Window Rock • Navajo Nation officials are bidding farewell to their region’s director for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The tribe says Sharon Pinto has been reassigned to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education as the deputy director.

Her last day as head of the BIA’s Navajo region was Friday. She was appointed to the position in late 2011.

The regional office oversees schools, building, residences, forested land and windmills. It also maintains roads and bridges, and provides social and emergency services.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie says Pinto understood and practiced self-determination and upheld the federal government's responsibility to tribes. Navajo officials had advocated for her to remain in the job.

Pinto thanked tribal officials, her staff and family for their support during a ceremony Thursday in Window Rock.