IAIA Valedictorian to Appear on NBC’s Dateline

Santa Fe, New Mexico (UCTP Taino News) - Jamie Figueroa (Taino), a recent valedictorian graduate from the Institute ofAmerican Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico will be one of the featured interviews on ‘Dateline NBC’ Friday, June 1, 2012. A part of the program, will showcase various colleges and graduates from around the United States.  The segment, airing at 9pm est. (8pm central), will include a Tribal College, IAIA, for the first time.  The Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development (IAIA), is one of 36 tribal colleges located in the United States.

Figueroa graduated earlier this month with a B.F.A. in Creative Writing. She is of Taino heritage from Boriken (Puerto Rico), and enrolled with the United Confederation of Taino People.  Among her many accomplishments, Figueroa has been published in various literary journals, including Split Oak Press, ekleksographia, the Tribal College Journal and the Santa Fe Literary Review. She also created an internship for herself at the Santa Fe Reporter writing an online blog, “With This Pen,” which explores race, identity and relationships. Figueroa has also taught creative writing in elementary, middle and high schools, and in the Honors Program at the University of New Mexico. She believes story–the act of telling story and listening to story–is the most powerful tool we have as human beings to enact compassion and change.

'Dateline NBC,’ is the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime.

UCTPTN05.31.2012