Theodore C. Krenzke, 44, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Cherokee Agency, North Carolina, for eight years, has been named Director of Indian Services of the entire Bureau, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. He will assume his duties in early June.
Krenzke's post is the third of five directorships - top jobs within the Bureau of Indian Affairs - to be filled.
"As Director of Indian Services, Krenzke will head Bureau functions related to social services, law enforcement, tribal government, housing, and activities concerning youth and the aged," Thompson said. "He will be responsible for the planning and formulation of major policy programs concerning Indian services through direction of professional staff. He will also advise me on these matters," Thompson indicated.
Krenzke holds a BA in sociology with a minor in business administration from Valparaiso University, Indiana, and a masters degree in social work from the University of Indiana.
He began his career with the Marion County Indiana Juvenile Court as a Probation Officer. After two years, he joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a social worker at the Blackfeet Agency. Two years later he accepted an offer to establish a treatment-oriented program for adolescent boys in a residential center --Dakota Boys Ranch, Minot, North Dakota. Starting as a social worker, he became executive director in charge of the overall program including public relations and fund raising.
In August 1960, Krenzke returned to the Bureau of Indian Affairs as supervisory social worker in the Juneau Area Office, Alaska, and in July 1963 he was promoted to Assistant Area Social Worker. In this capacity, he not only undertook the full range of administrative and casework duties in the social services program for the Native peoples of Alaska, he also took the lead in developing philosophy and training a staff in the community development approach to the Bureau's total Alaska program.
Because of his outstanding work in Alaska, Krenzke was selected to be Superintendent of the Cherokee Agency, North Carolina. Cherokee is the largest Federal Indian reservation in the Eastern United States, with programs that include a school kindergarten through grade 12 with 1,300 students, real property management, forestry activities, housing, social services, law and order, employment assistance, a 125-mile road system, and the general administrative and plant management program.
“Although Krenzke has had heavy administrative responsibilities,” said Thompson, "he has not allowed them to overshadow his main responsibility -- working with the tribal government. He had maintained-an unusually good and close relationship with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribal Council and the members of the Cherokee Tribe."
Krenzke is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Academy of Certified Social Workers. He is married to the former Helen Hospers and they have five daughters.
