Charles M. Roessel

• Name — Charles M. Roessel • Born — 28 June 1961 • Died — 6 January 2025 • Place of death — Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. • Other Names — Monty Roessel • Education — * University of Northern Colorado (BS) • Prescott College (MA) • Arizona State University (EdD) • Occupation — President of Diné College

Roessel was born on June 28, 1961. He earned his bachelor's degree in photography and industrial arts at the University of Northern Colorado in 1984. Roessel died in Albuquerque from cancer on January 6, 2025, at the age of 63.

From September 1997 to December 2000, Roessel was director of the Navajo Nation Round Rock Chapter AmeriCorps. Roessel worked at Rough Rock Community School from 1998 until 2011, starting as director of community services. He also taught photography and coached baseball. He was named executive director in 2000 and seven years later, in 2007, he became superintendent. During his time at Rough Rock, he oversaw major capital projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In 2007, he completed his doctorate at Arizona State University in Tempe in Educational Administration and Supervision. That same year, he published a second children's book: Kinaalda: A Navajo girl grows up. In 2010, he became chair of the Department of the Interior's No Child Left Behind Negotiated Rule Making Committee. He also served on the Sovereignty in Navajo Education Reauthorization Task Force with the Navajo Education Department of Diné Education. Roessel became associate deputy director for Navajo Schools under the Bureau of Indian Education ("BIE") in 2011. During this time, he oversaw 66 BIE schools on the Navajo Nation. Starting in February 2012, Roessel began serving as acting director of the BIE. In December 2013, he was named director. Roessel was demoted in 2016 after an investigation by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General revealed he had used his position as director to get a friend a job in the department and getting a relative a job with the Navajo Nation.

In 2017, Roessel was named the 18th president of Diné College. His father, Bob Roessel, co-founded the school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Roessel invested stimulus funds from the CARES Act to purchase rental laptops and internet access for students at Diné, where approximately 86 percent of students do not have at home internet access. He also created an emergency aid program which distributed over 300 checks to qualifying students to support basic needs. Graduation was also held online. Before his death, he led the transformation of the former two-year college into a four-year institution.

• (1993). Kinaaldá: A Navajo Girl Grows Up. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publ. Group. • (1995) Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publ. Group. • (1996). Navajo Photography. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 20(3), 83–91. doi:10.17953/aicr.20.3.225476644v811528 • with Peter Iverson (2002). Diné: A History of the Navajos. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. • (2018). Self-Determination as a School Improvement Strategy. Journal of American Indian Education, 57(1), 177. doi:10.5749/jamerindieduc.57.1.0177