When students graduate from a tribal college or university (TCU), everyone in the community celebrates. They recognize the sacrifices the students have made, juggling their responsibilities as students, parents, and community members. Many people have contributed to this success, including the tribal college presidents. Eight tribal college presidents were interviewed for this article, and all eight say unequivocally that “seeing students graduate” is the most rewarding aspect of their work.

In the interviews, the presidents discussed their goals, the challenges they face every day, and the experiences that prepared them for their positions. The eight TCU presidents represent over 121 years of combined experience. On average, these TCU presidents held their position for 15 years. Three shorter-term presidents and five longer-term presidents were interviewed:

• David Gipp (Hunkpapa/Lakota Standing Rock), United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, ND): 32 years as president

• Joe McDonald, Ed.D. (Salish/Pend d’Oreille/Kootenai), Salish Kootenai College (Pablo, MT): 29 years as president

• Tom Shortbull (Oglala-Lakota), Oglala Lakota College (Kyle, SD): 18 years as president

• Marie Smallface-Marule (Blood), Red Crow Community College (Cardston, Alberta): 17 years as president

• Verna Fowler, Ph.D. (Menominee/Stockbridge-Munsee), College of Menominee Nation (Keshena, WI): 16 years as president

• Marlin Spoonhunter (Northern Arapaho), Wind River Tribal College (Ethete, WY): 4 years as president

• Olivia Vanegas-Funcheon (Tohono O’odham), Tohono O’odham Community College (Sells, AZ): 3.5 years as president

• Linda Sue Warner, Doctorate in General Administration (Comanche), Haskell Indian Nations University (Lawrence, KS): 2 years as president

The presidents face formidable challenges to get their students to graduation day. Often located in the poorest communities in the nation, the TCUs serve first-generation students who are juggling their studies with their family and financial responsibilities. Research documents the public educational system’s inability to address these complex needs.

In these interviews, the presidents said they struggle continually with sustaining funding, politics (federal and tribal), and personnel issues. They also mentioned the difficulties involved with being accountable to accreditation agencies and funders, which require sophisticated data and information management systems.

New grants, new staff, new ideas, and staff turnover make institutional processes more daunting as the TCU must train or re-train the workforce. Everyone must adjust to new funding streams, new programs, changing accreditation processes, and/or data requirements. All the shorter-term presidents stated that the politics associated with change and long-term employees’ resistance to institutional change were particularly daunting.

EDUCATION FOR TWO WORLDS

TCUs strive to combine the best of both worlds (tribal and Western) for their students. Often this creates tension. Must they sacrifice elements of one world to satisfy the other? Do they have to leave cultural rigor behind to have academic rigor?

Maintaining a healthy balance between the two is critical to the success of the TCU president and the organization, according to the presidents who were interviewed. They want to develop Indigenous students who can serve both tribal and non-tribal communities with new skills and abilities.

To do this, the TCUs employ various strategies. They work with elders on new initiatives; develop new relationships between Indians and non-Indians; expand strategic partnerships between Indian and non-Indian organizations; and create curriculum that meets academic standards and includes rich Indigenous content.

The presidents say it is important for them and their colleges to understand the local communities and their traditions. Community knowledge includes political, social, and family. Traditional knowledge includes the ancient cultural and linguistic foundations of contemporary traditional tribal people.

Practicing their own or the community’s culture greatly influences their work and provides guidance during difficult times. Wind River Tribal College President Spoonhunter has a Master’s Degree in Education. When he needs support and guidance, he turns to the “elders and the guys that have been around for years.”

TCU presidents see this connection as part of their job to keep in close contact with the community through social, cultural, and/or professional events. This regular contact helps them serve as more effective presidents because they understand the real needs of the students, families, and communities they serve.

Haskell Indian Nations University President Warner says the community of tribal college presidents encourages her when she attends American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) board meetings.

Salish Kootenai College President McDonald gets involved through singing and drumming and dancing at powwows – “even when I wasn’t very good at it.” By watching McDonald’s efforts, students see that learning is not necessarily easy, even for the president.

TCU presidents say that their tribal colleges’ successes have resulted from their teams’ efforts, not just from the presidents as individual leaders. This communal credit concept derives from traditional Indigenous teachings.

TCU community celebrations often include traditional prayers, music, and elders who share stories or lead ceremonies. The colleges sponsor social powwows. They sometimes use traditional designs for their buildings and decorate them with tribal artwork. For special events, they frequently serve traditional foods and give traditional gifts. The TCUs use words from their Native languages in their curriculum and other materials and in their community outreach events.

