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**[Office of the Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs]{.underline}**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nedra Darling

April 21, 2006 202-219-4152

**[MEDIA ADVISORY]{.underline}**

**Former Interior Secretary Lujan to Join Cason, Swimmer**

**for April 27 Dedication of New BIA Office Building and**

**Opening of DOI National Indian Programs Training Center**

**WASHINGTON --** Former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr., will join
Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for
American Indians Ross O. Swimmer in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 27,
2006, at a ceremony to officially dedicate the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Manuel Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building and to open DOI's National
Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC). They will be joined by All
Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Amadeo Shije and Governor Roland Johnson
of the Pueblo of Laguna.

Lujan, a former congressional representative from the State of New
Mexico who served as Interior Secretary under President George H.W.
Bush, has been a supporter of the Pueblo Tribes of New Mexico for many
years. The building is being named in his honor.

The Bureau's newest facility sits on land formerly occupied by the
Albuquerque Indian School, a BIA boarding school that was razed in the
1980s. Groundbreaking for the Lujan building took place on October 27,
2004. The 44-acre site is owned by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and was
developed by the Indian Pueblo Federal Development Corporation. The
Lujan building is connected to the BIA's Pete V. Domenici Indian Affairs
Building, which was dedicated to the United States senator from New
Mexico in 2004.

In addition to NIPTC, both buildings house Indian program offices and
personnel including the BIA's Southwest Regional Office, Office of
Indian Education Programs, Office of Management Support Services, Law
Enforcement, Information Technology, and from the DOI Office of Hearing
and Appeals.

The afternoon portion of the program is dedicated to the opening of a
permanent exhibit in the Lujan building of historic photos of the
Albuquerque Indian School. The photos are from the collection of
University of New Mexico Professor Theodore Jojola, a Regents' Professor
and past Director of UNM's Graduate Program in Community and Regional
Planning. He will give a presentation on the exhibit in conjunction with
its opening.

**-Continued-**

**BIA -- Page 2**

Invitees to the day-long event include state, local and tribal
representatives, as well as former students and faculty.

**WHAT:** Official dedication of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Manuel
Lujan, Jr. Indian

> Affairs Building and opening of the Department of the Interior
> National
>
> Indian Programs Training Center. The event includes the opening of a
> permanent
>
> historic photo exhibit of the Albuquerque Indian School, which
> formerly occupied
>
> the site of the new BIA building.

**WHO:** Former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr., Associate Deputy
Secretary

James E. Cason, Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer,

All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Amadeo Shije, Governor Roland

Johnson of the Pueblo of Laguna and Professor Theodore Jojola of the

> University of New Mexico.

**WHEN:** [Thursday, April 27, 2006, 10:00 a.m. -- 3:00 p.m. (local
time)]{.underline}

9:45 a.m. -- Press and guest seating begins.

10:00 a.m. -- Program begins.

12:30 p.m. -- Luncheon (*press invited*)

1:30 p.m. -- Open House including opening of permanent historic photo

exhibit on the Albuquerque Indian School.

3:00 p.m. -- Event concludes.

**WHERE:** Manuel Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building, 1011 Indian School
Road,

> Albuquerque, N.M.

**CREDENTIALS:** This invitation is extended to working media
representatives who are required to display sanctioned media credentials
for admittance to this event.

**-DOI-**