U of M staff member Rosemary White Shield receives national appointment, most recent books released

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/03/2012) —Rosemary White Shield, director of evaluation for the University of Minnesota’s Office for Equity and Diversity, has been appointed a national expert in evaluation by the Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT), a training and technical assistance center funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC. White Shield received one of five CAPT nationwide appointments for the Native American Service to Science Initiative.

Her expertise is in culturally responsive and meaningful research and evaluation, including nonWestern, indigenous paradigms and methodologies. She created and utilized the Medicine Wheel Culturally Intrinsic Research Paradigm Model in previous research studies, and her nonlinear, culturally responsive logic models used in higher education and field studies are recognized by SAMHSA/CAPT as a best practice and have set a precedent for the nation in research and evaluation.

"Rosemary brings a wealth of experience to the University of Minnesota—not only through her previous positions, but as a published author and evaluation expert who has created culturally responsive research paradigms,” said Kris Lockhart, associate vice president of the Office for Equity and Diversity. “Those skills, paired with her devotion to community service, make her a tremendous asset to the university and external communities. This CAPT appointment is a testament to her expertise, passion and national standing,"

Concurrently, White Shield’s most recent books, “Gifts from the Sacred Circle,” an evidence-based Native traditional parenting curriculum for families affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, was field tested in three urban and two reservation pilot sites with highly successful results. They are published by Hazelden and were released for distribution throughout the Western Hemisphere in March. White Shield has also recently published a chapter in the book “Southern Silences: Historical Trauma and Remembrance of American Indian Conquest and Internal Slave Trade in the Southeast” (U. Wiethaus & T. Parent, Eds. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang International Publishing House), which will be released for distribution this fall. White Shield’s research—the first of its kind on gender-specific slavery and trafficking of Native women and girls from historical and contemporary perspectives—led to the book chapter.

The mission of the U’s Office for Equity and Diversity is to leverage the transformative power of equity and diversity to advance excellence in teaching, research and community engagement at the University of Minnesota.