[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 50 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2501-S2502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Tribute to Dr. Joseph Suina

  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Dr. Joseph 
Suina for his service to our Nation.
  Dr. Suina is a former Cochiti Pueblo Governor, a University of New 
Mexico professor emeritus, and a Vietnam and Marine Corps veteran. 
Recognition of Dr. Suina's service is long overdue.
  But before I speak about his military service, I want to take a 
moment to recognize what Dr. Suina's decades of leadership have meant 
for Cochiti Pueblo and for New Mexico as a whole.
  Over the course of his life, Dr. Suina has served as a Governor for 
his Pueblo and a Tribal council member. He also served as the president 
and CEO of the Cochiti Community Development Corporation and as the 
chair of the Cochiti Language Revival Committee.
  But before all of that, Dr. Suina grew up in Cochiti Pueblo, within 
the adobe walls of his grandmother's home. He has recounted the nights 
she would sing to him in their native language and tell him stories of 
her childhood, well before electricity and cars had made their way to 
the Pueblo.
  As a young boy, he was shunned by his teachers for speaking his 
native language at school and experienced the stark contrast between 
the teachings of his grandmother and those of his nonnative teachers.
  Through it all, Dr. Suina found strength in his culture, later 
leading him to become a champion for keeping indigenous language and 
culture at the center of Native American education policy.
  Dr. Suina worked for decades as a professor in the University of New 
Mexico's College of Education, and he directed the Institute for 
American Indian Education, serving Tribes across the Southwest. His 
scholarship focused on how maintaining connection to tradition, 
culture, and language improves educational outcomes for Native 
students.
  He also developed new methods for assessing student learning and 
training programs for educators who teach Native students. And over the 
years, Dr. Suina has mentored countless teachers whose work continues 
to make a difference for New Mexico's children and children throughout 
the entire Southwest.
  You can see the results of his work in so many communities, but 
especially in his home community of Cochiti Pueblo and at the Keres 
Children's Learning Center. The center is an indigenous language 
revitalization school that has become one of the very best early 
childhood and primary education centers in the entire country. It

[[Page S2502]]

is a living testament to Dr. Suina's visionary leadership and 
education.
  The legacy of Dr. Suina's life of service to Cochiti Pueblo, to New 
Mexico, and to our Nation will be felt for generations to come.
  And, today, I would also like to recognize Dr. Suina's service to our 
Nation as a marine.
  In the early 1960s, just 3 days out of high school, Dr. Suina 
enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He went on to serve two tours of 
duty in Vietnam, in 1964 and in 1966. He was wounded in his second tour 
and earned a Purple Heart on March 22, 1966. He was honorably 
discharged with the rank of sergeant.
  Tomorrow, Dr. Suina's friends and family members are gathering 
together at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque to 
recognize his service to the Nation, and I am honored to have helped 
play a role in retrieving the medals that Dr. Suina earned as a marine 
and that he will receive at that gathering.
  You see, back in the 1970s, Dr. Suina's house was broken into and his 
service medals were stolen.
  As I mentioned earlier, Dr. Suina earned the Purple Heart Medal, 
which was one of the Nation's oldest and most distinguished medals. The 
Purple Heart is awarded to U.S. servicemembers who have been wounded or 
killed as a result of enemy action.
  Dr. Suina also earned the following awards: the Combat Action Ribbon, 
the Marine Corps Good Combat Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, 
the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the 
Rifle Sharpshooters Badge, the Pistol Expert Badge. And he also earned 
a Gallantry Cross Medal from the Republic of Vietnam.
  I was deeply honored to help retrieve these medals that recognize Dr. 
Suina's incredible bravery and sacrifices.
  And, before I finish, I also want to commend Dr. Suina for the ways 
that he has raised the visibility of the physical and often invisible 
wounds that impact veterans with PTSD.
  In recent years, Dr. Suina has spoken about how he saw these wounds 
in himself, in his fellow Vietnam veterans, and in the veterans of his 
father's generation who served in World War II. Many of these veterans 
have come home with trauma that went unrecognized. And I am so 
appreciative that Dr. Suina is working to bring recognition and healing 
to himself and to his fellow veterans.
  And on behalf of so many New Mexicans and so many Americans, I want 
to express just how profoundly grateful we are for Dr. Suina's lifetime 
of courage and of service.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.