Dean Chavers

Dean Chavers (born 1941) is the director of Catching the Dream, formerly known as the Native American Scholarship fund. The organization has produced 679 Native American college graduates since 1987, including 110 educators, 38 doctors, 28 engineers, 104 business graduates, and 110 scientists.

Early life and education He was born to Lumbee parents. His mother was Dorothy Marie Godwin and his father was Issac Locklear. However, his mother married Luther Cherry Chavers before he was born, and it was Luther that he called daddy. He attended the University of Richmond for two years, 1960–62, before joining the US Air Force as an Aviation Cadet. Chavers received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and his two M.A. degrees and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. As a student activist, Chavers and his fellow American Indian students were successful in petitioning the university to change the school's mascot from the Stanford Indian to the Stanford Cardinal. Chavers distinguished himself as a navigator during the Vietnam War. He flew 138 missions and received the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and eight other awards. He also spent 30 years as a newspaper columnist, writing on American Indian education, Lumbee recognition, and other social justice issues. Dr. Chavers participated in the famed Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969.

Career Chavers has spent 35 years as a consultant in Indian education He initiated the Exemplary Programs in Indian Education (EPIE) Movement in 1988, which has founded 39 such programs in Indian schools.