Director of Diversity and adjunct professor of Organizational Behavior Steve Denson from the SMU Cox School of Business has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Native American Employment and Training Council (NAETC) for a two-year stay.

Denson will be joining the 21 current members of the council, each appointed for a term designated by the Secretary of Labor, for whom the NAETC works as an advisory committee. Since being founded in 1998 under the Workforce Investment Act, the NAETC provides advice on operations and various administrations concerning Native American employment and training programs.

Denson is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and was named Native American of the Year in 2004 by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce, where he worked for over four years. He has received international acclaim for his outreach and for his help in establishing recruiting programs designed specifically to attract Native Americans to the workforce.

He also serves as Trustee of the American Indian College Fund, which provides Native Americans with scholarships and other support for various tribal colleges, which are mainly located on or near reservations. More than 5,000 scholarships are distributed annually to Native American students who qualify for the award.

Denson graduated with a bachelor’s degree from East Central University in 1991 and received his M.P.A. at Carnegie Mellon in 1993 with majors in public management and policy. He has also been named Outstanding Faculty Member at SMU in 2000, and has been called the “driving force” in recruiting Native American MBA’s by the Wall Street Journal and the Voice of America.

“The WIA is an integral part of building and keeping a strong economy. The programs train thousands of young people each year in preparation to enter the U.S. workforce,” Denson said in a recent interview. “I look forward to working with the secretary and other members of the advisory group and I am very honored to accept this appointment.”