By Dana Attocknie,

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Tribune

Mann receives honors

She returns to school, but it’s not to study or to teach. Dr. Henrietta Mann visits Oklahoma State University (OSU) to celebrate and to be celebrated.

“I have come full circle,” she said. “I’m here and you have welcomed me back.”

Mann, 75, was honored as the Distinguished Alumni for 2008 on Saturday Sept. 13, 2008 in the OSU Oklahoma Room inside the student union. Mann earned her Master of Science degree from OSU in 1970.

“I am indeed honored today,” Mann said. “OSU was good to me (and) is good to me today.”

Mann’s return visit began by being interviewed for school archival purposes, and then an intimate reception was held before her recognition ceremony. The reception allowed Mann and her family to share food, conversation and laughter with members of the OSU Native American Student Association (NASA).

“It was an honor for her to come here. I look up to her as a role model,” Miss American Indian OSU 2008-2009 and NASA member Ashleigh Coser said. “She inspires me to learn more about culture and share with others.”

NASA students took pictures with Mann before walking downstairs to prepare for the ceremony.

“My mother is so involved with students, a lot of them on a national level,” Mann’s son Alden Whiteman said. “From visiting with her, she gets the greatest excitement from Oklahoma native students, especially Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal students, and it shows in her enthusiasm.”

Mann is the inaugural president of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College in Weatherford, Okla. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University (S.W.O.S.U.) and her Doctorate of Philosophy degree in American Indian studies from the University of New Mexico (UNM).

She has worked in education for 30 years either in administration or teaching. She was an endowed chairwoman in Native American studies at Montana State University in Bozeman, and taught Native American studies at the University of Montana at Missoula. The additional institutions Mann worked at are Harvard University Graduate School of Education, University of Sciences and Arts in Chickasha, Okla., Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the University of California at Berkeley.

While at Berkley, Mann met one of her mentors. “I went there to teach about us at the university level ... and on that journey I met one of my heroes, Dr. Carter Blue Clark,” she said.

Clark is now with Oklahoma City University and the College of the Muscogee Nation. He also attended Mann’s recognition ceremony in Stillwater.

Mann’s journey from OSU to the west began in 1970. “It was hard to leave home,” she said. “It was hard to leave our homeland.”

As Mann and her family entered the Oklahoma Room for the ceremony; her son was quickly drawn to the paintings evenly spaced on the walls; he looked closer and closer at them with each stride forward. He soon exclaimed his late father Alfred Whiteman, Jr., created the paintings. Whiteman’s enthusiasm spread to the rest of the family and friends in attendance. It was later revealed that Mann’s ceremony was originally to be held across the street in the alumni building. Yet, a turn of events gave Mann the opportunity to be recognized in the room where five of her late husband’s paintings hang.

Mann’s program began and ended with a prayer from Gilbert John. Both Brett Cowan, OSU American Indian Alumni Association (AIAA) president, and Krisha Blevins, NASA president, gave welcoming remarks.

“She is such a great role model for all women, especially for Native American women,” Blevins said of Mann.

Larry Shell, OSU Alumni Association interim president and CEO, said Mann is the first recipient of the OSU Distinguished American Indian Alumni Award.

Mann’s daughter Jackie Whiteman of Las Vegas, Nev. said, “It’s an honor for her to be recognized by such a distinguished institution of higher education. I’m very proud of her accomplishments. She is a leader within her field and she’s a pretty cool mom too.”

Introducing Mann was Dr. L.G. Moses, OSU history professor. Moses said him and Mann shared mentors, and he recalled the time when American Indian history could only be studied at UNM, and native languages were once considered not worthy of being studied or given exams on.

Moses also gave the audience a little personal insight on Mann saying she loved sports cars, particularly the Lotus. “She not only walks in beauty, she sometimes rolls,” he said.

After Moses introduced Mann, representatives from both OSU and the Native American Faculty and Staff Association (NAFSA) presented Mann with a gift. Marlene Strathe, OSU provost and senior vice president, presented Mann with a painting, and Edward Hara, NAFSA president presented Mann with a book on Oklahoma that has her picture on the front cover.

“Stillwater and Oklahoma State University hold many fond memories for my mother and our family.  It is a pleasure to see my mother welcomed back to her home state of Oklahoma in a distinguished way,” Mann’s daughter Montoya A. Whiteman of Colorado said. “Her recent award and acknowledgement by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association says that her fellow Oklahomans are proud of her years of hard work and dedicated service to Indian America.  I hope that the University continues to hold their American Indian alumni in high esteem and acknowledge the many valuable contributions that their Native alumni have made to the global indigenous community.”

During the ceremony, many of Mann’s accomplishments were named such as being selected Cheyenne Indian of the Year in 1983 and National American Indian Woman of the Year 1987. Rolling Stone magazine listed her as one of the ten leading professors in the nation in 1991, and she was inducted into the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame at S.W.O.S.U. in 1997.

Mann also worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Office of Indian Education Programs director and the deputy to the assistant secretary. She was on the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Board of Trustees, and was the Association of American Indian Affairs national coordinator of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Coalition.

Mann spoke of when the University of California at Berkeley approved the degree program for American Indian Studies.

“That was really a legitimization,” Mann said. “Our wealth, our knowledge, who we are. This lands first people, first teachers … first of anything. We’re these people.”

Mann provided a glimpse of her years in education as both a student and a teacher.

“I was about a peaceful revolution,” Mann said.

Mann said she is a Hammon, Okla. girl who has had a great ride through life. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she said.

After Mann’s speech, 11 students from NASA shared personal testimonies one by one on how Mann influences their lives.

Jessica Moore, 2007-2008 Miss Indian Oklahoma, said when she spoke at a S.W.O.S.U. conference in March it was the first time she heard Mann speak.

“It just touched me and my spirit,” Moore said, trying to hold back tears. “(It) filled me with inspiration. She’s a true role model for Native American women.”

Blevins said Mann has a way of giving her this warm and welcoming feeling, and Mann always has a glow about her.

“Thank you for being a role model for Native American women,” Blevins said. “I feel like she’s an icon.”

NASA is going to honor Mann during their 2008 fall contest powwow as the “Distinguished Native American Alumna.”

The powwow will be held on Oct. 4, 2008 at the Payne County Fairgrounds in Stillwater, Okla.

Mann said what she has done has been for everyone. “I’ve just been your vehicle, “ she said. “I’m honored to be a Cheyenne American Indian woman.”

Mann told everyone in attendance, “you are my relations,” so “family is at every table.Thank you for feeding me; not just my body but feeding my spirit. I want to thank you for that today and I love you.”