2007 Horace Mann Award Recipient - Wendy Rosen

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Long before she came to Antioch, Wendy Rosen got a glimpse of racial discrimination in her first teaching job in a small, central New York state community. African American migrant workers chose to remain in the area after the growing season, which caused tensions among white farmers and the former migrants.

“All the tensions in the community were played out in the classroom,” she says.

Rosen’s experience was just one impetus for her to pursue a career as an educator with a focus on cross-cultural communication. She received her Ed.M. from Harvard University before she headed to Alaska, where she eventually became responsible for post-secondary education in Alaskan Native communities throughout the interior of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“Traveling to the villages, I was learning about all the cultures,” she says. “During that time, I developed an intense and long-abiding commitment to Native education, particularly for women.”

Rosen married and raised her two Koyukon Athabascan daughters (and more recently, one grand daughter and two stepchildren). She also completed a Ph.D. in education policy from Michigan State University.

All of this would lead her to where she is today as chair of the First Peoples’ Education programs, a partnership between Antioch University Seattle and the Muckleshoot Tribal College. Her success at increasing the number of Native American teachers in Washington state is a victory for humanity that won her the 2007 Horace Mann Award.

“Students who come here see their work as an opportunity to make changes. We offer the space to find opportunities to make a difference.”

In her nominating letter, Linda Campbell, executive director of Antioch’s Center for Native Education and creator of the First Peoples’ Education programs, describes how Rosen has dedicated her professional career to enhancing the academic success of Native Americans, the most underserved students in the nation.

“Her efforts to recruit and retain Native teacher education students have resulted in one of the nation's largest and most successful Indian teacher credentialing programs. To accomplish this feat, she has willingly assumed numerous roles that go beyond that of most postsecondary faculty. She serves as recruiter, coach, trusted adviser, fund-raiser, and cultural ambassador and diplomat,” Campbell writes.

Will Bill, Jr., program manager for Seattle Public Schools’ Huchoosedah Indian Education, graduated from Antioch with a master’s degree and teaching credential and was a student of Rosen’s. Also a member of Antioch’s Board of Visitors, Bill now is adjunct faculty for the First Peoples’ programs.

“Wendy Rosen provides a professional working environment where the adjunct faculty is an equal and integral part of the program,” Bill says. “Her respect for and commitment to the Native student and faculty is to be heralded. As one of her former students and now a colleague, I have seen Wendy demonstrate a patience and willingness to learn that is uncommon in the average educator. This type of dedication has earned her trust and commitment that is not given easily in our Muckleshoot community.”      

She says she is pleased word is getting out among Native Americans about Antioch’s First Peoples’ programs.

“We can assist Native people so they can get a degree at a tribal school with Native faculty and assist them in meeting their own goals. Antioch and the First Peoples’ programs are really about transforming yourself and the world.

“Students who come here see their work as an opportunity to make changes. We offer the space to find opportunities to make a difference,” she says.    

One of the greatest challenges for educators, according to Rosen, is how to overcome prescriptive teaching methods. This narrow focus negatively impacts both students and teachers of color.

“People are being convinced we should teach one particular way,” she says.

There’s a poster in Rosen’s office at the Muckleshoot Tribal College in Auburn that underscores her commitment to educating Native American teachers. It lists baseball teams called the Pittsburgh Negroes, Kansas City Jews, San Diego Caucasians and Cleveland Indians. The banner headline reads: “Maybe Now You Know How Native Americans Feel."

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