Yet some 15 years later, Benally has a doctoral degree in environmental toxicology under her belt and is teaching science and chemistry at the community college where she earned her technical degree. Following her high school graduation in 1977, Benally enrolled in the Tsaile Navajo Community College in eastern Arizona, earned an associate degree, and found a job as a medical lab technician. The work got monotonous after a few years, however. "I got bored with it," she says. "You were capable of doing more, but because of the lack of education, the opportunities weren't there."
Benally is one of only 36 American Indians who earned doctoral degrees in the sciences in 1990, according to figures compiled by the National Science Foundation. With a population of about 1.7 million (comprising members of more than 300 tribes), American Indians make up only about 0.7 percent of the population of the United ...