At times traditional and contemporary practices clash with one another. For example, traditional prayers technically are outlawed or strongly discouraged in public schools, but TCU elders often sing or say prayers to begin and end special events.

Three of the presidents mentioned conflicts over personnel management. McDonald says, “If there is a funeral, family event, community event, or ceremony (traditional), it may take more time for us to do than what the policy and procedures allow.” Colleges now are developing policies that provide paid time off for participation in ceremonies or celebrations. For example, the College of Menominee Nation created a traditional tribal holiday without adding to the number of annual days off by changing President’s Day to Sachem’s Day.

The colleges are financially supported and monitored by government agencies and private foundations and must meet their requirements. But the TCUs must also meet the expectations of the tribal governments that charter them and help support them. Tohono O’odham Community College President Vanegas-Funcheon says “the tension is constant” between Western accreditation standards and being tribal, culturally based institutions.

TCU presidents agree that as their institutions mature, they are discovering more common ground between Western and traditional cultures. For example, AIHEC is combining Western notions of evaluation and Indigenous concepts of assessment through their “Indigenous Evaluation Framework.” It builds on Indigenous ways of knowing, values, and protocols as well as evaluation theory discourse. (See TCJ, Vol. 18, No. 2 or https://tribalcollegejournal.org// themag/backissues/winter2006/winter2006rg.htm)

PREPARING TO BE A TCU PRESIDENT

The eight presidents took various paths to arrive at their current positions. Some decided to devote their lives to Indian education because of their experiences with the educational or the political system, some positive and some negative.

Asked how they prepared for their current responsibilities, five of them cited “on the job” experience. Most of the presidents grew with their institutions, serving as the president for most if not all of the college’s life. Two (Dr. Verna Fowler and Marie Smallface-Marule) are the founding presidents – the only president their colleges have ever had. The five longerterm presidents have served an average of 23 years at colleges that are 32 years old, on average. (The shorter-term presidents have served an average 3.2 years at colleges that are 18 years old.)

Three say their experiences in other positions before they became presidents were critical to their professional development. Six of the TCU presidents held a position at a TCU prior to becoming president, most often in management or administration. United Tribes Technical College President Gipp had the longest background in the Tribal College Movement. He served as the first permanent executive director of AIHEC from 1973 until 1977, when there were only six tribal colleges.

Red Crow Community College President Smallface- Marule says she learned how to be a political advocate for Native people working in Canada with a national political association, the National Indian Brotherhood. Her mentor was Grand Chief George Manual, president of the Brotherhood in the 1970s. She says, “He was one of our greatest First Nations statesmen.” She served as his executive assistant and later as the executive director of the brotherhood.

Smallface Marule was one of the first Aboriginal women to earn her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Alberta where she completed her master’s course work in anthropology. Her negative experience at mainstream institutions motivates her – “it helped solidify my conviction that we cannot go in that same direction, emulating those non- Indian institutions.”

Oglala Lakota College President Shortbull believes that his experiences as a state senator in South Dakota have helped him to advocate for and raise money for his college. He is a graduate of the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government and a Master of Arts in Government with an emphasis in public administration.

College of Menominee President Fowler credits her upbringing in a political family. From the time that she was three or four years old, her mother would take her to Menominee General Council meetings, which often lasted all day. “People were talking Menominee, some were talking English …, and I would sit there being quiet,” she says. “Pretty much my whole family has been involved in tribal politics.” When she wrote her dissertation on tribal college presidents (Leadership of American Indian Presidents of Accredited Tribally Chartered Community Colleges, 1992), she found that other presidents also generally came from families who were politically involved on their reservations.

Tohono O’odham Community College President Vanegas- Funcheon was the only one of the eight presidents who was groomed for the job by the tribe. The Tohono O’odham Nation wanted a qualified tribal member as president. (She holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering.) The tribe first hired Dr. Richard Duran from a nearby community college as its founding president in 1999, followed by Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee) as its second president in 2001. She worked closely with Martin as the vice president of administrative services for several years. In 2004 she was named special assistant to the president, a year before she became the president.

Fowler has a process at College of Menominee Nation to prepare a successor if she ever retires. For years she has been teaching her leadership team about transparency, respect, and accountability to a larger organizational purpose. Her confidence is evident. “This group of people knows and understands and has a sense of the college’s history… so they understand the workings of it.”

