S U M M A R Y of P R O F E S S I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E S
As Director of Talent Search at Northwest Indian College, I wrote and currently administer the $750,000 grant. This inovative program involves twelve public and/or tribal schools, and six reservations in Washington State. It is a part of the National TRIO programs and is designed to encourage low-income and first generation people between the ages of 11 and 27 to graduate from school and to go to college. Our program is unique because Elder's from the communities they are serving are our primary counselor's to do this work.
As the Director of the Office of Admissions/Recruitment at Northwest Indian College, I developed a program that raised the enrollment of the campus over 30% each year I was in this position.
As Interim Senior Counselor in the American Indian Learning Resource Center, I provided personal and academic counseling to American Indian Students at the University of Minnesota; assisted American Indian students in obtaining university, state, federal, and tribal funds; developed retention programs; helped student organizations to create social and cultural programming; and established a caring, supportive environment.
My primary responsibility as Coordinator of Intergroup Relations with the Office of Multicultural Affairs for six years was to advocate for students, faculty, and staff of color experiencing problems of racial discrimination at the University of Oregon. I also provided counseling and assistance with personal, financial, identity, employment and other issues. I created, supervised and/or assisted with all welcoming programs, the ethnic student union programming, student recognition ceremonies, a multicultural forum scholar series, the mentoring program, the cross-cultural residence hall programming, developing funding sources for students of color, etc.
In my position as Coordinator of Special Projects for the Office of the Dean of Students, I work directly in the area of student development programs and have an understanding of the relationships of these broader programs to the specific area of multicultural education. I assisted with emergency intervention for any university student. As Coordinator of the On-Campus Internship Program for two years, I administered the coordination, implementation, and evaluation of a campus-wide work experience program. I coordinated fall new student orientation programs throughout the campus involving working with over 60 sponsoring student and faculty groups offering over 350 programs.
As Case Manager for the largest civil rights case in the United States, I developed a greater understanding of discrimination and I organized great volumes of information.
I have been teaching in one form or another since 1965: from working in the pilot project of the HEADSTART program, to teaching community courses to culturally diverse groups with a community action group, to teaching art in the public schools, to having a Graduate Teaching Fellowship in graduate school, to teaching teachers in a variety of disciplines as academic faculty, to conducting workshops on cultural diversity and co-teaching courses relating to multicultural education as administrative faculty. All of these positions require excellent skills in organizing groups, developing and directing programs, coordinating services and supervising activities.
As Director of the Art Education Program at Oregon State University for many years, I developed positive administrative skills and worked with a broad range of organizations impacting the education of children including the teacher's standards and practices commission and the state legislature.
As a community member, I believe in coalition building and have a strong background in founding committees to resolve issues.
As an artist and art educator, I am proud to say that I made a living in the field of art for almost twenty years. I consider the visual impact of almost all the products of my work whether they are life-size portraits or notes from a staff meeting. I believe in art as a conceptual tool for social change.
