Mr. Francis Vigil is from the Pueblo of Zia in New Mexico. He is also from the Pueblo of Jemez and Jicarilla Apache. Currently, Mr. Vigil is proud to serve the communities and Pueblos of the Bernalillo Public School District as the Indian Education Director. Mr. Vigil is also the owner of Vigilant Consulting which provides educational consulting in Native American education to tribes and tribal stakeholders. Previously, he served as the Tribal Education Specialist for the National Indian Education Association. Mr. Vigil served as the Educational Specialist for Culture, History, and Language for the Bureau of Indian Education under the U.S. Department of Interior. In addition, Mr. Vigil has served as a high school science teacher and as an educational administrator at the school, school district, state, and federal levels. In addition to serving on the Parents and Teachers Board of Directors, Mr. Vigil also served as the commissioner for the State of New Mexico’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, and he currently serves on Google’s Education Equity Board. He recently served as the President of the New Mexico Tribal Language Consortium. Mr. Vigil’s areas of expertise and concentration are in Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Education, Community-based Education, and Indigenous Methods, Methodology, and Pedagogy. He utilized those areas to intersect with his social justice work, which includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Mr. Vigil continues to be engaged in the realization of educational sovereignty for Native American communities, Pueblos, and Tribes.
Mr. Vigil holds a B.S. in Microbiology from New Mexico State University, an M.A. in Secondary Education from the University of New Mexico, and is continuing his work on a Ph.D. in Social Justice with a focus on educator identity and social-emotional learning in Native American educational systems.
Mr. Vigil is a husband, and has a blended family of seven children. He is a proud “girl dad” to four beautiful daughters, Aliyah, Maya, Bria, and Sonyia. He is also the proud grandpa to four amazing grandkids.
