(Flagstaff, Ariz.) The Museum of Northern Arizona’s Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the election of five new trustees who will each serve for four-year terms. Nine candidates were presented to the Museum membership for election, each candidate exemplifying breadth of experience, a history of action in support of regional peoples and places, and commitment to the Museum and its mission. Each candidate had to be willing to commit his or her time and expertise as active participants in the Museum’s governance. It is a remarkable statement about the value of MNA to our community that people of this caliber came forward to serve.
MNA’s newly elected trustees are:
Sheri L. Burnham is a member of the Navajo Nation and a fifth generation “Indian trader.” She promotes Native American art auctions for nonprofit organizations such as the Southwest Museum, Gene Autry Museum, Smoki Museum, Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial Association, the Navajo Studies Conference, the Navajo Nation Museum, and the Friends of Hubbell. Through her family’s trading business, R. B. Burnham and Co. Trading Post, she learned the importance of cultural traditions and the impacts of economic constraints on the preservation of these traditions. Her understanding of the intersection of Native cultures with business and philanthropic communities will help the Museum reestablish old, and develop new, connections within the Native American community. Burnham will integrate more Native voices of the Colorado Plateau into the process of fulfilling MNA’s mission.
- Northern Arizona University: B.A., Speech Communication
- Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial Association: Board of Directors
- Friends of Hubbell: Volunteer
- Navajo Nation Department of Headstart: Volunteer
- Adopt-A-Native Elder Program: Volunteer
Sam R. Henderson began his 37-year career in the National Park Service as an archaeologist, subsequently held positions of responsibility and influence throughout Arizona and New Mexico, and finally retired as superintendent of the Flagstaff Area National Monuments, including Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Walnut Canyon. Dedicated to cultural resource preservation through linkage between past and present, he also served as NPS Intermountain Region Liaison to the Navajo Nation. MNA will benefit from the many skills Henderson developed through his years of service, including cultural, natural and human resources management, personnel development, infrastructure maintenance, interpretation, research, short- and long-range planning, community relationships, partnerships, fundraising, and inter-agency/inter-government relationships.
- Northern Arizona University: B. S., Archaeology
- Casa Grande Ruins National Monument: Superintendent
- Hohokam Pima National Monument: Archaeologist, Management Assistant
- Navajo National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park: Archaeologist
- Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Ganado, Arizona: Park Ranger
Jack Metzger represents the fourth generation of a Northern Arizona ranching family known for careful land management. During the 1950s–1970s, when his family lived next door to the Museum, Metzger washed artifacts, wiped fingerprints from display cases, and worked as a salesperson in the Hopi and Navajo shows. He remembers a pervasive sense of dignity and reverence at the Museum for the Colorado Plateau and its peoples, and recognizes there is no better place to chronicle the past, present, and future of the Hopi, Navajo, and other Native Americans from the Colorado Plateau. He will draw on experience with management and conservation, business, Arizona’s rich natural resources, and the halls of government as he works to regain the status of the Museum as a contemplative place for those who peruse the displays, as well as a place where serious study can be accomplished.
- University of Arizona: B. S.
- National Cattlemen’s Association: Chairman of the Federal Lands Committee
- Spent two and a half years in Washington, D.C., representing industry concerns
- Founding member of the Diablo Trust, a nonprofit organization focused on learning from the land and applying appropriate management to achieve community goals and needs, while maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable ranching.
Barbara Poley, of Hopi and Laguna heritage, serves as the executive director of the Hopi Foundation, a nonprofit organization located on the Hopi reservation and established by Hopi people to promote self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-determination, and proactive community participation. Poley served previously as staff assistant to the chairman of the Hopi Tribe, as manager of a private retail art business, and in a variety of roles with the nonprofit Native Americans for Community Action. The Museum will benefit from her ability to bring Native American understanding and perspectives to the board, as well as from her extensive experience in nonprofit management, including program development, agency financial viability, fundraising, development of endowments, and oversight responsibilities.
- Northern Arizona University: B.S., Business Administration; M.A. Elementary Education
- The Hopi Tribe: Staff Assistant, Office of the Chairman; Elementary Education Specialist, Department of Education
- Native Americans for Community Action: Executive Director, Youth Program Director, Economic Development Planner
- Hopi Tribe Education Endowment Fund: Board President
- Native Americans in Philanthropy: Vice-President
Octaviana Trujillo, member and previously the first woman chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, currently serves as professor and chair of the Applied Indigenous Studies Department at Northern Arizona University. She has worked over the past three decades in the area of educational program development for minority and multicultural populations, particularly Native Americans. At the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and now Northern Arizona University, Trujillo has contributed measurably to the funding and development of programs dedicated to improving training of both Native American students and teachers. She will bring considerable expertise in education for and about Native peoples, and will assist MNA in the inclusion of Native people’s voices as the Museum embarks on new directions for revitalization.
- Arizona State University, Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction
- Native American Studies Director: Tempe and Tucson Public Schools
University of Arizona: Director of the American Indian Graduate Center; Assistant Professor of Language, Reading and Culture - Arizona State University: Director of the Center for Indian Education
- Publications include Hiapsi Wami Seewam: Flowers of Life and The Yaqui: A People and Their Place
Etched crystal vases and letters of appreciation were presented to the four outgoing trustees: Deb Hill, Jon Bonnell, Louis Jacobs, and William Clarke.