Dr. Alicia Mousseau was recently sworn in as the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s new Vice President. She and President Kevin Killer will lead the administration over the next two years.
Dr. Alicia Mousseau edged out former Oglala Sioux Tribe President and founder of Lakota Nation Invitational Bryan Brewer for the vice presidency. She will serve the tribe’s almost 47,000 members across 2.1 million acres of land that consists of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Mousseau grew up in Porcupine and earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Wyoming. She ran on the platform of promoting STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.
“We know the importance of that. We have those roots in our culture and community. But we need places for those people who want those careers to land, and I'm also a researcher myself and I've navigated that here and know the difficulties. And how amazing it would be if we had our own research and training center, where we were leading our own research and we were collaborating with outside entities. And I think that's a possibility during the pandemic.”
Mousseau says she has used her education to help Native Americans not only in Pine Ridge but Natives across the country to address the myriad of social and health inequities they struggle with. Another goal as vice president is to not only continue that work, but to also find new ways to utilize her office for what the needs of the people are.
"I think a vice president position has been a sleeping giant of a position. Right? There's a lot that can happen from this office, not just... I know the Constitution, we have our Constitution, and I have my duties there, but there's a lot we can do. And I'm a team player, so I'm excited to see what we can do, and especially from my platform pieces I ran on, I ran on those because I knew you can do things with this office and that would be helpful for the entire tribe.”
Mousseau says she appreciates the support and is excited to find solutions for the tribe to handle the current pandemic situation that will serve well into the future.
