Contact Us:

For more information on College Horizons or Graduate Horizons, please contact:
Christine Suina, Program Coordinator

P.O. Box 1262
Pena Blanca, NM 87041
(505) 401-3854
info@collegehorizons.org

Become a Partner College/University
College Horizons is designed to align with the multicultural-diversity outreach initiatives of college/university Offices of Admissions. We understand that Indian Country is vast - comprised of 310 geographical reservations and 40 Indian Statistical Areas (29 located in Oklahoma), 200 Alaska Native villages, over 563 federally recognized and over 200 state recognized tribal nations, and islands of Native Hawaiian homelands. We also know that Native American and Native Hawaiian students continue to be the most underrepresented minority population on college

College Horizons invites colleges and universities to participate in our college-access and pre-graduate summer programs. Offices of admission, financial aid, student services, career services, Native American programs/study, and fellowship programs are welcome. Space is limited to 35 - 40 partner schools with returning partners having priority placement. In general, contracts to participate are sent to schools in July and are due in September for participation in the following summer's program (this allows College Horizons to promote the partner schools for 9 months).

If your institution is interested in participating in College Horizons (to recruit high school students for college) or Graduate Horizons (to recruit college students/graduates to graduate School), please contact our office for more information on the benefits/outcomes, services, contracts, curriculum, and fees.

Staff Biographies

Carmen D. Lopez, Ed.M., Executive Director
Carmen Lopez is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and is from the Forest Lake area of Black Mesa, Arizona and she also grew up in Farmington, New Mexico.  Mrs. Lopez is of the Bitter Water clan born for the Anglo clan; her maternal grandfathers clan is Many Goats and her paternal grandfathers clan is Anglo.

Mrs. Lopez recently served for five years as the Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) located in Cambridge, MA.   In her efforts to build a vibrant intellectual community committed to Native American Studies at Harvard, Mrs. Lopez oversaw the operation of the university-wide Interfaculty Initiative which focused on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian recruitment and student support;  interdisciplinary teaching and research projects on Native issues; and community outreach.  Mrs. Lopez also served as a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Ethnic Studies, The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, admissions reader for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Master in Public Policy program, consultant to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and a reader and site visitor for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development’s Honoring Nations Program. 

Prior to her appointment at HUNAP, Mrs. Lopez served on the faculty of Cushing Academy located in Ashburnham, MA and the Native American Preparatory School located in Rowe, NM where she taught high school United States History, American Studies, and American Politics and Government.  She received her B.A. in History modified with Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Mrs. Lopez volunteers her time with the Indian Dispute Resolution Services Inc. and the Native American Alumni Association at Dartmouth College.  Mrs. Lopez enjoys running and being outdoors; she is an avid Formula One racing fan; enjoys her husband’s photography, reading science-fiction, and collecting Navajo folk art. She also enjoys spending time as a new mom rediscovering the world with her daughter.

Christine M. Suina, Program Coordinator
Ms. Suina is from Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico.  She's an alumna of Colorado College with a BA in Anthropology and a minor is Southwest Studies.  Christine has worked with a number of organizations through out the years including: The Los Alamos National Laboratories, The Pueblo of Cochiti, Eight Northern Indian Pueblos' Talent Search Program. The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and the Daniels Fund.  Christine's involvement in College Horizons dates back to 1998 as a counselor and she is currently serves as Program Coordinator.

Hillary Abe, Recruitment and Alumni Coordinator

Mission Statement:
The mission of College Horizons is to encourage and facilitate the education of Native American young people.

History:
College Horizons was founded in 1998 by Dr. Whitney Laughlin, at the Native American Preparatory School (NAPS) in partnership with Nobert Hill and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES).  In 2003 the American Indian Graduate Center (the administrator of the Gates Millennium Scholars Fund for Native American students) became a partner and fiscal agent of College Horizons.  By 2004, due to our increased program size, College Horizons successfully received a 501c3 non-profit status.  Today, College Horizons is based out of Pena Blanca, NM and continues to support the higher education of Native students by providing pre-college (College Horizons) and graduate school (Graduate Horizons) summer programs opens to Native high school and college students/graduates from across the nation.

From 1998-2000 the College Horizons program was hosted at the Native American Preparatory School located in Rowe, NM and the inaugural program consisted of 48 students and 20 partner schools.  In 2001, due to the increased size of the program, College Horizons was held for the first time on two college campuses - St. John's College and Washington University. Since that time, Whitman Dartmounth, Harvard, Carleton, Oberlin, Westmont Colleges, University of Puget Sound, Rice, Stanford, Duke, and Lawrence Universities have hosted the summer programs.  Because of our rapidly growing applicant pool we are now at 180 students, 90 per site.  In 2007, our tenth anniversary year, we were at Stanford and Harvard with record 200 students.

