Thirty-three Students Honored as Student of the Year
March 19, 2013
Dr. Joe McDonald serving as the emcee and host of the annual awards banquet.
The American Indian College Fund honored 33 American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2012-13 Student of the Year reception at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The program, sponsored by the Adolph Coors Foundation, awarded each honoree a $1,000 scholarship.
Dr. David Gipp, President of United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) in Bismarck, North Dakota, was also awarded as the Tribal College Leader Award. Dr. Gipp has been president since 1977. He is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Dr. Gipp worked with and served on the board of UTTC during its founding days from 1969-1972. His professional work has been principally in the development of tribal colleges. He was instrumental in developing the first national legislation (enabled in 1978) which assists “tribally controlled community colleges and universities” and has extensive background in higher education, career and technical education. UTTC is an intertribal model which was founded by the five tribes located in part or all of North Dakota and their leaders in the late 1960s. It serves, on average, more than 1,100 adults and 500 children and is one of the most unique educational models in the country, serving many diverse tribes. UTTC also has three early childhood centers and a K-8 elementary school (Theodore Jamerson Elementary School) on its campus serving the children of the adult students.
The 33 tribal college students of the year for 2012-13 are as follows:
- Aaniiih Nakoda College, Lilly Standing Bear
- Bay Mills Community College, Cody Jodoin
- Blackfeet Community College, Leticia Diaz Chavez
- Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Darcy Smith
- Chief Dull Knife College, Lloydine Runsabove
- College of Menominee Nation, Lucille Martin
- Diné College, Mariah Ashley
- Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Jane Deverney
- Fort Berthold Community College, Tanya Driver
- Fort Peck Community College, Brooklyn McGarry-Greene
- Haskell Indian Nations University, Tyler Levier
- Ilisagvik College, Myrna Sarren
- Institute of American Indian Arts, Crystal Worl
- Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Tribal College, Alicia Paquin
- Lac Courte Oreilles Community College, Ronald Quaderer
- Leech Lake Tribal College, Lucas Bratvold
- Little Big Horn College, Amanda Not Afraid
- Little Priest Tribal College, Anthony Yellowbank
- Navajo Technical College, Sherwin Becenti
- Nebraska Indian Community College, LaDonna Carillo
- Northwest Indian College, Sheila McCoy
- Oglala Lakota College, Vaughan Vargas
- Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, Gilberto Franco
- Salish Kootenai College, Neil McGill
- Sinte Gleska University, Nellie Two Elk
- Sisseton-Wahpeton College, Brian Kurrash, Jr.
- Sitting Bull College, Jessica Lester
- Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Randall Sahmie
- Stone Child College, Rosalie Eastman
- Tohono O’odham Community College, Marcus Lee
- Turtle Mountain Community College, Vincent J. Grant
- United Tribes Technical College, Alvin Iron Cloud
- White Earth Tribal and Community College, Anthony Villebrun
