Laurel Vermillion

Laurel A. Vermillion is an American (Hunkpapa) educator and academic administrator who served as the president of Sitting Bull College from 2006 to 2024. She previously served as its vice president of operations and vice president of academic affairs. She was a principal of Marty Indian School and an elementary teacher in the Fort Yates School District for fourteen years.

Early life

Vermillion was born and raised in the small town of Kennel, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. A Hunkpapa, her Lakota language name, is Oyate Wanyanka Pi Win . She was raised 1.5 miles away from the Missouri River and used to collect water and nearby wild grapes with her grandparents using a horse-drawn wagon.

Vermillion worked as an elementary teacher in the Fort Yates School District for fourteen years. Richard G. Landry was her doctoral advisor.

Personal life Vermillion married in October 1973 and had three children.