 Dacho Alexander |
We are honored to welcome two new members to the Center's Board of Directors: Dacho Alexander and Viviana Figueroa.
Dacho Alexander is a member of the small community of Fort Yukon, Alaska, where he works as an airplane mechanic and serves as a magistrate. A former first chief on the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich'in Tribal Council, Dacho has been a prominent critic of a proposed land exchange between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Doyon, a regional Native corporation based in Fairbanks. The land swap would open parts of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development, a move that an overwhelming majority of tribal governments and community members oppose. (Listen to NPR story.)
 Viviana Figueroa |
Viviana Figueroa, Kolla Indian from the Jujuy province of Argentina, is a lawyer completing her post-graduate degree in law and biodiversity at the University of Buenos Aires. As a member of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Viviana has been working to bring international attention to the critical human rights situations affecting Argentina's indigenous children, particularly their exclusion from educational opportunities. In many indigenous regions, 60 percent of children do not get past primary school. Viviana said government officials responsible for the educational system say they are respecting indigenous culture - that these children, for cultural reasons, must play all day.
 Norma Bixby |
 Dr. Henrietta Mann |
 Judi M. gaiashkibos |
We want to recognize the dedication and acheivements of Board member and State Representative Norma Bixby, who will complete her fourth term representing House District 41 in the Montana State Legislature. As the Director of Education for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and a lifelong advocate for education, Norma has been instrumental in helping champion Montana's "Indian Education for All," an effort to integrate the distinct and unique cultural heritage of American Indians in primary and secondary school curricula. (Read more about Indian Education for All)
Board member Dr. Henrietta Mann received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Indian Education Association in October, 2008. Henri called the award a "grand affirmation of the many, many years...spent in the trenches of Indian education just doing a job."
"It is especially heart-warming that this is coming at a time in my life when I can still enjoy it and all that it means, and that I have been selected from among the many who continue to labor on behalf of Indian students," she said.
Currently on leave from her position as professor emeritus in Native American Studies at Montana State University, Dr. Mann is serving as the inaugural president of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College in Weatherford, Okla.
Board member gaiashkibos asked us to share news that the Lincoln, Nebraska Human Rights Commission has recognized his wife, Judi M. gaiashkibos, with a special award for her work on behalf of indigenous people in Nebraska. gaiash wrote:
"Judi is the longest serving Executive Director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs and I am very proud of her accomplishments that often go unrecognized. In addition to all her hard work for our Indian people, she raised two wonderful daughters and received her masters degree in management with a leadership emphasis last December." She will teach a class entitled "Native Daughters" at the University of Nebraska School of Journalism in 2009.