Educator Maggie George of the Navajo Nation provides role model for Native American students.

There are many talented educators who serve as superb role models for Native American students. One of these is Maggie George from Arizona, a member of the Navajo Nation.

Maggie was born into the Tachii’nii clan, born for the Naakaii Dine clan in Red Valley, Arizona. Her father was a traditional practitioner and her mother was a homemaker. Maggie was raised in the traditional pastoral Navajo ways, raising livestock and living off the land.

As a youngster, Maggie attended a public school and a boarding school on the Navajo Reservation. “I grew up in an era when it was a challenge to be an Indian, and only one of my teachers was Navajo,” Maggie once confided. “I decided in junior high that I wanted to change that and teach Navajo children. Knowing who I was as a Navajo person — and being grounded in my identity, language and culture — helped me have confidence, competence and persistence,” she declared.

To achieve this goal, Maggie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1980 and her Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1989, both from the New Mexico Highlands University School of Education. Later she earned a PhD in Higher Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Kansas.

Once Maggie earned her degrees, she worked as a K-12 educator and counselor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and contract schools in New Mexico. After her skill as an educator became well-known, Maggie was selected to serve as the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities. She also served as the Deputy Director of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. In addition, she was a member of the faculty and then the Dean of the School of Education at Haskell Indian Nations University. The former classroom teacher also served as the Dean and Academic Vice President of Dine College in Tsaile, Arizona, from 2000 to 2005. From 2011 to 2016 Maggie served as the college’s President. There she inaugurated a program of academic affairs and Indian education for the New Mexico Higher Education Department.

For her work in the field of education, Maggie garnered a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. To read more about this chalkboard champion, click on this article about her work at Dine College.