New Native American Recruiter Joins UW Admissions

Michelle Ortiz sees herself as more than a student recruiter. She considers herself a role model.

“I’m planning on using my own personal experience in recruiting,” says Ortiz, the new Native American recruiter at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Growing up in a predominantly minority neighborhood in Davenport, Iowa, Ortiz says she felt she “didn’t deserve” to go to college.

“I thought I couldn’t do it,” says Ortiz, citing negative and stereotypical messages she heard about Native Americans. Ortiz, whose background is a mix of Cherokee and German on her mother’s side and Aztec Indian on her father’s side, strove to overcome those harming messages and, at age 25, enrolled at Northland College, an environmental liberal arts college in Ashland, Wis.

Now, armed with a bachelor’s in Outdoor Education/Native American Studies, Ortiz says she is ready to put her education and life experiences to work in attracting Native Americans students to the university. She began her new position in Minority Applicant Services as part of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions on Feb. 3. Along with employing a Native-American recruiter, Minority Applicant Services employs an African-American recruiter and an Hispanic-Latino recruiter, although all of the university’s recruiters work to attract students of color.

In fall 1996, 219 Native American students enrolled at UW–Madison, up from 207 in the fall of 1995 and the most ever in the history of the university.

Ortiz says she is targeting both “urban Indians,” as she calls herself, and Native-American students growing up on reservations. There are 11 Native-American tribes in Wisconsin, as well as sizable Native-American populations throughout the Midwest and United States.

“It’s scary to leave the reservation or another home setting,” Ortiz says. “That’s why I want the students to become familiar with me. Then I can direct them into programs designed to help make their transition easier here.”

Ortiz says she was drawn to her new job by the diversity of the student body on campus. “The different cultures, the different languages, the whole diversity scene is very appealing to me,” she says.

For now, Ortiz is getting acclimated to her new position and gearing up for the push in recruiting this summer and fall. She will represent the university at high schools across the state and the Midwest, and will make special trips to tribal schools and high schools with sizable Native-American populations. In addition, she will attend community events in Native-American communities to meet potential recruits.

CONTACT: Michelle Ortiz, (608)263-3325; Cleveland James, (608)262-3410