LEADERSHIP FELLOWS. Selected for the 2004-2005 program are (back row, left to right) David Oreiro, Olivia Vanegas-Funcheon, Haven Gourneau, Elmer Guy, and Roxann Bighorn. Front row: Ron LaDue, Chad Waukechon, Carmen Taylor, Teresa Dorsett, and Douglas Lohnes.

Ron Ladue’s future didn’t seem very bright when as a young man he dropped out of high school.

But LaDue, now the head development officer at Blackfeet Community College in northern Montana, buckled down and earned a GED (General Equivalency Degree) in 1975. He also decided he wouldn’t stop there.

A member of Montana’s Chippewa-Cree Tribe, LaDue later completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Montana, and a Master’s Degree in Adult, Community, and Higher Education from Montana State University. He’s now working on his dissertation for a doctorate degree.

His many academic achievements helped convince Blackfeet Community College President Terrence Whitright (Blackfeet) to nominate him for the second cohort of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s (AIHEC) Leadership Program.

The program is designed to prepare a new generation of senior-level leaders for AIHEC’s 35-member tribal colleges and universities, where an increasing number of long-term administrators are leaving after decades of service.

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation funds the leadership program with a four-year, $6 million grant to the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education. The alliance is a unique collaboration of AIHEC, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (which represents the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Deborah His Horse Is Thunder (Assiniboine) directs the AIHEC Leadership Program. “Too often leadership programs have been designed by others, but this one was designed by one of our own,” AIHEC Executive Director Gerald Gipp (Hunkpapa Lakota) says.

The program’s goal is to have 30 fellows annually – 10 from each of the three minority education organizations — complete the year-long training sessions. The participants are deans, professors, administrators, vice presidents, and others seeking to expand their skills and broaden their professional horizons.

Last year, the 2003-04 institute included six sessions focusing on the history and purpose of minority-serving institutions, financial management and fundraising, tribal sovereignty, cultural issues, academic achievement, and governing boards and program development.

The fellows teamed up with current school presidents and other top administrators who served as mentors. The 2003-04 class also traveled to Mexico to learn about global higher education systems and to examine accessibility issues for that country’s large indigenous population. Other seminars took place at two tribal colleges, a Historically Black college and a Hispanic institution. Nine fellows “graduated” from the inaugural phase of the program in late July.

Ten participants are enrolled in this year’s AIHEC program. Along with LaDue, the others are:

• Roxann Bighorn (Fort Peck Tribes), director of the Career Ladder Teacher Training Program at Fort Peck Community College in Poplar, MT;
• Haven Gourneau (Fort Peck Tribes and Oglala Lakota), financial director at Fort Peck Community College;
• Teresa Dorsett (Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma), student support services coordinator at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM;
• Olivia Vanegas-Funcheon (Tohono O’odham), special assistant to the president at Tohono O’odham Community College in Sells, AZ;
• Elmer Guy (Navajo), vice president of academic and student services, Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Crownpoint, NM;
• Douglas Jay Lohnes (Spirit Lake Nation of Dakota Sioux), agriculture and natural resources instructor at Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten, ND;
• David Oreiro (Lummi), vice president of the Center for Tribal Prosperity at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, WA;
• Carmen Taylor (Salish-Kootenai), executive director of the National Indian School Board Association in Polson, MT;
• and Chad Waukechon (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), interim director of education, outreach, and extension services at the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI.

LaDue says tribal colleges and universities provide access to higher education for a very rural population and help preserve tribal cultures and languages, as well as serve as catalysts for economic development. He urges tribal students to continue pursuing their educations however they can – just like he did. “In the face of all odds you have to say, ‘I’m going to do this, no matter what.’”

Graduates of the 2003-04 leadership program included: Phil Baird, dean of vocational and academic programs at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, ND; Wannetta Bennett, sponsored programs officer at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, ND; Patricia Brzezinski, faculty member in the Tribal Legal Studies program at the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI; Venida Chenault, academic vice president at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS; Ida Downwind, acting vice president of academics at Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, MN; Devona Lone Wolf, support services coordinator at Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, SD; Valerie Montoya, special programs administrator at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM; Maggie Necefer, vice president for academic and student programs at Diné College in Tsaile, AZ; and Charlene Teters, professor of studio arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM.

Ron Selden is a freelance writer and photographer based in Helena, MT, and a frequent contributor to Tribal College Journal.