William Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, will visit Oklahoma City for a series of public appearances on Wednesday, Oct. 17, to discuss the Obama administration’s work around supporting educational excellence and reform efforts for American Indian and Alaska native students.
Mendoza, an Oglala and Sicangu Lakota, was appointed executive director of the initiative in December 2011 after having served as a director and senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on American Indian and Alaska native education policies. He previously worked as a principal at the Monforton School in Bozeman, Mont., and as a language arts teacher at Pine Ridge High School in Pine Ridge, S.D.