SKC inaugurates Luana Ross as new president
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
PABLO — Along with new students enrolling for fall quarter of the 2010-11 school year, Salish Kootenai College also has a new president, Luana K. Ross.
Ross, a doctor of sociology, has been on the job since July 15, but she was officially inaugurated on Sept. 15 in the Johnny Arlee/Victor Charlo Theater on the SKC campus.
Introducing Ross, SKC President Emeritus Joe McDonald said she was raised in Ronan by her mother Opal, graduated from Ronan High School, received her bachelor’s from the University of Montana, her master’s from Portland State and her doctorate from the University of Oregon.
Ross comes to SKC from the University of Washington where she was Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and co-director of Native Voices, a graduate program. Ross also taught at Berkley, and the University of California-Davis.
Noting some of Ross’ many accomplishments, McDonald said Ross wrote “Inventing the Savage” and a chapter in “Sovereign Crimes,” just a couple of her published works. Ross and her partner Dan Hart made films including “Reclaiming Our Children,” “Travels Across the Medicine Line” and “Half of Anything.”
Ross’ inauguration began with a prayer by Alec Quequesah and a flag song and an honor song from Nk’usm, the drum from the Salish immersion school of the same name in Arlee. Chairman of the Governing Board of SKC Bob Fouty also spoke.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council members Charlie Morigeau and James Steele welcomed Ross and remembered their own days at SKC.
Always a person who pushed education, Morigeau said he had to drive his work truck to Kalispell to go to class.
Steele reminisced about driving to school with his mom in Frodo, the family’s 1950 Dodge pickup. Frodo had no tailpipe so they had to have the windows down so they didn’t asphyxiate. Steele and his mother took some of the same classes, and Steele said the generations all come to SKC.
“This (SKC) is where I got my grounding and my bearings,” Steele said.
In her first president’s address, Ross also spoke about family. She said the Lakota saying, we are all related, expresses how Indians see family.
Ross mentioned Cree scholar Shawn Wilson who said, “Relationships don’t just shape Indian reality, they are our reality.”
The transfer of knowledge according to Ross is all about healthy relationships.
“My hope for SKC is for healthy relationships with one another without secrecy, without competition, very open and honest.”
Ross’ three r’s of relationships are reciprocity, returning and respect/responsibility.
Not only are relationships with people, but Ross said Indian intellectuals Gregory Cajete and Vine Deloria stress that good stewards take care of the land.
With this in mind, Ross plans to make SKC a more eco-friendly campus.
She credited Taylor with coming up with the theme, creating college community. Ross wants the SKC campus to be “inclusive rather than exclusive” and safe.
Ross said she and Taylor would evaluate and assess absolutely every department because she is very committed to the quality of education and to bringing more research money to SKC.
“Once I was considered a lost cause,” Ross said. “My dear mother, a natural intellectual, has a sentence taped on her cupboard. ‘A lost cause can find itself in a noble dream.’”
Joe McDonald had a noble dream in SKC, Ross said, as did Alice Oechsli, Mickey O’Donnell and Jerry Slater. Now she will continue the dream.
“I’m exactly where I should be. I’m home, and I’m your next president,” Ross concluded.
