UW American Indian Studies Program Recognizes Students |
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(Editors: Please note local names.)
May 25, 2005 -- State Rep. Patrick Goggles, a University of Wyoming alumnus, was the keynote speaker during a recent UW American Indian Studies (AIS) Program celebration honoring its 2005 graduates and next year's scholarship recipients.
"I know your struggle but you made it -- I made it," Goggles said, noting his Northern Arapaho heritage. "My training at UW helps me today. Native American people, we are reclaiming our heritage in academia and in the workplace."
Goggles is only the second American Indian to be elected to the Wyoming State Legislature. Elected in 2004, he finished his first general session in March. He serves rural Fremont County and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
"I see myself as a pioneer," Goggles said. "I expect other Native Americans to follow as representatives in the state house and possibly a senate position. However, at the end of the day, we all work for the citizens of Wyoming."
Stating that students need to be careful about "decision making," Goggles said, "If you make the decision to please everyone, you will fail."
Oliver Walter, dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences, welcomed tribal leaders and representatives from the Arapaho and Shoshone nations. The music group, Little Sun Drum of Ethete, performed throughout the event. Burton Hutchinson of the Northern Arapaho Tribe said opening and closing prayers.
Judy Antell, AIS Program director, says the 13-year-old event is for "reflection and celebration." She and other faculty members recognized the 2005 AIS graduates and presented them with blankets.
Graduates, listed by hometown and major, are:
ARAPAHOE -- Susan Crazythunder, social science.
BUFFALO GAP, S.D. -- Ross Cuny, rangeland ecology and watershed management.
ETHETE -- Andrea Clifford, public administration.
FORT WASHAKIE -- Elaine Elliott, family and consumer sciences.
GILLETTE -- Sonja St. Claire, business administration.
GLENROCK -- Tanaya Moon Morris, counselor education.
LAME DEER, MONT. -- Shawn Shelley, zoology and physiology.
LANDER -- Kiersten Collins, communications.
RIVERTON -- Terry Cottenoir, geology and geophysics; Georgerene Russell, natural science.
ROCK RIVER -- Cat Woman Morningstar, interdisciplinary studies.
Scholarships for the 2005-06 academic year were awarded from the AIS program, the Northern Arapaho Endowment and the Chief Washakie Memorial Awards.
The AIS program awards include the Frank and Cynthia McCarthy Scholarship, the John and Ada Thorpe Scholarship and the Robert W. Winner Memorial Scholarship. These gifts are available to all members of any tribal nation who are accepted to UW and enrolled full-time.
The Northern Arapaho Endowment, established in 1987 by a $500,000 gift from the Northern Arapaho Nation and matched by the state of Wyoming, is valued at more than $2 million. The endowment has "paid out more than $1 million in scholarships to 67 Northern Arapaho students at UW," according to John Nutter, assistant to the UW vice president of student affairs.
"Forty of these student have earned UW degrees, while many are still enrolled," Nutter said.
The Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarships are supported through an endowment created when the Chief Washakie Foundation donated $200,000 to UW in 2003. The gift was matched by the Wyoming State Legislature as part of UW's "DISTINCTION: The Campaign for Wyoming's University."
The Washakie scholarship recipients are a "diverse group of students, including Outreach School women and men, undergraduate and graduate students, and American Indians and non-American Indians," according to Nutter.
Scholarship recipients, listed by hometown and major, are:
BERTHOUD, COLO. -- Skott Vigil, history graduate student, Frank and Cynthia McCarthy Scholarship.
ETHETE -- Jola Wallowing Bull, architectural engineering senior, Northern Arapaho Scholarship; Aldora White, curriculum and instruction graduate student, Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarship.
FORT WASHAKIE -- Josephine Bell, health education junior; Michelle Dunlap, nursing sophomore; Elaine Elliott, American studies graduate student; Anthony "Mike" Enos, accounting senior; Brooke Enos, elementary education senior; Peggan Hines, business administration sophomore, all Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarships; and Amanda LeClair, Lander Valley High School senior, entering English student, Frank and Cynthia McCarthy Scholarship.
KINNEAR -- Sylvia McKee, social work graduate student, Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarship; Vonda Wells, education, curriculum and instruction doctorate student, Northern Arapaho Scholarships.
LANDER -- Joshua Cox, agricultural business junior, and Reinette Curry, elementary education junior, both Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarships; Blanche Friday, interdisciplinary doctoral student and Aldora "Dodie" White, curriculum and instruction graduate student, both Northern Arapaho Scholarships.
LARAMIE -- Melissa Elk, art education senior, Northern Arapaho Scholarship.
RINCON, GA. -- Courtney Burns, political science junior, Robert W. Winner Memorial Scholarship.
RIVERTON -- Harold "Jake" Bell, history senior, Yolanda Hvizdak, women's studies senior, and Deanna Williams, business administration senior, all Northern Arapaho Scholarships; Chelsy Cottnoir, elementary education junior, Jan Keith, psychology senior, and Jeff Madrigal, criminal justice senior, all Chief Washakie Memorial Scholarships.
ST. STEPHENS -- Susanna Armajo, social science senior, Northern Arapaho Scholarship.
WORLAND -- Leslie Wheeless, nursing junior, John and Ada Thorpe Scholarship.
For more information, call the UW American Indian Studies Program office at (307) 766-6521.
Posted on Wednesday, May 25, 2005
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