Contemporary Native American Education Issues in the United States: A Year in Review

Year 2007, Issue: 26, 91 - 106, 01.10.2007

Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert

Abstract

As immediate past president of the National Indian Education Association NIEA-2007-08 , I traveled throughout the country to promote and advance the educational issues pertinent to Native American students. My tenure as NIEA president and also professor of education at Northern Arizona University culminated with an invitation by the Turkish Coalition of America to tour Turkey along with several other participants, including other Native Americans and African Americans. The primary purpose of the tour was to promote cross-cultural exchanges between American Minority Serving institutions of higher learning and Turkey. The tour provided an opportunity to meet both Turkish and American dignitaries as well as Turkish university administrators, faculty and students. It is through this cultural exchange that I was invited to submit an article to the Journal of American Studies of Turkey highlighting contemporary issues in Native American education.

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