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Staff Profiles

Dennis Tibbetts, Ph.D. - Director

Dr. Tibbetts is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe in Minnesota and a Wind River Shoshone. He was born and raised in Detroit and the surrounding area. Like many American Indian men he served in the military and was drafted by the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam in 1967.

Dr. Tibbetts was a member of Advisory Council to the late Lester Gimmel (Pit River Tribe), who was then the Director of the American Indian Education for the Michigan Department of Education. Mr. Gimmel was instrumental in presenting to the Michigan State Legislation the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver in 1976, which became Michigan Public Act 174. This Act was instrumental in opening the doors to higher education for Native Americans in the State of Michigan.

In 1994, while he was an Assistant Dean of Students and a Clinical Counselor at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champagne, Dr. Tibbetts, along with several other Native Americans filed a Civil Rights complaint with the United States Department of Education asking them to remove "Chief Illiniwek" as the mascot of the University of Illinois. The Department essentially ruled that the mascot did not cause sufficient injury to justify removal. However, in August of 2005 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released a statement that includes the following: "The policy prohibiting colleges or universities with hostile or abusive mascots, nicknames or imagery from hosting any NCAA championship competitions takes effect February 1, 2006." Under continued sanctions from the NCAA, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted 10 to 1 on March 13th, 2007 to retire Chief Illiniwek's name, regalia and image.

Dr. Tibbetts is concerned about the graduation rate of American Indian high school students and their aspirations to pursue a college education. The Center has three goals: 1) retention and graduation of American Indian students; 2) acknowledgement of the link between the Costanoan/Ohlone people and the UCSC campus; and 3) bringing high quality people to the campus to discuss issues of importance to the campus community and to Native people.

Lucio G. Cloud Ramirez- Program Coordinator

Hello everyone, I am glad to be working with our Native Community on campus. I am Nebraska Winnebago and White Earth Ojibwe. I have been born and raised in California. I am a recent UCSC Community Studies graduate, class of 2006. My interests include Community Health, Tribal Counseling models, and Environmental Justice. Santa Cruz is currently home to my family. This includes my wife, my two daughters, my parents, and my sister and brother. I appreciate the natural beauty of Santa Cruz, our running trails and beaches.

Lucio is currently pursuing his M.A. in Counseling Psychology (MFT Track) from Santa Clara University. Lucio is a member of the University of California Santa Cruz, Interfaith Council. Lucio is also a member of the American Indian Counselors and Recruiters Association. AICRA is a UC wide organization that is supported by the University Office of the President. Lucio is also a Northern Traditional Dancer.