Solon G. Ayers, a career educator and employment assistance officer with the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been named Superintendent of the Albuquerque Indian School in New Mexico, the Bureau announced today.
Ayers has been on detail to the Albuquerque office of the Bureau since June, working with Bureau architects in planning a new structure to replace the century-old Indian boarding high school there.
The new institution will offer postsecondary vocational-technical programs as well as a full range of high school courses. Congress recently approved $700,000 in planning funds for the school.
Ayers also has been working with Bureau education officials and with State and local school authorities in shaping curricula for the new institution, which would not be restricted to Indian enrollment.
Ayers' career with the Bureau started in 1940 as principal of Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kans., one of the largest and oldest Federal schools for Indians. In 1962 he became director of Federal education services for the Bureau's Portland, Ore., Area, which embraces Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. In 1963 he became Chief of Employment Assistance in the Bureau's Denver office, where Indians seeking to relocate are aided in acquiring skills and jobs. Before his Bureau service, he held teaching and supervisory positions in public schools and colleges in Texas.
A native of St. John, Kans., Ayers holds bachelor's and master's degrees in Education from the University of Texas.
