Marlette Grant-Jackson

Academic Advisor & Resource Coordinator

Yurok Tribe
2001 ITEPP alumni

I returned to finish my degree at Humboldt in 1998, with three littles in tow.  I was lucky enough to become a student assistant for ITEPP as Graphic Specialist in the Curriculum Resource Center (CRC). I did things like: create Language posters/Cards for Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, and Yurok; create graduation announcements for seniors; created the 1st ITEPP webpage, and gave cultural presentations in the local Elementary & Middle schools.

After my graduation from HSU/ITEPP in 2001 I became the third ITEPP CRC Coordinator. The CRC grew from a student donated lending shelf of books, to a Teaching & Curriculum Resource Center, to a Cultural Resource Center with 7,000 pieces on, about and by Natives peoples trying to focus on Northern California Natives and providing students access to books used in our Native Faculties courses.

All of our materials are listed online through Library World.  This job required: managing ITEPP student assistance (having them input all the books into a library program so we could keep track of the check outs and returns, and having a graphics student turn old film strips into videos); reading and reviewing children’s books for publications (school library journal and UCLA Journal); planning and hosting the Native Children’s Author’s Festival for 4 years; Doing a summer internship at Cornell to learn how to make and repair books; and I started Academic Advising all ITEPP students who were either Native American Studies Majors or Minors.

ITEPP was moved in 2006 from two houses (Spidell & Hopkins) on Harpst Street to Brero House off of library circle. Thanks to Center of Indian Community Development (CICD) moving into the Behavioral Social Science Building (BSSB) so ITEPP could keep our “Home away from Home” atmosphere. This is when my academic advising ramped up to students across all departments & majors.

Well now it’s 2022 and I am celebrating my 21st year with ITEPP. Yes much has changed, and all the visionaries I have worked with over the years have since retired. I have lost one of my three children, but have gained a granddaughter (who is now 8).  I still feel today as I did in 1998, Lucky that I can be a part of ITEPP, a place that creates a “Home away from Home” for our Native Students who are trying to become people that lead our communities into the future. Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives.