Heritage University receives $6 million grant to start a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling degree program

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Heritage University receives $6 million grant to start a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling degree program

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University has been awarded a $6 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling (MMHC) program at Heritage. This initiative, known as the “Heritage University Consortium,” seeks to address the unprecedented mental health crisis that small, rural communities like the Yakama Indian Reservation and the Yakima Valley are facing. The program will train graduates to serve as mental health counselors for schools that are most in need.

Partners of the Heritage University Consortium include the Yakama Indian Nation and Educational Service District (ESD) 105 in Yakima, Wash. and will adopt a “grow-your-own” approach that recruits hard-to-reach populations from local high schools into Heritage University’s undergraduate Bachelor of Psychology and then into the soon-to-be MMHC graduate program. Graduates of the program will be eligible to serve as Licensed Mental Health Counselor-Associates in Washington state and will also qualify as Substance Use Disorder Professional Trainees.

Amy Nusbaum, Ph.D., Chair of the Psychology Department at Heritage, said the Yakama Nation and Yakima Valley schools who will benefit from this grant, have large numbers of students who suffer from the lack of adequate mental health counseling, which can lead to large academic achievement gaps. Dr. Nusbaum said research shows that students of color learn faster when they are not facing social, emotional, or mental health issues. “Our proposed solution is to create a new and innovative partnership that will address the urgent mental health needs that adversely impact the learning and well-being of the diverse students in our community,” said Dr. Nusbaum. “It will streamline and accelerate the outreach, recruitment and training of diverse mental health counselors, and we know that having a counselor that looks like you and is from a similar background increases the chances of therapeutic success.”

Nusbaum also says graduates may serve the general population by working in places such as Comprehensive Healthcare and Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, for example. “These innovative approaches capitalize on this unique opportunity to begin to solve our problem of shortages of local mental health professionals in our schools and communities,” Dr. Nusbaum said.

Enrollment for the MMHC program will begin next spring once accreditation is received, with classes starting in the fall of 2024. For more information contact Amy Nusbaum at nusbaum_a@heritage.edu. For help with securing interviews please contact Davidson Mance at mance_d@heritage.edu or (509) 969-6084.

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Noted Seattle lawyer starts scholarship to help Native American and Latinx students at Heritage University pursue law degrees.

Toppenish, Wash. – Arthur Dean Swanson, a Seattle-based lawyer, well respected in the state of Washington and throughout the United States, recently started a scholarship program at Heritage University to help Native American and Latinx students who plan to earn a law degree after graduation.

In the summer of 2022, a partnership between Washington’s three law schools, Seattle University School of Law, University of Washington School of Law, and Gonzaga University School of Law, and Heritage provided a 13-week course designed to make a law degree more accessible to Native American and Latinx students in central Washington. Titled the “Law School Admission Council Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars Program,” or LSAC PLUS Program and funded by the Law School Admission Council, it prepares students for the rigors of law school and a legal career. Mr. Swanson read about the LSAC PLUS Program in The Seattle Times and was inspired to start the scholarship with a $100,000 gift to Heritage. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a rising senior who plans to pursue a Juris Doctorate after graduation.

Mr. Swanson passed away in January, and now, his family is honoring his wishes by announcing the Arthur D. Swanson Scholarship at Heritage University. “When Arthur and I first started discussing how he could best support students, he related to me stories of his young life and law school experiences,” said David Wise, Heritage University VP of External Relations. “Those, coupled with his travels as a young man across several Indian reservations, convinced him of the nearly insurmountable odds students living on reservations have of earning a law degree. Students with very little frame of reference for the rigors of law school, let alone the financial resources to begin even exploring the possibility,” said Wise. “His resolve to shorten those odds resulted in the formation of this scholarship. He was so passionate about giving students the opportunity to become lawyers. We had plans for him to guest lecture on campus this coming summer. His passing is a crushing loss for all of us.”

Swanson was born April 19, 1934, in Onida, South Dakota, and his family moved to Long Beach, Washington. Art and his brother Don attended Valley High School in Menlo in Pacific County, Washington. Swanson graduated from Washington State University in 1956 after which he joined the United States Army. In 1963, he graduated from the University of Washington School of Law. He later served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office and as a Judge Pro-Tem in both Superior and District courts before opening his own practice. He was a past president for the Washington State Association for Justice, the Washington Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the Damage Attorneys Roundtable.

During his distinguished career, Swanson was a member of The American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America since 1991. He has been named a Washington Super Lawyer every year since 2003 and by Seattle Metropolitan magazine as one of Seattle’s Best Lawyers.

Mr. Swanson passed away on January 29, 2023, before the launch of the scholarship in his name. The Arthur D. Swanson Scholarship at Heritage University is open to additional contributions by visiting heritage.edu/donate, or by making a gift to the Office of Advancement at Heritage University, 3240 Fort Road, Toppenish, WA, 98948. The Arthur D. Swanson Scholarship will be awarded annually to Native American and/or Latinx senior-level students at the University who intend to pursue a law degree after graduation.

For more information, contact David Wise at wise_d@heritage.edu or (414) 788-0686.

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Heritage University to open new Tri-Cities location in Kennewick, Wash.

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University President Andrew Sund, Ph.D., has announced that the university will open a new location in downtown Kennewick, Wash. and begin offering freshman classes to students. The new site will admit its first freshman cohort at the new location for the fall 2023 academic year. The fall semester begins on August 21, 2023.

For the past twenty years, Heritage University has operated a regional site in the Tri-Cities on the Columbia Basin College campus in Pasco, Wash. This site offers transfer students an opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degrees in education, social work, criminal justice, psychology, and accounting. The new location in Kennewick will expand instruction in those fields to also serve freshmen and sophomore students. Additionally, the university will add a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the new location. Students attending Heritage University Tri-Cities will also have access to the nearly 40-degree programs offered by the university, including the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Biology, Computer Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Mathematics taught at its campus in Toppenish, Wash. “Students will have the opportunity to transfer seamlessly between the Tri-Cities and Toppenish, and some classes may be offered in a hybrid format where classes are delivered both in-class and online between both locations. The linkage between Toppenish and Tri-Cities will present a tremendous range of possibilities for students to study in their field of interest,” said Dr. Sund.

President Sund says the university’s decision to offer instruction to incoming first-year students in the Tri-Cities is a natural extension of the institution’s mission to make college accessible to anyone with the talent and drive to pursue a degree regardless of economics, culture, or geography. “We see this expansion in the Tri-Cities as a chance to enhance our collaboration with other higher education institutions, which has been a long-standing tradition in higher education. Our partnership with Columbia Basin College has been mutually beneficial for 20 years and will continue. I believe that our relationship will only get stronger over time,” said Dr. Sund. “We can work together to serve the people in the Tri-Cities who come from many backgrounds. Providing more choices for students is always better in higher education. Our goal is to increase the total number of students who graduate from college. Together we can increase the total college-going student population to benefit the entire community.”

Martin Valadez, the director of Heritage University’s regional site in the Tri-Cities, said this expansion will make it easier for students to achieve their dreams of pursuing a college degree. “Many Tri-Cities students are raising their families as they work several jobs, and we know they will benefit from having this additional opportunity to earn a four-year degree close to home.”

The new Heritage University Tri-Cities site is headquartered at the former Tri-City Herald building at 333 W. Canal Drive in Kennewick. Heritage will occupy parts of the building’s second floor with classrooms, offices, a reception lobby, study spaces and a break area. Administrators chose this site for its central location with easy access from all points in the Tri-Cities and proximity to services in downtown Kennewick. Heritage University Interim Provost Melissa Hill, Ph.D., said. “We are excited to play a larger role in the landscape of higher education in the Tri-Cities and be a part of revitalizing downtown Kennewick.”

For more information, contact Martin Valadez at Valadez_M@Heritage.edu or (509) 430-1081 or Davidson Mance at Mance_D@Heritage.edu or (509) 969-6084.

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Heritage University receives $350,000 grant award from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University today announced it is among 71 awardees that received a grant from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, which mobilizes financial resources for organizations focused on non-clinical interventions that affect a person’s health. Commonly known as the social determinants of health, these factors include an individual’s physical, social, cultural, and economic environment.

The grants, which total $22.7 million and will be disbursed over two years, were awarded with funding from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the AbbVie Foundation, and Eli Lilly and Co. to support underserved communities across the United States.

Heritage University received $350,000 from the Fund for Health Equity for its work to increase the number of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color) students who achieve a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in the Yakima Valley.

“We are pleased to bolster the indispensable work of Heritage University and other grassroots organizations striving to reduce disparities and increase equity in vulnerable populations across the United States,” said Dr. Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity and Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council. “It is a privilege to promote and support these organizations that are deeply connected to the communities they serve, know best what their patients and communities need, and the most effective means of providing it.”

Andrew Sund, Ph.D., President of Heritage University, expressed gratitude to Direct Relief for the funds to ensure Heritage’s efforts to contribute to a diversified nursing workforce. “A nursing workforce that closely represents the diverse makeup of the community it serves is able to provide culturally-sensitive healthcare that promotes recovery from trauma or illness to its patients,” said Dr. Sund.

The organizations in the latest round of funding were chosen for their efforts to enhance workforce diversification, reduce health disparities, and expand innovative models of care. A full list of winners can be found here.

The awardees were selected by the Fund for Health Equity’s Advisory Council, which includes the following members:

Co-Chair Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, 18th U.S. Surgeon General of the United States, Founder Bayou Clinic, Inc.

Co-Chair Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council

Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, RN, FACHE, President and CEO President of the National Black Nurses Association, Associate Professor the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Jane Delgado, Ph.D., MS, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

Gail Small, JD, Head Chief Woman, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Since the start of the Fund in 2021, more than $42.5 million has been provided to support 149 organizations across the U.S.

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