Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College
100 Campus Drive
Weatherford, OK 73096
(580) 774-3139
Fax: (580) 774-7085
catc@swosu.edu
Letter from Dr. Henrietta Mann, CATC President
Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples always have been visionaries. They looked far into the future to ascertain the needs of the people and created viable solutions that were in harmony and congruent with the dictates of time and place. Simply stated they wanted their descendants to be healthy, knowledgeable, skillful, and happy. This is as true today in the 21st century as it was at creation where our road of life began. It is a cyclical road of life that is unending. It extends far back into the past and it extends just as far into the future.
As two allied tribes, we love our children and we revere our elders. We look to our ancestors for the wealth of traditional knowledge they have passed down to us through the ages. It is this knowledge that forms the academic core of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College (CATC) established in 2006. We exist as a partner of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, (SWOSU) where we currently are located. As a tribal college, we are blessed in having such an institutional arrangement for now. We will not always be here on the SWOSU campus, and when the time is right, we will have our own independent campus once curriculum, faculty and staff are in place and we are financially healthy. Just as important, CATC has to have a student enrollment that justifies or warrants a college.
We are pleased that you have made the choice to enroll as a CATC student or are contemplating becoming a student. As an undergraduate, you can simultaneously enroll as both a SWOSU and CATC student. We offer tribal language courses and other culture-based courses that can lead to a minor in American Indian Studies or an Associate of Arts Degree. I can think of no better way for you to be accountable to our ancestors, for whom education always has been important. You are the generation now wearing those educational moccasins that honorably follow in the footsteps of generations upon generations of ancestors.
Education was their vision for you, just as it is our vision for you today. It is a vision of people like Ida Hoffman, Quinton Roman Nose, Dr. Radwan Al-Jarrah, the members of your Board of Regents, those serving on your tribal government, as well as the many others who have worked silently and diligently for many years. We hope that you will come here to learn and strengthen your knowledge of the languages, history, culture, and contemporary situation of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. It is your tribal college. Enjoy it. Promote it. Continue your education. It is an honor to welcome you to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College.
Sincerely,
Henrietta Mann, Ph.D.