - Graduate

A little about John Rainer: The Rainer Scholarship is in memory of John Rainer of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico who was one of the co-founders of the American Indian Graduate Center and its first director. His life was dedicated to fighting for Indian rights, yet he began his long activist career starting school at 13, speaking only his native language, Tiwa. He was sent away to boarding school, was miserably homesick, and yet, beyond great obstacles, went on and got an undergraduate degree in 1938 to be a teacher, making $75 a month.

At a time when it was rare to find Indians with any degrees, John persevered and got a Master’s degree in education from USC in 1951. He returned to New Mexico and became the chairman of the All Indian Pueblo Council for all nineteen Pueblo tribes. John received many awards over his lifetime. One of Mr. Rainer’s quotes was: “Get the best possible training you can.”

One male and one female student receive a one-time $1,000 award each year. Recipients are selected in-house and must be a current AIGC fellowship recipient to be nominated to receive the Rainer Fellowship

Of the $1,000 award, $500 is to be applied towards the cost of education. Since the Rainer Scholarship is designed to reward the qualities and commitment characteristic of a future Indian leader, the remaining $500 is to be used to support participation in volunteer activities that afford an opportunity to develop leadership skills. Some possible projects include:

Become involved and take a leadership role in on-campus activities
Take the initiative in organizing a monthly get-together of Native American graduate students at your college: for dinner or a weekend meeting to network and share successes at school and discuss challenges encountered
Find a tribe and/or organization in your area that could use assistance and leadership in accomplishing its objectives
Make presentation on the need for strong Native American leaders to secondary school students in your area
Make presentations to faculty and staff of your institution on collaborating with Native American student who want to realize their potential to be productive members and leaders of the campus community

Rainer Fellows

This is the seventh year the Rainer Scholarship has been awarded. The dedication these individuals show in striving for commitment to American Indian communities, leadership skills and strong academic background made them a candidate for the Rainer Scholarship.

Mr. Blake Hausman (Cherokee Nation)
University of California – Berkeley
Ph.D. in English
Cumulative GPA as of fall 07 term: 3.96
Graduating in the spring of 2010

Miss Rachelle Petrovic (Seneca Nation)
Rice University – Houston, TX
M.S. in Environmental Analysis and Decision-Making
Cumulative GPA as of fall 07 term: 3.96
Graduating this 2008 Spring term.