James E. Hawkins, a former teacher and administrator in Indian and Eskimo schools, was named today to fill the long vacant key post of Director of Education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The appointment was announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce ", who said: "Our long talent search 'for the right person in this position has paid off. We have a man who is not only an educator but an experienced administrator, not only a man who knows what it takes to make quality education but also one who understands the particular educational needs and views of the Indian people.”
Since 1964, when Hawkins resigned from his last previous BIA post as director of the Minneapolis area office, he has served as director of community services and as education commission for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands as a special assistant to the secretary of Commerce to coordinate regional development programs; and as director of program development and evaluation for the Peace Corps, the post he left to return to the BIA. He is completing doctoral studies at Stanford University in the combined fields of education and economics.
Bruce also announced 12 other job changes in the BIA, all in the nature of reassignments and rotations of personnel to make the best use of the BIA's resources and talents. “These changes are the direct result of our policy to consult with tribes concerning their wishes," he said.
The other changes are as follows:
Sidney B. Carney, former area director at Anadarko, Okla., to be area director at Albuquerque, N.M. Carney is a Choctaw-Creek Indian.
Morris Thompson, former assistant to the Commissioner and special Indian affairs assistant to the Secretary to be area director at Juneau, Alaska. He is Athabascan Indian and a native of Alaska.
Walter O. Olson, former area director at Albuquerque, to be area director at Minneapolis, Minn.
Brice L. Lay, former superintendent of the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, to be area director at Anadarko, Okla.
Norman Tippeconnic, formerly with the BIA data center in Albuquerque, to be field representative at the Hoopa reservation in northern California. He is a Comanche.
Reginald Miller, former employment assistance officer in Minneapolis, to be superintendent of the Great Lakes Agency, Ashland, Wisc. He is a Stockbridge Indian.
Thomas Hardin, to take over the vacant superintendency at Rocky Boy’s Agency in Montana, moving up from the post of development officer on the same reservation.
James L. Claymore, formerly an employment assistance specialist at the Turtle Mountain Reservation, to be superintendent of the Cheyenne River Agency, Eagle Butte, Mont., his native reservation.
Celestine Maus, to move up from loan specialist to superintendent of the Red Lake Chippewa Agency in Minnesota.
Charles Richmond, to move from the area office directorship in Juneau to the assistant director for education in the eastern Oklahoma (Muskogee) office.
Howard E. Euneau, reassigned from superintendent of the Rosebud Sioux Agency to Tribal relations officer at Aberdeen, S.D. He is a Turtle Mountain Chippewa.
Robert E. Robinson, reassigned from superintendent at the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona to industrial development officer for the Sacramento, Calif. Area office.
The reassignments or rotation of personnel are part of the talent search and result from consultation with tribal groups, Bruce stated. He said: "Hany of our employees have worked so effectively on special assignments or have demonstrated particular specialized skills that they are being considered to serve where they can best help the Bureau meet new responsibilities. Personnel changes are designed to meet the career development of the individual as well as to use our limited resources most effectively for the greatest benefit to the Indians.”
Intensive study is being given to various recommendations for making changes in the delegation of authority in order that Indian people will have more voice in a decision-making process at all levels, especially in their local communities. Special consideration is being given to delegation of authority to superintendents and their staffs in order that the new policy of contracting various functions to tribes can be properly carried out.
Hawkins, under whose supervision some of the contracting responsibility falls added this comment: “In education programs the Bureau’s contracting procedures will be responsive to Indian initiative. The Bureau is ready and willing to contract all or part of a local school program to the local Indian Community, or tribe, if this is the prevailing local wish. This is a part of the overall effort to put Indians in the driver’s seat and take them out of the back seat of community development.”
