Lisa Eutsey is the founding Provost of San Carlos Apache College. She most recently served as the Dean of Faculty at Diné College, building upon a seven-year stint there as a faculty member and Chair of the English Department. Her teaching at Diné College centered on developmental and college-level courses in composition, humanities, literature, creative writing, and communication. Prior to joining Diné College, Dr. Eutsey taught courses at Northern Arizona University for its Honors Program and its Communication Department, served as a visiting lecturer at the University of South Florida, and taught courses for six years as a graduate student at Penn State University.
Dr. Eutsey earned her Bachelor’s degree with a dual major in English and History at Youngstown State University, and earned her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in English from Penn State University. Her experience as a faculty member and especially as a senior-level academic administrator—at rather diverse and unique institutions—sparked her interest in formally studying the field of higher education administration. This led her to pursue an M.Ed. in Community College/Higher Education at Northern Arizona University where she has completed eight of the ten courses required for graduation and anticipates completing the program in the summer of 2020. Dr. Eutsey takes seriously the imperative to “grow your own” staff and faculty in tribal colleges and so she is mentoring several of her colleagues who have just begun the same M.Ed. program with the goal of filling key positions that will be needed as the College grows and develops.
As Dean of the Faculty at Diné College in the Navajo Nation, Dr. Eutsey provided direction, leadership, and supervision to the College’s eight Academic Division Chairs, the Director of Assessment, and to the College’s five Academic Standing Committees. In addition, Dr. Eutsey oversaw all curriculum development at the course and program levels. Working with faculty and directors for Diné College’s six-site system in Arizona and New Mexico, Dr. Eutsey developed the schedules for all face-to-face, interactive television, and online courses. She also led and maintained Diné College’s accreditation efforts, and worked with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) to get approvals for several new certificate programs, an associate’s degree program, five bachelor’s degree programs, as well as blanket approval for offering all of the College’s programs using distance education. In addition, Dr. Eutsey oversaw that transfer and articulation of programs in Arizona and New Mexico and served on the AZTransfer Steering Committee and as a Facilitator at Articulation Task Force meetings across the state.
Dr. Eutsey’s most important goals for Apache College are to oversee its pursuit of candidacy for, and eventual stand-alone, accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), to build the programs which most align with the community’s employment and nation-building agendas, to foster and maintain strong relationships with the three state universities in key areas, and to position the College as a nexus for community education writ-large.
Dr. Eutsey has long known that, to build a successful community-centered college, it’s essential to build courses and programs that truly meet the most urgent needs of the community. Dr. Eutsey therefore recently wrote an Administration for Native Americans (ANA) grant project which was awarded $1.2 million dollars over three years for a project titled “Fostering Community Health Through Education.” This funding enabled the College to build three new degree programs in the Social Services fields and will allow the College to start developing co-curricular courses and activities to promote physical, cultural, and emotional well-being among the College’s student population. Dr. Eutsey also worked closely with the local high schools to build a dual credit program so that high school students can earn a significant amount of college credits before they graduate.