KU News Release

Graduation stories: Native American student is first in family to earn bachelor’s

Talia Martin

LAWRENCE — When Talia Martin finished high school at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school on the Fort Hall, Idaho, Shoshone-Bannock reservation seven years ago, being a scientist seemed a dream — as did attending college.

As one of six children whose mother often worked two jobs to care for her family on the reservation, Martin remembers, “I had no guidance or clear path to go to college.”

On Sunday, May 20, Martin will receive a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Kansas and become the first in her family to earn a four-year degree.

The young scientist who did not study chemistry in high school is a graduating McNair scholar and has received a Self Graduate Fellowship at KU. She plans to earn a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry. Martin’s goals include working in the pharmaceutical industry as well as working with Native American communities to encourage others to study science.

“I feel I have a responsibility to give back to the community and future generations,” she said.

Her path to college began when a friend at Haskell Indian Nations University inspired Martin to leave a casino job on the Salt River Indian Reservation in Arizona and enroll at Haskell. Martin found a community at Haskell where she felt at home. She enrolled in her first chemistry class and knew she was in the right place.

Martin remembers that her Haskell chemistry professor, Dennis O’Malley, not only recognized her love of science but also that college can seem intimidating for students from reservation schools.

“If it wasn’t for his encouragement, I would not be involved in chemistry. He really understood how to get us involved and that Native American traditions are equally important in our education,” Martin said. “He wrote a recommendation letter for me to attend graduate school.”

Through the 500 Nations Bridge Program, a federally funded program at KU and Haskell that promotes diversity in biomedical research, Martin transferred to KU with an associate’s degree in natural sciences. She became a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and a participant of the Bioscience Initiative Program for Undergraduate Researchers. Both are federally funded programs to encourage graduate study among underrepresented groups.

The McNair program serves students whose families have low income, whose parents have not received four-year degrees or who represent groups underrepresented in graduate education. Martin met all three criteria.

The Bioscience Initiative program provides mentors and research experiences. Martin found mentors “who really want to see you succeed.” Her KU mentors have included C. Russell Middaugh, the Takeru and Aya Higuchi Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Rick Dowbrosky, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology; and Marian Hukle, program coordinator for the Biosciences Initiative. Martin noted that Middaugh also has Native American heritage — an eighth Arapahoe and an eighth Iroquois.

“Russ Middaugh has been a role model for me,” she said. “He set me up with really helpful graduate students. Marian Hukle helps me with every question I have. She really motivates me.”

Her earliest motivator however has been her mom, Kathy Martin in Fort Hall, Idaho. Kathy Martin has been a single mother for many years, raising six children, often relying on the oldest children to help care for the younger ones as she worked night jobs. Talia Martin has an older brother and sister and three younger brothers, including twins. One of her early memories is going to the public library with her mother who instilled her own passion for reading in her children.

“We’re all pretty independent, but all know we can depend on our mom,” Martin said.

Her mother is Shoshone-Bannock and Japanese. Her father is African-American. The family lived in Utah until Martin was about 10 years old. As an elementary student Martin remembers being puzzled about her identity. “I just knew I was different.”

When her mother returned to the Fort Hall Indian reservation, where Martin’s maternal grandfather, a second generation Japanese-American World War II veteran, and other relatives were living,

“It was the first time in my life that I felt I belonged with these people in this place,” she said. “I met family members who looked like me. I didn’t feel so divided.”

Although her mother’s family immediately accepted and welcomed them at Fort Hall, Martin noted that multicultural heritage children can be subject to discriminatory behavior by classmates in reservation schools. Despite this behavior, “I never felt like I did not belong on the reservation.”

Martin also never felt that she couldn’t be a scientist. She just needed to find a path.

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