Alvin H. Warren ’91

On serving his pueblo—and all of New Mexico

"Native Americans willalways be a very smallpercentage of the U.S.population, but at a local, regional and in some cases state level we can have a significant impact on elections. I believe both presidential. candidates have recognized that."

"I always knew my purposeat Dartmouth wasto become educated inorder to come back andserve my community. That was handed down to me through my grandparents from their uncles and aunts. I knew I'd be coming ing home. I just didn't know what I'd be called upon to do."

"Maintaining our nativeTewa language is important because it is the language we were created to speak. If we lose that we lose ourselves."

"When I went back home I did so with a 221-page thesis I'd written at Dartmouth about my tribe's land claims and gave it to our tribal council saying, 'Here's the information you asked me to gather.' They said, 'Not so fast. We want you to get some of this land back for us.' I told them surely there was someone more qualified, yet it fell to me. Eight years later we were able to witness the largest land reacquisition by our tribe in almost a century."

"When we reacquired the headwatersland it was the embodiment of all thoselong hours I spent looking over OccomPond, typing on my little Macintosh computer, imagining that maybe some day what I was learning in this place so far from home would have a benefit."

"Being lieutenant governor of my pueblo meansbeing responsible for everything: all the people, the land, the animals, the plants. The responsibility is profound."

"There are tremendous misconceptions when it comes toIndian casinos. The point is that Native American tribes are trying to restore their self-sufficiency after federal policies intentionally created dependency. We're going to look back on this era and see Native American economic development as something that kickstarted rural economic developmentespecially in the West."

"I wouldn't have come to work for state government were itnot for Gov. Bill Richardson. He's a very driven individual, a true leader. He's often said that one reason he's so committed to working with tribal governments is that Native American voters helped elect him to Congress the first time, and he's never forgotten that."

"A cabinet-level Indian affairs department ensures thattribal concerns have a seat at the table, literally. What New Mexico has found is that Native American participation in the development of state policies and programs benefits all the state's citizens."

"As a society maybe we should think more about what itmeans to be part of a broader community, what responsibility we have toward each other."

"Every single American has an obligation to know our historyand should try to learn more about the tribes in ourarea. Only by becoming better informed and working together can we move past the injustices and mistakes of the past. The ability to do this is what makes our country so unique."

"The events offensive to Native Americans on campus infall 2006 were sickening to me. As a Dartmouth community we should all make an effort to learn more about the current-day reality of Native Americans to avoid cultural misunderstandings. Outside of places like New Mexico most people don't have that kind of exposure, so individual effort must be made. Then the climate will change for those who are acting intentionally. They will marginalize themselves so they can no longer have the influence they seek."

"I gave up a long time ago trying to understand how my career path was progressing and where it might be headed. In my pueblo one doesn't volunteer, one is identified to serve by our traditional leaders."

CAREER: Since January, cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department, which oversees tribal projects totaling more than $99 million, vets state legislation affecting Native Americans, provides policy advice to the governor and other cabinet members, and works with tribal leaders; chairman, New Mexico Indian Affairs Commission, 2007-08; lieutenant governor, Santa Clara Pueblo, 2006-07 (after six terms as treasurer, interpreter and councilmember); national director, Trust for Public Land tribal lands program, 2004-05; associate director, indigenous communities mapping initiative, 2000-04 NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Led reacquisition of title or additional rights to more than 16,000 acres of his pueblo's ancestral lands; colleague, New Mexico strategic leadership institute, 2005-08; Rockefeller Foundation next generation leadership fellow, 2001-03 EDUCATION: A.B., history with certificate in Native American studies FAMILY: Lives in the Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, with wife Pamela and children Kayleigh, 10, Arron, 7, and Alyse, 1