Jamie Foster, wearing a gray OSU polo shirt, jeans and black shoes, stands in a cafeteria, holding a sheet of paper and talking to a group of four high school students, male and female, who are sitting at a cafeteria table listening to her. The students are wearing sweatshirts, jeans, sweatpants and sneakers. — OSU Extension educator Jamie Foster teaches a section on the community benefits of barn quilts to students at the Miami Innovation Center, an alternative school for grades 7-12 in Miami, Oklahoma. The students made barn quilts, and Foster encouraged them to enter the designs in the Ottawa County Fair. (Photo provided by Jamie Foster)

Tribal grant awards establish new Extension roles

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Media Contact: Gail Ellis | Editorial Communications Coordinator | 405-744-9152 | gail.ellis@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University Extension is teaming up with Native American tribes to hire three additional Extension educators in northeast Oklahoma.

One position is sponsored by a grant awarded by the Fully Recognized Tribes Extension Program via the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture; Lexi Patrick has been hired to work directly with the Osage Nation on agriculture, 4-H, and family and consumer sciences projects.

Two new educators are funded with support from the Native American Agriculture Fund. Educator Jamie Foster in Ottawa County works with the region’s Inter-Tribal Council to conduct family and consumer sciences and 4-H activities. The Inter-Tribal Council includes participation from the following nine tribes: the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, the Modoc Nation, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, the Shawnee Tribe, the Quapaw Nation and the Wyandotte Nation.

Alicia Morgan is the director of alternative education at Miami Innovation Center in Miami, Oklahoma, where Foster visits regularly to facilitate programming. Foster recently hosted a barn quilt class for students at the alternative school, many of whom are Native American.

"The students asked when Jamie was coming back to help them finish their projects," Morgan said. "She is so good with these kids and treats them with no preconceived notions. Jamie loves teaching here just as much as we do, and that's what makes the difference in their lives."

The Native American Agriculture Fund will also support Shelby Lofton’s dual-educator role for OSU Extension and the College of the Muscogee Nation. Her position is a collaboration between the original Morrill Act of 1862, establishing land-grant institutions in the U.S., and the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994, which provided land-grant status to tribal colleges.

Lofton will join the College of the Muscogee Nation’s Extension director and horticulture educator on campus to facilitate Extension outreach programs among the Muscogee Nation counties of Creek, Hughes, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, McIntosh, Muskogee, Tulsa, Rogers and Wagoner.

“Oklahoma State University and the College of the Muscogee Nation have always shared a spirit of partnership and synergy,” said Chris Azbell, Extension coordinator of the College of the Muscogee Nation. “The new Extension educator positions exemplify OSU’s commitment to working with tribal colleges and universities and tribal governments. As the old adage says, ‘A rising tide lifts all ships,’ and this relationship clearly illustrates how meaningful collaboration can positively impact all Oklahoma citizens.”

Nancy Johnson, OSU Extension northeast district director, said joining forces with tribal nations is one of the best partnerships she has been involved in throughout her career.

“Working together with the nations and tribes in Oklahoma is just one way we can offer research-based information to clientele in the areas of agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and youth development, and in turn, we learn from their traditional knowledge,” she said.

Learn more about OSU Extension outreach efforts among the state’s Native American tribes by contacting Johnson at nancy.johnson@okstate.edu.