WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced the appointment of Edward F. Parisian as Director of the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). Parisian, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe of Montana, has served as OIEP’s deputy director since April 15, 2002. His new appointment is effective August 3, 2003.
“Ed Parisian is well known in Indian education for his leadership, experience and commitment to quality education,” Martin said. “I am pleased that he has accepted this new assignment to bring accountability and improvement to BIA schools.”
“I want to thank Acting Assistant Secretary Martin for this opportunity,” Parisian said. “I am committed to ensuring that all BIA-funded schools comply with the No Child Left Behind Act in holding schools accountable for their students’ academic performance.”
Parisian, 53, has over 25 years experience in Indian education, previously serving from 1990 to 1992 as BIA’s director of Indian Education Programs. From 1983 to 1990, he served as Superintendent of Schools on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana where he directed all phases of administration and supervision of a 472-student school system from Headstart through Grade 12. From 1992 to 1995, he served as superintendent of Heart Butte Schools on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. From 1995 to 2000, Parisian was CEO of the Rocky Boy Health Board where he had previously served as tribal health director and planner in 1980 and 1981. From 2000 to 2002, he was the Education Line Officer for the BIA’s Northern Pueblos Agency in New Mexico.
His teaching experience includes courses in human growth and development at Stone Child College and social studies at Browning (Mont.) Junior High School. He has also evaluated over 30 Indian education programs under Title IV and Title VII for school systems in North and South Dakota, Washington, D.C., Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Mississippi and Utah.
A native of Rocky Boy, Mont., Parisian holds an M.A. in educational administration from the University of South Dakota (1977), and a B.A. in physical education (1974) and an A.A. in liberal arts (1973) from Eastern Montana College. Since 1973, he has been a member of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), an association of American Indian and Alaska Native educators, where he served on the board of directors and from 1988 to 1989, as its president. In 1985, Parisian was named to Who’s Who in the West. In 1982, he was named one of the Outstanding Young Men of America, and Outstanding Indian Administrator by the Montana Indian Education Association. He is married and has two children. Note to Editors: A photo of Ed Parisian may be viewed via the Interior Department’s web site at www.doi.gov.
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