Denver, Colo., June 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tyler Parisien (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), a member of the American Indian College Fund (College Fund) Faculty Advisory Council, has been named a 2026 Bush Fellow. Parisien holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in medical lab science and a doctorate degree in higher education. He is dedicating his fellowship to revitalizing the Michif language and preserving the cultural knowledge it carries.
Michif is a unique blend of Cree, Ojibwe, and French spoken in Parisien’s community in North Dakota. Parisien’s goals include developing sustainable community-based Michif language revitalization systems for the Turtle Mountain community and expanding his leadership capabilities to run language programming through immersive professional development.
Parisien says his grandfather, Albert Parisien Sr., spoke Michif as his first language and though spoken in his household to an extent, Parisien himself had never learned the language. When Turtle Mountain College received a grant to support language education but lacked an instructor, he encouraged his 77-year-old grandfather to take on the role. It was then that he was inspired to revitalize Michif, since no one else in his generation was doing this work. He says aside from his grandfather, he consults with and learns from a handful of elders who are native Michif speakers.
Parisien recently joined the American Indian Higher Education Consortium as its Director of Health Initiatives. He previously worked at Turtle Mountain College for 11 years in various roles across almost all departments. Parisien was also named a 2018-2019 Mellon Fellow and has also sat on the College Fund’s Faculty Advisory Council since 2021.
Parisien is excited to learn more about language education and revitalization, connect with experts in the field, and build systems and knowledge that can benefit other tribal communities and tribal colleges and universities in the future with their own language learning efforts as a Bush fellow.
About the American Indian College Fund — The American Indian College Fund has been the nation’s largest charity supporting Native higher education for 37 years. The College Fund believes “Education is the answer” and provided more than $23 million in scholarships and other student support for higher education in 2024-25. Since its founding in 1989 the College Fund has provided more than $391 million in scholarships, programs, community, and tribal college support. The College Fund also supports a variety of programs at the nation’s 35 accredited tribal colleges and universities, which are located on or near Indian reservations, ensuring students have the tools to graduate and succeed in their careers. The College Fund consistently receives top ratings from independent charity evaluators. It earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid (Guidestar), and the “Best in America Seal of Excellence” from the Independent Charities of America. The College Fund was also named as one of the nation’s top 100 charities to the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. For more information about the American Indian College Fund, please visit collegefund.org.
Journalists—The American Indian College Fund does not use the acronym AICF. On second reference, please use the College Fund.
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Dina Horwedel American Indian College Fund 303-430-5350 dhorwedel@collegefund.org Colleen R. Billiot American Indian College Fund 720-214-2569 cbilliot@collegefund.org
