The WILLOW Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate initially collaborated with University of Montana in Missoula, Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, and Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota, to develop, implement, and study a model for the professional success of faculty and instructional staff in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) who are enrolled in, and/or descendants of, Native American tribes.  The current WILLOW Alliance project with UM and SKC is funded by the National Science Foundation and aims to increase success of Native American STEM Faculty and advance knowledge about issues impacting their career progression in STEM fields. The WILLOW Alliance project includes:

 A mixed methods participatory approach research component will examine: 

• the personal, relational, and collective experiences that enhance or inhibit professional development and career advancement of Native American STEM Faculty
• the underlying institutional issues affecting promotion and advancement
• the approaches Native American STEM Faculty use to support promotion and advancement
• the ways different types of universities and colleges (tribal vs. non-tribal) support Native American STEM Faculty
• the climate of STEM departments (comparing how non- Native American STEM Faculty and Native American STEM Faculty experience professional development, promotion and advancement)