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Daniel Wildcat

As the search for permanent leadership continues at Haskell Indian Nations University, a faculty member who served as acting president earlier this year will once again be the school’s temporary leader.

On July 15, the Bureau of Indian Education selected Dan Wildcat to serve as acting president of Haskell for the coming academic year or until a permanent president is appointed.

Wildcat, a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, has worked at Haskell in various capacities for more than three decades, including as a professor of indigenous and American Indian studies. In November 2018, when then-President Venida Chenault left to work on a special assignment with the BIE, Wildcat was named acting president for the first time. He served in that role until Monte Monteith, an education specialist at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M., took over in March of this year.

Monteith served as acting president for a 120-day period that ended July 16, a day after Wildcat’s appointment was announced.

The search for a permanent president could take up to a year, Wildcat told the Journal-World, but he added that applications for the position are only open through Sept. 30.

“We could have another round of interviews this fall and possibly a new president by the spring semester of 2020,” he said.

The search has already gone on longer than leaders at Haskell had anticipated.

During a Haskell Board of Regents meeting in May, Monteith had told the board that a new president would likely be hired by the fall 2019 semester. But in June, the BIE announced that its first round of interviews had failed to produce any strong candidates.

Wildcat said the decision by the BIE not to hire a president from that first round of applicants shows that federal officials are serious about finding a strong leader for Haskell. He said he was determined to keep the school on track until that happens.

“I am going to use my 33 years experience in higher education to keep Haskell moving forward in a positive way and continue improving the quality of our existing services and programs,” Wildcat said.

That includes planning for the university’s future. Wildcat said the university’s strategic plan hadn’t been updated since 2014, but that he would begin working on a new plan this fall that would set goals for the university through 2030.

“We are the national tribal college, and we will engage our entire university, alumni, tribes, the Board of Regents and the Lawrence community as we start talking about our future vision for where we want to be in 2030,” Wildcat said.