A new academic year is around the corner for San Carlos Apache College – the fall semester begins August 19 – with a new president on campus.

The college’s Board of Regents recently announced the hiring of Dr. Linda Sue Warner, Ph.D., as president. Warner comes to San Carlos from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, a two-year community college in Miami, Oklahoma where she served as special assistant to the president on tribal affairs.

Warner, a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma, started her new position Monday, August 5. She was also introduced to Tribal Council members at a recent council meeting.

In a press release, San Carlos Apache College noted that she brings over 50 years of experience working with Indigenous peoples; served as president of Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas; and is extensively published.

Warner earned an Associate of Arts from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a Bachelor of Arts in Language Arts Education from Northeastern State University, a Master’s in Education from Pennsylvania State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in General Administration from the University of Oklahoma.

Warner spent 23 years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), starting work at Mount Edgecumbe School in Alaska. No stranger to Arizona, she has worked at Fort Wingate on the Navajo Reservation, where she spent five years, and as principal of Theodore Roosevelt School, a BIA boarding school in Whiteriver.

“I’ve been in higher education, I’ve been in K-12 education, I’ve been in administration, and I’ve been a teacher,” she said. “My research book is on native leadership and native ways of knowing.

“When we work with young people in public schools,” she explained, “they give you a textbook, then you start working your way through units and modules throughout the semester. Native ways of knowing basically says we want our students to understand and be proficient in the same content, but that there’s a different way of looking at the world that’s not a hierarchy of units and modules.”

Warner went on to describe native ways of knowing, which she uses as a primary framework, as principally place-based. “It looks at where you are in the world, how you’re in the world and what kinds of things are important in this particular learning situation. There will be more activities with actually doing things. So we didn’t read about photosynthesis; we’d go out and look at plants and talk about how photosynthesis works in the universe.”

Warner said that while San Carlos Apache College is smaller than Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, it is in the process of growing.

“Early on, we’re trying to move offices and space and get ourselves settled for fall semester. We’re in a little bit of a transition, not just for me but with other things. We’re kind of getting ourselves ready for next week when faculty report,” she said.

Warner said she is also getting to meet members of the community. She recalled that, while having lunch at the Apache Burger, “This girl comes in and says, ‘Oh, you’re Dr. Warner! You’re the new president; I saw that press release.’ I have people like that coming up and introducing themselves, so it’s been real welcoming. The community seems to be pleased that I’m here.”