In 2003 College Horizons alumni requested a pre-graduate program based on the CH model.  The Graduate Horizons program was first held in 2004 at Washington University with 60 students. Since that time, Yale University, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Washington, and the University Arizona have hosted the program. To date, a total of 340 students have attended Graduate Horizons.

For eleven years College Horizons has operated under a small and dedicated staff of 2 members (Executive Director, Whitney Laughlin and Program Coordinator, Christine Suina). In November 2008, a third staff member was hired, and in May 2009, Carmen Lopez, member of the Navajo Nation and former Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program, will become the first Native director of College Horizons and will succeed the founder.





1st row, left to right: Christine Suina (and Makayla), Joan Currier (AIGC), Petuuche Gilbert, Whitney Laughlin, Shelley Arakawa, Robin VanBuskirk, Christa Moya (AIGC)
2nd row, left to right: Barbara Sorensen, Phyllis Pettit Nassi, Laura Jagles, Alvin Garcia, Zonnie Gorman, Jan Brooks
3rd row, left to right: Sweeney Windchief, Jay Rosner, Dave Schindel, Jarrid Whitney, Eric Manolito, Peter Aranda, Matt Perez, Larry Clendenin

Board of Directors:
Shelley M.H. Arakawa, J.D.
Chief Educational Manager, The College Board
Palo Alto, CA

Peter J. Aranda (Otomi/Cherokee)
Executive Director & CEO, The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management
St. Louis, MO

Curtis L. Esquibel - President
Assistant Director of Outreach, Denver Scholarship Foundation
Denver, CO

Carmen D. Lopez, Ed.M. (Navajo)  - Ex Officio
Executive Director, College Horizons
Tucson, AZ

Matthew Perez (Picuris Pueblo/Cochiti Pueblo) - Secretary
Self-employed
Santa Fe, NM

Jarrid James Whitney Ed.M. (Six Nations Cayuga) - Vice-President
Senior Associate Dean, Undergraduate Admission Office, Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA

Advisory Council Members:

Karen Francis-Begay (Navajo)
Special Advisor to the President on Native American Affairs, The University of Arizona, Alumni parent
Tucson, AZ

Jan Brooks
Former CEO, New Mexico Association of Grantmakers; Philanthropic Consultant & Business Owner
Santa Fe, NM

Jackson Brossy (Navajo)
Masters Student, Harvard Kennedy School - College and Graduate Horizons alumnus
Cambridge, MA

Larry Clendenin
Director of Admissions, St. John's College
Santa Fe, NM

Joan Currier
Chief Financial Officer
American Indian Graduate Center/AIGC Scholars
Albuquerque, NM

Nedra Darling (Prairie Band Potawatomi)
Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, Alumni parent
Washington, D.C.

Alvin Garcia (Santo Domingo Pueblo)
Student, Harvard Medical School - College & Graduate Horizons alumnus
Cambridge, MA

Petuuche Gilbert (Acoma Pueblo)
Realty Officer
Acoma Pueblo, NM

Zonnie Gorman (Navajo)
Project Coordinator, Circle of Light Navajo Educational Project
Gallup, NM

Dwight A. Gourneau (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)
Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian
Alumnae grandparent
Rochester, MN

Norbert Hill (Oneida)
Vice President, College of Menominee Nation
Green Bay, WI

Adrienne Keene (Cherokee)
Graduate Student, Harvard University
College & Graduate Horizons, alumna
Palo Alto, CA

Leah Rose Lussier (Red Lake Ojibwe)
Juris Doctor Candidate 2010, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
College & Graduate Horizons alumna
Tucson, AZ

Whitney Laughlin, Ed.D.
Assistant Director and Founder
Santa Fe, NM & Victoria, BC

Eric Manolito (Navajo)
Regional Coordinator, Futures for Children, College & Graduate Horizons alumnus
Albuquerque, NM

Phyllis Pettit Nassi, MSW (Otoe-Missouria & Cherokee)
Manager Special Populations, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, alumnus parent
Salt Lake City, UT

Jay Rosner
Executive Director, The Princeton Review Foundation
Mill Valley,CA

Barbara Sorensen
Senior Editor/Winds of Change Magazine AISES
Boulder, CO

Shelly Valdez, Ph.D. (Laguna Pueblo)
Educational Consultant & Business Owner, Native Pathways, Inc.
Laguna, NM

Robin VanBuskirk
Business Manager
Cottonwood, AZ

Robert A. Williams Jr. (Lumbee)
E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies,
Director, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program
The University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, Alumna parent
Tucson, AZ

Sweeney Windchief (Fort Peck Assiniboine)
Assistant Dean for Diversity, University of Utah - Graduate School
Salt Lake City,UT