A Message from the President

As President of Sinte Gleska University, I am proud to share with you a brief summary of our progress and goals as we enter our fifth decade of service to the Sicangu Lakota Oyate dating back to 1970. A number of our current faculty and staff, including myself, were employees during those earliest years of institutional operations and remember the challenges, primarily in terms of facilities and funding, that consistently confronted us as we transitioned from Rosebud College Center to Sinte Gleska Community College to Sinte Gleska College and finally to Sinte Gleska University. As always, at the center of our evolution was the vision of our ancestors and founding body accompanied by the mandate to design and offer appropriate programs and opportunities on behalf of tribal members and tribal communities on the Rosebud Reservation.

In 2009 Sinte Gleska University engaged in a community information gathering process over a two- month period in which we visited all 20 tribal communities on the Rosebud Reservation. Information gathered during said visits will be utilized by Sinte Gleska University for strategic planning efforts in conjunction with our purpose to help strengthen our tribal nation for the benefit of forthcoming generations. At these community meetings (entailing approximately 135 hours of discussion and nearly 1,000 comments from community members) tribal members expressed their concerns relative to health, housing, law and order, enrollment, cultural preservation and education matters along with other key issues affecting their individual lives and our tribal nation as a whole. In particular, tribal members addressed perceived needs and priorities for realizing community growth and development that correspond to the best interests of their children, grandchildren and families. In each case, communities called for the expansion of tribal higher education program delivery that would allow for Sinte Gleska University to advance our leadership and advocacy roles throughout the entire boundaries of the Rosebud Reservation.

In closing, be assured that we at Sinte Gleska University remain committed to critical concepts and initiatives such as language preservation, educational ownership, economic growth and entrepreneurship and tribal government reform. We will seek new avenues of funding for academic program implementation and additional facilities construction. Most importantly, we will continue to embrace the Lakota virtues and values set forth in our mission statement in order to provide our Sinte Gleska University students with a direction and determination to gain personal and professional empowerment and to therein attain a greater level of overall tribal autonomy in the future.

We express our appreciation and gratitude to the Sicangu Oyate for their continued support and to the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council for the same, to the SGU student population for their continued attendance, and to the faculty and staff for their involvement. Mitakuye Oyasin.

—Lionel R. Bordeaux, President, 1972-Present