My name is
Art Fisher, and I am a member of the
Lakota Nation, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation located in western South
Dakota. I was born in Rapid City South Dakota, have attended
schools mainly off the reservation, yet have spent a great deal of my life on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where I spent much time with my tiyospaye
(Pourier, extended family). Currently, I
live in the Pejuta Haka (Medicine
Root) District, or just 5 miles from the village of Kyle, SD located on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. My Tiwahe (immediate family) includes my
wife Cindy and children Kadem, Kylea, Katie, and Kolten, also referred to as the
special K’s. My wife and I have been blessed with 3 grandchildren, Teagen Longbrake, and Kellin and Jason Fisher. I graduated high school at Huron South Dakota, and after a few years, our first child was born, I enrolled at Black Hills State University, struggled financially due to a growing family, and found myself moving to the Pine Ridge Reservation. I became employed by Red Cloud Indian School, was selected by the Shannon County Bilingual Teacher Training Program to work as a paraprofessional within the Shannon County School system while working towards a teacher degree. I enrolled at Oglala Lakota College, a tribal college located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where I completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in K-8 Elementary Education. Soon after completing my teacher training I became employed by Red Cloud Indian School and taught 7th grade for 3 years at Our Lady of Lourdes School, the sister school to Red Cloud Indian School.
As a 7th grade teacher, I applied for a scholarship from the American Indian Institute, located in Norman Oklahoma, was awarded the scholarship, moved to Oklahoma City with my family of four, and where I attended Oklahoma City University. I received my Masters in Education with Emphasis in Gifted and Talented Education. Upon completing my MA, I returned to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, became the Director of Gifted and Talented Education and Red Cloud Indian School. For three years I worked at Red Cloud and Our Lady of Lourdes. I then relocated to my family’s allotment/ranch in the Medicine Root District and became hired off the reservation at the Wall School District, Wall South Dakota, and worked as the upper rural teacher at Scenic South Dakota. I claim to be one of the few Native American teachers living on the reservation and traveling to work off the reservation at a school with little or few Native American children. I hail, working within a rural school system as a 4th-8th-grade teacher was were my greatest experiences as a teacher came from.
Upon 3 years as a rural teacher, I received a call from the chair of Oglala Lakota College’s Education Department. I was asked if I would be interested in applying for the Dean of Education. I was hired, although once hired the college president Thomas Shortbull felt I needed to serve as faculty before I fill the vacant Dean of Education position. I served as faculty for the magical number 3 again! I then was hired as Dean of Education and served in that capacity for 7 years. As Dean of Education, I have traveled extensively, working with local, state, national, and Bureau of Indian Education systems. I have also been the program director of many state and federally funded grant programs which required much travel; in all, I am thankful for this experience. After 8 years I resigned as Dean of Education, became faculty in the Education Department for 2 years, moved to the Graduate Studies Department, and am working on a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction.
After my resignation at Oglala Lakota College, I jumped at the opportunity to work at Sinte Gleska University as a faculty for the Education Department. At SGU I am pleased to instruct undergraduate and graduate courses for teacher preparation and for education administration. As time moved on, in the year 2020 I moved from the faculty of SGU and am now the Distance Education Coordinator. As a tribal member of the Lakota Nation, I am grateful to have the opportunity to be employed at tribal colleges.
