Barbara T. Abrams, associate director of financial aid at Cornell University, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA). Also elected to the board for three-year terms were Christopher Bordeaux, Sicangu Lakota; Nancy Martine-Alonzo, Navajo/Yaqui; and Caleb Roanhorse, Navajo.

Abrams was voted to the board by the general membership at the group's annual conference Nov. 4 in Albuquerque, N.M. The board then selected its officers, voting Abrams, a Tonawanda Seneca, as treasurer.

"I am very excited about the challenging responsibility of working at the national level to improve educational opportunities for Native Americans," Abrams said.

The mission of NIEA, which was founded in 1969, is "to support traditional Native cultures and values, to enable Native learners to become contributing members of their communities, to promote Native control of educational institutions, and to improve educational opportunities and resources for American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians throughout the United States," according to the group's Web site. Robin Butterfield, a Winnebago/Chippewa, is the group's president. Other newly elected officers are Cindy LaMarr, Pit River/Paiute, president-elect; David Sing, Native Hawaiian, vice president; and Kay Bursheim, Sisseton-Wahpeton Santee Dakota, secretary.

Abrams has served in administrative posts at Cornell since 1977, including the position of interim director of the university's American Indian Program, which provides educational opportunities for Native American students and outreach activities, from 1993 to 1995. In 1992, she was named associate dean for admissions and financial aid, after holding administrative posts in the Cornell offices of financial aid and student employment, minority affairs, state programs and campus affairs. She served a previous term on the NIEA's board from 1989 to 1991.

Born on the Tonawanda Seneca reservation in Basom, N.Y., Abrams earned a B.A. in American studies at the University at Buffalo in 1997 and an M.S. in counseling and student personnel administration at Cornell in 1984.