Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson has assigned Curtis Geiogamah as the BIA Acting Director on the Navajo Reservation, pending the recruitment of a permanent appointee for the position.
Thompson said that the position has been advertised and that applications would be received through March 12. ''We expect to have many excellent applicants for this important position," the commissioner said. We will, of course, consult with the governing body before making a selection, but we hope to fill the vacancy promptly."
The former Area Director, Anthony Lincoln, was recently transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Southwest Regional Field Coordinator for the Bureau.
Geiogamah was Assistant Director for Administration in the Navajo Area Office from 1966 to 1972. He now holds that position in the Phoenix Area Office. A member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, he began working for the Bureau in 1949.
The Navajo Tribe is by far the largest United States Tribe embracing about 15 percent of the total Indian population. The reservation covers about 125,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
