From Your Director

19 March 1997

Hello from the denizens of the Lower Level of Dakota Hall. One thing about our location, during the summer it's cool down here, during the winter it stays cozy. We've had our share of extreme weather, snow and melting, then ice, so this school year I've had a little fun with it. I very facetiously greet colleagues: hello from Lake SoDak at Vermillion.

School year 1996 ended right at the beginning of weather misery, continued into the new year and caused difficulties in class scheduling and school cancellations. That did not stop the Tiyospaye Club, chaired this year by Mr. Kevin Abourezk, in their endeavors to stage this year's annual Indian Awareness Days and Wacipi. I have not received the week's schedule of events (some events have trickled into the Institute), but the 25th Annual USD Wacipi with this year's theme, "HONORING THE PEOPLE," will happen on Saturday & Sunday, April 5-6, 1997. Activities will occur as follows:

Place: Vermillion High School, 1001 East Main, Vermillion, South Dakota
Grand Entry: Saturday--1:00 & 7:00 p.m., Sunday--1:00 p.m.
Registration: 12 noon, Saturday, April 5th

For information about Vendor Space call Mr. Abourezk, 605.624.8938
For Specials contact Mr. Mike Her Many Horses, 605.867.5793

Ms. Deanne Bear Catches, president of the University's American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) Club announces a panel discussion, entitled "Entrepreneurial Enterprises for Tribal People."

Place: Hoy B, Coyote Student Center, University of South Dakota
Time: 1-3 p.m.
When: Tuesday, April 1, 1997

For information contact Ms. Bear Catches at 605.624.6934

The Spring gathering and dance is always a special time for students, parents, relatives, alumni, and the University and Vermillion communities. It is an outstanding opportunity for class reunions, to meet former classmates, make new friends, introduce the next generation of potential college students to the University campus, and encourage them to participate in activities staged by present-day students. You are cordially invited to come over to Vermillion and enjoy yourself with us.

I will attempt to keep this website updated as information about the University's Indian Awareness Days becomes available.

Much has occurred in the design competition and deliberations of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Advisory Committee and National Park Service Support Team. All the timelines progressed well: we had a little over fifty per cent mail-in of designs from nearly 1,100 registrants. That is gratifying. Research indicated that in similar design competitions, design submissions rarely exceed thirty-three per cent. I invite you to visit that site for further information.

One of the goals I set myself when I came aboard as director of the Institute in January 1990, was finding a way to put an Indian Studies Major in the University of South Dakota's undergraduate program. I am happy to announce that this is close to becoming a reality. We, John Day, Norma Wilson, Leroy Meyer, Meg Quintal, and others are working with Black Hills State's John Glover, Jace DeCory, and Ronnie Theisz to expand the "existing American Indian Studies (AIS) Minor Programs into a Major Program to be offered cooperatively" by our respective institutions. We will be meeting in Spearfish on 18-19 April 1997 to discuss further details. For the University, we will be offering several new courses that introduce students to the study of American Indians.

Indexing and cataloging work continues on the American Indian Research Project and South Dakota Oral History Project. Bruce Chandler, Beverly Fortner, Fern Marvin, and Michaelene Christiansen are continually upgrading computer programs and entering data. I look forward to one of these days in the near future publishing an Index that will aid researchers and inform the general public about the wonderful stories housed in the South Dakota Oral History Project. Nicolette Simon, Ursula Kennedy, and Robert Quannah Penn continue to transcribe tapes from the projects. Terri Crawford is working for the Institute this semester as an office assistant. Shari Bell, while continuing to maintain her position on the Dean's List for academic excellence, is busy preparing an overview of northern plains Sioux reservations and reserves for a presentation next month at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research program at the University of Texas, in Austin, Texas. It has been enlightening for all our edification; we learned that the Great Sioux Nation crosses state and international boundaries, we have relatives living in Minnesota, South and North Dakota, Montana, and Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. That is only reservations and reserves; we have not put together demographic populations that include the urban sector.

Occasionally the Institute is blessed to host outside scholars who come here to enhance their learning. This month we are happy to announce that Mr. Edward Valandra, graduate student from the State University of New York, Buffalo, has recently joined us. Mr. Valandra, whose father is a former director of the Institute of American Indian Studies, has completed his written examinations for the Ph.D. degree and is researching information for his dissertation. Mr. Valandra earned his undergraduate degree from Mankato State University and Master of Arts from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Margaret "Meg" Quintal, administrative assistant, continues to keep busy with a myriad of duties and committees. I fear that we could be accused of generating enough paperwork to fell several trees this last year. We attempt to use recyclable paper--and we are beginning to use cyberspace, to alleviate any forthcoming charges!

Look forward to hearing from you. If you are in our neighborhood, drop over, drink some coffee and pass on some keyapi. We'll get it on the ole moccasin telegraph. Until then, I remain, with respect,

Mitakuye Oyasin--All My Relatives.

Telephone: 605.677.5209 Electronic mail: bruguier@usd.edu

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