About the partnership

The Navajo Native American Research Center (NARCH) for Health Partnership is a collaboration between Diné College, a Tribal College of the Navajo Nation, and Northern Arizona University. The goals of NARCH are:

• To develop American Indian/Alaska Native scientists and health professionals
• To foster and continue to grow the relationship between Diné College and Northern Arizona University
• To improve the health and wellbeing of the Navajo people through the development of public health training

This academic and experiential training will focus on culturally relevant approaches to building healthy communities and tracking the progress of NARCH programs.

Student enhancement programs

High School

Academic year program

Each year, 15 high school students from the Navajo Nation participate in a Public Health service-learning program with local healthcare businesses to offer service-learning or volunteer options for high school students. The dual credit program (students receive Diné College and high school credit at the same time), recently expanded from Window Rock to include two additional areas within the Central Consolidated School District (CCSD), Shiprock and Kirtland.

For more information, visit the Diné College website.

High School summer program

Each summer, NARCH offers an Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program (ISEP). In its second year, the one-week program offered students an opportunity to gain a new skillset in health care and to develop leadership skills through a multicultural approach to public health and health research.
So far, six former program alum have returned to serve as ISEP peer mentors.
For more information or to apply visit the Diné College ISEP page.

University level

Diné College

One of the goals of NARCH was to start a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Program for junior and senior-level students entering with an Associates of Science degree, and a tract for students entering as freshmen. In fall 2018, the first cohort of 54 student began the study. Last year, the Diné College hired their first Indigenous Public Health faculty member, Dr. Carmelita Kahn. For more information or to register for the public health programs at Diné College, visit its website.

Undergraduate summer program

NARCH supports the 10-week Summer Research Enhancement Program (SREP). SREP has been ongoing for more than 15 years. After three weeks of classroom instruction at the Diné College Tsaile campus, students are assigned to an internship site for six weeks to gain practical experience with data collection and analysis in a health-related program in a community setting. In the final week, students return to the Tsaile campus for final analysis and to present their final project.

For more information on SREP or to apply, visit the Diné College SREP page.

Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University (NAU) now offers a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Promotion with the emphasis in Indigenous Health Track. The program offers a mixture of online and face-to-face courses on the NAU campus. In fall 2018, the first cohort was comprised of six Indigenous students, two will be graduating in December 2019. The MPH program is now in its second year, and applications are due January 15, 2020.

For more information on the MPH program or how to apply, visit the NAU Graduate College website.

Graduate Certificate Program in Public Health

The Health Science Department has received approval to begin planning a graduate level certificate in public health. Tentative timeline is to launch the certificate program in fall 2020. More information coming.

This partnership is supported for four years (2017-2021) and is funded by the National Institutes’ of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH-NIGMS), S06GM123550.