ByTim Leeds/Havre Daily News/tleeds@havredailynews.com
Stone Child College at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation has selected a new president.
Melody Henry, 40, dean of student services at the college, was selected president at a meeting of the college's Board of Regents on Tuesday.
Henry began work today.
"I'm just trying to get everything in order," she said.
Thelma Stanley, personnel officer at the college, said a search committee interviewed the four applicants and ranked them on a point system, then turned the selection over to the Board of Regents.
Henry said she was honored to be selected from the field of candidates, all of whom are enrolled members of the Chippewa Cree Tribe.
The other candidates were Gilbert "Bruce" Meyers; Alfred Youngman, an associate professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta; and Nate St. Pierre, dean of academics at Stone Child.
Former Stone Child president Steve Galbavy retired after 12 years with the college, the last eight as president. Galbavy, who went to work for the National Tribal Development Center based at Rocky Boy, left Stone Child on Nov. 5.
Henry and Galbavy both were honored at a luncheon at the college Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The college, chartered by the Rocky Boy tribal council in 1984, is a tribally controlled community college accredited by the Commission of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. It offers associate degrees in fields including business, computer science, math, Native American studies, and science.
About 300 full-time and part-time students attend the college.
Henry, a member of the second graduating class at Stone Child, said she wants to give something back to the college, which she considers a valuable asset for the reservation.
"I guess I'm a prime example," she said. "I went through the system at Stone Child and went on to get degrees from other institutions."
She said the major project she will focus on in the near future is construction of a learning center, which will have several classrooms and a shop.
The learning center will be used for vocational and technical classes. Henry said the college is working with Montana State University-Northern so the classes will tie in with four-year programs offered at the university's College of Technical Sciences and graduates of the Stone Child program would be able to finish their degrees at Northern.
She said she wants to continue to expand the offerings at Stone Child, providing more opportunities for people on the reservation.
After she graduated in 1987 from Stone Child with an associate degree in business, Henry earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Northern Montana College. She later graduated from Northern with a master of education in learning development, and recently completed course work to become a school administrator.
She taught at Rocky Boy High School and served as bilingual coordinator at Box Elder Public Schools before she became an adult education teacher at Stone Child about 13 years ago.
Henry then worked as the college adult education coordinator and student support services director before taking over as dean of student services.
Her husband, Frank Henry, is the plant manager at Stone Child.
Her oldest son, Jeffrey, 20, is a junior at MSU-Northern, majoring in computers. Her son Aaron, 16, is a junior at Box Elder High School and her daughter, Caycee, 12, is a seventh-grader at Box Elder Middle School.
