Laurel Vermillion

Upon high school graduation, Vermillion began working for the Standing Rock Housing Corporation where she transcribed a dictaphone.^[3] She later became a teacher's aide at a local Head Start program.^[3] That same year, Jack Barden, one of the founders of Standing Rock Community College, encouraged Vermillion to attend the college.^[3] She became one of its first students and Barden continued to serve as her mentor through her higher education.^[4][3][1] When she began college, it still did not have any buildings, so Vermillion and her classmates attended classes in a community center.^[1] She was a mother and worked while attending college.^[1] She completed a B.S. in elementary education through the articulation agreement between Standing Rock and the University of North Dakota (UND) in 1980.^[5]

Vermillion worked as an elementary teacher in the Fort Yates School District for fourteen years.^[5] In 1992, she completed a M.S. in education administration from UND through Project IDEAL (Indians Developing as Education Administration Leaders).^[5][3] She moved to Marty, South Dakota and worked as the principal of the Marty Indian School (MIS).^[5] The move was personal because her parents had attended MIS.^[3] In 1995, Vermillion returned to Sitting Bull College as its vice president of academic affairs.^[5] Starting in 1999, she served as the vice president of operations for seven years while completing a Ph.D. in teaching and learning in higher education from UND in 2005.^[5] Her dissertation was titled Factors Contributing to Student Retention and Attrition at Sitting Bull College Between 2001-2004.^[2] Richard G. Landry was her doctoral advisor.^[2]

In 2005, following Ron His Horse Is Thunder's election to tribal chairman, Vermillion succeeded him as the interim president of Sitting Bull College.^[3] She officially became president in spring 2006.^[1][3] She supports the Standing Rock Education Consortium which encourages science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in local K–12 and Head Start programs.^[1] Starting on August 1, 2023, Vermillion is mentoring incoming president, Tomi Kay Phillips.^[6] She retires on January 1, 2024.^[6]

Vermillion married in October 1973 and had three children.^[3][5]