ERIC Number: EJ1064210
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-May
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1052-5505
EISSN: N/A
Walking the Talk: The Balancing Act of Native Women Tribal College Presidents
Sorensen, Barbara Ellen
Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education, v26 n4 May 2015
American Indian women account for over half of tribal college and university (TCU) presidents. They are no strangers to positions of authority and respect. Indeed, many tribes follow matrilineal lines when establishing clan membership and participation. Today's Native women are carving out new public roles for themselves, providing leadership to their communities and families as well as their colleges. For many tribes, Native women are vitally important to tribal structure and organization- whether they are recognized or not. Native women often serve as gatekeepers of their nation's stories, economic systems, kinship lines, and sacred beliefs. By gleaning knowledge from tribal traditions and incorporating that knowledge into the present, American Indian women in leadership positions at TCUs are establishing new ways of guiding their people. Native women who are TCU presidents seem to walk in two worlds and draw from deep wellsprings of tradition. The easiest summation of how a Native woman can excel at something that demands full attention to complex, interconnected, and finely detailed tasks, is to become an expert at balancing. The balancing act takes a fair amount of self-examination and the ability to fully recognize who one is as a human being and how much one can actually accomplish.
Descriptors: College Presidents, Women Administrators, American Indians, Females, Self Evaluation (Individuals), Tribally Controlled Education, Tribes, Higher Education, Colleges, Values, Educational Objectives, American Indian Education
Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education. P.O. Box 720, Mancos, CO 81328. Tel: 888-899-6693; Fax: 970-533-9145; Web site: http://www.tribalcollegejournal.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A