Naranjo, Pat and Margie
Pat Naranjo is (in his words) “a member of Kha Po Owinge/Santa Clara Pueblo, a graduate from Haskell Indian Nations University, and an American Indian Studies graduate from UCLA.
“Growing up in Santa Clara Pueblo, I always maintained an interest in ideas that weren’t necessarily the norm for Native children in my community. I was the owner of a large chemistry set that wasn’t the most attractive “board game” to play. One of my favorite toys was Perceptor, a scientist transformer, which changed into a microscope as its alternate form. Unlike the other transformer toys that transitioned into vehicles or fighter planes, Perceptor wasn’t the most popular transformer in the cartoon series as a microscope. He rarely engaged in battle, and each appearance in the cartoon highlighted his tendency to engage in overbearing communication using scientific terminology. These kinds of alternate interests informed me at a young age to be an individual and more importantly reinforced my view to be different.
“An opportunity to serve as leadership for the AIGP at UC Berkeley is not only a chance to create opportunities that address American Indian and Alaska Native students in higher education, but an opportunity to transform the future of Indian education through innovative research, and through the celebration of students that have always maintained a similar view to be different, and explore their interests outside of a normal setting.
“As a Native individual, I embrace a clear understanding of the history and marginalized perspective associated with the American Indian student experience. I also have over six years of experience working in higher education as the Native American Liaison for UNLV, and I am a founding member of the UNLV Intersection, an Academic Multicultural Resource Center. Within this role, I was able to utilize my Tewa perspective to address intersectional issues that impact students in higher education.”
Margie is his wife, also from Santa Clara Pueblo. Other than that, there is very little information available about them.