Summerset, SD — Native Nations Rebuilders Program (cohort 6) - With more than 20 years in American Indian education as a teacher and administrator, Robert Cook is senior managing director of Teach For America’s Native Alliance Initiative, which builds partnerships with Native organizations and other key stakeholders to improve education across Native communities. He served on the boards of the National Indian Education Association, South Dakota Education Association and South Dakota Indian Education Association. He is also on a technical review panel for National Indian Education Study. Robert has been honored as “teacher of the year” by the schools of Little Wound and Lower Brule, the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation (2006) and the National Indian Education Association. In 2005, he was South Dakota’s Milken National Educator. Robert has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Black Hills State University and a master’s degree in education administration from Oglala Lakota College. He is married to Daphne Richards-Cook, and they have two sons.
