SKC welcomes new leader

PABLO - Amid applause, standing ovations, speeches and smiles, Dr. Luana Ross became the third president in Salish Kootenai College's 32-year history.

With founder and former President Joe McDonald looking on, the inauguration ceremony last Wednesday at the college's Johnny Arlee/Victor Charlo Theater introduced the Ronan native to staff and administration at what Ross called the "flagship tribal college university in the nation."

"Healthy communities can only come from healthy individuals," Ross said. "I'm home and I'm your next president."

Ross is indeed home, and in an interview last Friday described how she could not have planned a better homecoming.

"It feels surreal, in a very lovely way; it was made real with the ceremony," Ross said. "The ceremony went better than any of us could have imagined. It was part serendipity and part planned."

After graduating from Ronan High School in the 1960s, Ross attended the University of Montana and graduated with a PhD from the University of Oregon before beginning her teaching career at SKC in sociology in 1981.

"Because I'm from here, my mom and my sisters are here, I really feel like I'm home," she said. "This would be, in academia, a dream job. I now have my dream job. It couldn't get any better in my career, I'm now at the top."

Ross officially took over for McDonald on July 1, but formally, last Wednesday served as her introduction to the public and all the staff members. Her path from working at different universities to returning to SKC was divinely inspired, Ross said. A call from her uncle, Thomas "Bearhead" Swaney last April started her desire to apply for the position.

"He called me up and in Seattle and said, ‘You're my unfinished business; you have to come home; I want to bring you home and you'll apply for the job and you'll get it,'" Ross said. "And I was like you're kidding me. You really think I could do that? It was his wish and then he died within the month and I felt like I needed to honor his wishes."

So far she has, but feels blessed with what she has inherited. The differences from 29 years ago and today are incredible, Ross said. From formerly consisting of classrooms located around the reservation, including classes held at the Arlee Senior Citizen's Center, to the centralized, beautiful campus all see today, has helped SKC ascend as one of the preeminent tribal college universities, Ross said.

"It's tremendous," Ross said. "The infrastructure is amazing because when I started in 1981, my classroom was an old classroom that I once had in grade school in Ronan because there were no buildings here. You just drove around the reservation from classroom to classroom, which was whatever building wasn't being used for that hour."

While much has changed for the better on campus, Ross still has identified plenty of areas she would like to make changes in. Her biggest goal, and effort she hopes to spearhead immediately, would have made her late uncle, Bearhead Swaney, proud: going green.

"There are not the good recycling programs in the whole state of Montana that there should be," Ross said. "I want this environment to be eco-friendly in all ways, and that is going to be a huge challenge."

Another big challenge is a good indicator for the college, Ross said, but difficult to handle: a major spike in student enrollment.

"We don't want to turn away students, so we will have an emergency meeting to discuss how to accommodate all the students," she said. "Now we have to find money somewhere to hire people to accommodate [new students]."

Ross said she has committed to 10 years as president, so she has already started to formulate plans on how to immediately implement changes around SKC. One includes making the college into an "international hub" that proves attractive for students and researchers from around the globe.

"Scholars that I have worked with that are at the top of their game want to come here to do research, they want to come here to teach," Ross said. "There are people who want to come here to be students to study the culture, study the language. Our environmental program is top-notch, the nursing program's reputation precedes it. They want to come here whether they are from the East coast or Browning, Montana, or locally. I hope that we are a university that is all inclusive."

While her goals may seem lofty and the task somewhat daunting, all she has to look at is what her predecessor did with a whole lot less.

"I have huge, huge, shoes to fill, but I'm up to the task, I'll be just fine," Ross said. "[McDonald] is an international personality and a tough act to follow. But look what he left me. So with the help of everybody here, I'll be just fine."