LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The new president of Haskell Indians Nations University says she’s focusing on the future.

Venida Chenault was inaugurated Wednesday as the seventh president of the university in Lawrence. She is the first former Haskell student to become president of the school for American Indians.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the inauguration was the beginning of the school’s celebration of its 130th anniversary.

Chenault, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi and Kickapoo tribes, has held various faculty and administrative positions at Haskell since 1991, most recently as vice president of academic affairs. She was named president in January.

In her speech, Chenault said she was a single mother on government assistance while she earned college degrees. She says she is an example of how higher education can help American Indians.