Moore to start as American Indian Student Center director in July

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BROOKINGS – Erica Moore will start as South Dakota State University’s American Indian Student Center director July 8. Moore comes to SDSU after spending the past four years as the chief academic officer at the Lower Brule Community College.

“Dr. Moore brings a strong background in supporting American Indian students in higher education, most recently through her work at Lower Brule Community College. Her commitment to American Indian student success and passion for fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces indigenous cultures in higher education was evident throughout her interview process. We are excited for Dr. Moore to join the team at SDSU,” said Michaela Willis, SDSU’s vice president for student affairs.

While working on her doctorate dissertation, Moore came into contact with Dr. Natalie Anderson, president at Lower Brule Community College. That meeting changed her career path.

“I had been teaching history and had seen firsthand the struggles that marginalized students have in the classroom. We discussed marginalized students, the issues they face and the work I was trying to do regarding their success in the classroom,” Moore said. “After talking with her a while, I was convinced that this is what I wanted to do moving forward and I made the decision to pick up and move to South Dakota from New Jersey.”

Before starting at Lower Brule Community College, Moore was a faculty member at Rowan College at Gloucester County, Southern New Hampshire University and the University of Phoenix.

“While doing research for my dissertation, I’d come across practical applications that could be implemented to help American Indian students succeed but hadn’t seen many larger institutions put those efforts in place,” she said. “Once I moved to South Dakota and became familiar with what President (Barry) Dunn and his team at SDSU were achieving, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

“I look forward to meeting with all of the students through the AISC and the Wokini Initiative and learning from them how we can work better together to reach our goals,” Moore said. “Each student is different and each tribe is different, and we need to understand and learn from them what will work best.”

Moore earned her bachelor’s degree in history from University of Maryland University College and a master’s degree in history from the American Military University. She completed her doctorate from Northcentral University in 2016.