Felica Ahasteen-Bryant (Dine')

Felica Ahasteen-Bryant is the Director of the Native American Educational and Cultural Center. She is from the Dine’ Nation, born and raised on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Her maternal clan is Naashashi (Bear) and paternal clan is Kinyaa’aanii (Towering House People). She is a graduate of New Mexico State University where she received her bachelor’s in Business and completed her master’s in Education from Indiana University.

Ahasteen-Bryant was the Program Coordinator with the Office of Multicultural Programs in the College of Agriculture for three years. Her primary responsibility was to recruit and retain under-represented populations into the College. Before joining Purdue University in March 2007, she spent 10 years with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the area of undergraduate recruitment and early outreach in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Center. Her community involvement includes serving on the American Indian Center of Indiana Board of Directors and member for the American Indian Theatre Company of Indiana, Indianapolis Native American Heritage Day Committee, United Way of Central Indiana Diversity Volunteer Breakfast Committee, and Indiana Multiethnic Committee. She also assists the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians in Indianapolis with cultural presentations and programs.

She serves as the co-advisor for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Purdue student chapter and co-advisor for the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) Purdue student chapter

Deb Swihart (Miami Nation of Indiana)
 

As Assistant to the Director, my role is to support the activities and mission of the NAECC by working "behind the scenes".  I believe strongly in the importance of a welcoming, nurturing, and supportive environment for students, and I am devoted to making NAECC a home away from home for Native American students at Purdue.  Individually, each of us brings special gifts to campus.  Collectively, we can form a community that makes a positive difference for all of us at Purdue and beyond.

As well as being a part of the NAECC, I am a freelance photographer.