Formalized training and certification can also be important. TCU presidents need many of the same skills that other university executives need: organizational leadership/ administration, higher education operations, financial management, and personnel management.

Vanegas-Funcheon went through a special leadership/mentorship program funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that AIHEC developed in conjunction with other minority serving institutions to serve the special needs of their institutions (see sidebar). “It was very helpful,” she says. “That helped me help the president.” Martin and she would discuss what she had learned in the program. Martin also sent her to the Harvard Institute for two weeks. Now she sends two of her staff to the institute per year to get leadership training.

All of the eight tribal college presidents have one or more college degrees from non-Indian institutions. However, most of them noted that while their Western educational training and degree programs are important, they need to be modified on the job to meet the professional, cultural, and educational needs of a TCU.

Smallface says that this contextualized leadership development process “begins with a grounding in your own language and culture.” She says, “This is critical to developing or managing a First Nation’s institution for the benefit of your community.”

Western educational leadership certificate and terminal degree often do not address issues of sovereignty and other tribal topics that have significant legal, educational, and cultural ramifications within the larger field of higher education.

Six of the TCU presidents say this should be changed. An Indigenous organization (such as a TCU or the American Indian Higher Education Consortium) could provide a certificate or terminal degree in the area of Indigenous leadership. Such a program could include the Indigenous worldview as well as local or regional cultural, linguistic, community, and/or tribal governmental aspects. United Tribes Technical College President Gipp says the information we already possess should be used to “develop and promote our own traditional base of knowledge into curricular forms.”

These TCU presidents also suggested a Junior Academy for TCU students, staff, or faculty interested in TCU presidency; TCU presidential mentorships, internships, apprenticeships, or exchanges; funding to support academic discussions and development of leadership programs; documentation and evaluation of existing Indigenous leadership programs to understand best practices; and collaboration with strategic Western program partners that have a well-established leadership program to develop a strong Indigenous leadership.

Often the most important preparation for being president is internal. Haskell Indian Nations University President Warner, who has a doctorate in general administration, was associate vice chancellor for a regent center in Tennessee before Haskell hired her. She was in charge of six universities, thirteen community colleges, and twenty-six tech centers.

Her advice to people who are going to be presidents? “It is going to be hard work and personally taxing. You just have to stay focused on what is important. The reason I can go home and sleep at night is because I know I am being accountable, respectful, cooperative, and honest.”

CONCLUSION

The eight presidents discussed several characteristics of an effective TCU president, which may provide ideas for future presidents.

• Ground yourself with a rigorous understanding of the basics of organizational administration, human resource management, financial operations, and fundraising/development. Being able to apply that to the unique organizational requirements of TCUs will enhance your impact.

• Be a hard worker, knowledgeable about the communities you serve. Understand how TCU and Indian education work from a historical perspective as well as contemporary practice.

• Get experience at a TCU, seek training or professional involvement in Indian higher education groups, find a mentor, read about TCUs, and learn about the TCU’s impacts within a community.

• Communicate effectively. Understand political communication, be a good listener, receive critical feedback, and understand or utilize linguistic and cultural practices.

• Learn “soft” skills such as conflict resolution, community building, coalition development, strategic thinking, and being a change agent.

• Develop your own core leadership values. Having strong core values isn’t enough, however. You must be clear about your values and make connections between them and other institutional and cultural values (Western and/or traditional). Have the courage to make decisions based on those values.

United Tribes Technical College President Gipp offers a final bit of advice. He says, “You always have to be an optimist… and you must have a strong belief in people. If you don’t have a vision of hope at all times, then you are in the wrong business.”

Nicole Bowman (Mohican/Munsee) is currently collecting data to complete her Ph.D. dissertation in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her Indian name is Wecheewii neewa waapalaneexkweew (Accompanied by the Four Eagles). She is the founder/president of Bowman Performance Consulting (www.nbowmanconsulting.com), a national, Indigenous, scientific research, and evaluation firm. She serves as an academic journal review board member for the Journal of American Indian Education, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, and New Directions in Evaluation.

For more information, see the article in TCJ Vol. 19, No. 1 by M.A. Pember about tribal college presidents who graduated from tribal colleges. In TCJ Vol. 13, No. 4, nine TCU presidents discussed how political influences from inside and outside the community impacted the TCU’s organizational operations, board governance, and workforce activities.