Sault Tribe Chairman Aaron Payment. Photo from National Indian Health Board / Twitter
President Barack Obama has appointed two members to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. The new members are Doreen Brown, who is Alaska Native, and Aaron Payment, the chairman of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan. They will advise the Department of Education on issues affecting American Indian and Alaska Native students. “I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service," Obama said in a statement as he announced several nominees in his administration. "I look forward to working with them.” More than 520,000 Native students attend public schools across the nation, according to department statistics. Biographical information about Brown and Payment, provided by the White House, follows:
Doreen E. Brown, Appointee for Member, National Advisory Council on Indian Education
Doreen E. Brown is the Executive Director of Title VII Indian Education in Anchorage, Alaska, a position she has held since 2013. She was Supervisor for Indian Education in Anchorage from 2004 to 2012 and a Resource Teacher for Indian Education from 2001 to 2004. Ms. Brown taught kindergarten and fourth grade at Kincaid Elementary School from 1996 to 2000 and was a teacher and mentor for Indian Education from 1997 to 2000. Ms. Brown taught second and third grade at Baxter Elementary School from 1990 to 1996 and began her career teaching kindergarten and first grade at Kuspuk Elementary School in 1989. She has been a member of the Southcentral Native Educators Association since 2001 and was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Education Northwest from 2004 to 2010. Ms. Brown received a B.S. from Chaminade University and an M.Ed. from the University of Kansas. Aaron Payment, Appointee for Member, National Advisory Council on Indian Education
Aaron Payment is Tribal Chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a position he has held since 2012 and previously from 2004 to 2008. In 2010, Mr. Payment served as Tribal Executive Director of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi. He was the American Indian Liaison at Michigan State University from 2008 to 2009. Mr. Payment held various positions at Lake Superior State University which include a Data Consultant for Upward Bound in 2008, an Academic Coordinator from 2003 to 2004, and a Native American Counselor/Recruiter in 1989. From 1996 to 2004, Mr. Payment was Vice-Chair of the Tribal Board of Directors for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, where he served as the Deputy Executive Director/Judicial Branch Division Director from 2001 to 2003. He was a Grants Writer and Policy Project Management Consultant for the Michigan Rural Systemic Initiative and a Project Coordinator for the Anishnabe Future Leaders Program at the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan from 1998 to 2004. Mr. Payment was an Instructor of Political Science, Native American Studies and Grant Administration at Lake Superior State University from 1994 to 1996 and served as Federal-State Policy Administrator/Assistant to the Executive Director of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians from 1991 to 1993. He was Dean's Assistant in the Dean of Students’ Office/Minority Retention Coordinator at Northern Michigan University from 1989 to 1990. Mr. Payment received a B.S. and an M.P.A. from Northern Michigan University.
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