Our Alumni
Since 1994, the AU WINS program has served over 600 American Indian and Alaska Native college students. Students hail from across the country and from hundreds of different colleges and universities. While each student has their own goals and aspirations, they all share the common WINS experience and represent the future of Indian Country.

Alumni Updates

Summer 1999: MELISSA HENRY (Navajo) received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English - Mass Communications from Fort Lewis College. She went on to earn a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature - Visual Language & the Written Word from the University of Maryland in 2003. She is the President and Director of Red Ant Productions, a video producation and web development business. Melissa was recently awarded the New Mexico New Visions Contract Award for the production of Blue Heeler. Her film, Horse You See was featured as part of the National Geographic All Roads Film Project 2007. She is also currently teaching courses at the University of New Mexico and at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide.

Fall 2001: TRAVIS L. LANE (Southern Ute/Navajo) completed his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona in Political Science with a minor in American Indian Studies in spring 2002. He currently serves as the Outreach Coordinator for the University of Arizona and Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. Indians Into Medicine (INMED) Program. In this capacity he provides outreach and recruitment activities for K-12 American Indian students to enter into health professions as a career. In addition, he works on various health, education, and policy projects including coordinating voter outreach to Tribes in Arizona.

Mr. Lane attributes much of his career success to the skills and networks he created as a participant of the WINS Program. The WINS Program, as an intensive academic and professional development program, provided Mr. Lane a background in American Indian legal & health policy and administrative skills that were easily translatable to a non-profit tribal organization. He maintains friendships with many of his fellow WINS peers and program staff. He particularly thanks Georgia Gibson and Claudia Narrow for their support during and after his participation in the WINS Program.

Summer 2002: MARY HORSECHIEF (Osage/Pawnee) received her degree in Management Information Systems in 2004 from Old Dominion University. She now works as an IT Security Consultant in the DC area for Project Performance Corporation. She has assisted government customers such as the Department of Energy, Patent and Trademark Office, National Park Service, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation adhere to the Federal Information System Management Act.

Fall 2004: STEPHANIE BIG CROW(Oglala Lakota) graduated with a Bachelors in Social Sciences from Oglala Lakota College in 2005. She is working full-time as a Clinical Research Assistant for the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health on the Stop Atherosclerosis in Native Diabetics Study, Indian Health Services in Rapid City, SD. At the same time, she is currently working on her Masters in Social Work.

Spring 2005/Summer 2007 DANIELLE HILL (Mashpee Wampanoag) completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Communications and Media Policy. Because of the contacts she made during WINS, she has participated in the Public Policy and International Affairs Program (PPIA) at UC Berkeley and is now preparing for law school to concentrate on Federal Indian Policy. Danielle currently lives and works in Washington DC at the Native American Contractors Association where she monitors congressional legislation affecting Native American federal procurement issues,
specifically the SBA Native 8(a) Program.

Summer 2005/Summer 2007: OWEN CORNELIUS (Oneida) received an Economics degree from Yale University in 2006 and a Master of Finance from Vanderbilt University in 2007. He is currently working towards a Master of Accountancy degree at George Washington University and will start an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers this spring.

Owen describes his WINS experience as: "The classes I participated in during WINS were insightful and thought provoking. Overall, the program was an intellectually challenging opportunity to debate and share ideas within the broader Native-American community. WINS offers a helpful, friendly, professional environment, where I made lasting friends and important contacts."

Send us an update!
Email wins@american.edu