Janine Pease is an American educator and Native American advocate. She is the founding president of the Little Big Horn College as well as the past president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and director of the

American Indian College Fund The American Indian College Fund is a nonprofit organization that helps Native American students, providing them with support through scholarships and funding toward higher education. The fund provides an average of 6,000 annual scholarships for ...

. She was appointed by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities Advisory Council. She has also served as a trustee of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Pease (then Janine Windy Boy) was the lead plaintiff in a voting rights litigation against Big Horn County (''Windy Boy v. Big Horn County''), the result of which was a

Federal District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

ruling that invalidated at large elections in Big Horn County and the local school district. This was the first successful Voting Rights Act case on behalf of American Indians.Janine Pease: Life and Work
/ref> She also served on the Montana Human Rights Commission.

Early life and education

Pease is a member of the Crow Indian tribe. She was born on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington where both of her parents worked as educators. She was the first woman of Crow lineage to earn a doctorate degree, from Montana State University in 1994. One of her paternal great-grandfathers was White Man Runs Him, one of the Crow scouts who served with

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

. Pease holds two bachelor's degrees from

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academic and Student Lif ...

. She received her master's from Montana State University in 1987 and her doctorate in adult and higher education in 1994.

Career

Pease has worked for the Governor's Commission on Youth Involvement and in 1975 she served as the Director of the Crow tribe's Adult and Continuing Education Program. She was part of the Crow Central Education Commission and helped to establish the first Crow Indian educational authority, which provided for the education of tribe members on and off the reservation. Pease taught Native American Studies at Big Bend Community College. She was also a counselor at the Navajo Community College and Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University). Pease served as the president of the Little Big Horn College from 1982 to 2000. From 2003-2008 she held the position of Vice President for American Indian Affairs at Rocky Mountain College. Currently she works as the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Fort Peck Community College in

Poplar, Montana Poplar is a city in Roosevelt County, Montana, United States. The population was 758 at the 2020 census. The U.S. Army constructed Camp Poplar here in the 1870s to oversee the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Poplar became reservation headquart ...

. Pease is interested in revitalization of the

Crow language Crow ( native name: ''Apsáalooke'' ) is a Missouri Valley Siouan language spoken primarily by the Crow Nation in present-day southeastern Montana. The word, ''Apsáalooke,'' translates to "children of the raven." It is one of the larger popul ...

Recognition

Pease is the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors including the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

and the ACLU Jeanette Rankin Award, as well as being chosen as the National Indian Educator of the Year in 1990. She was also named "one of the 100 Most Influential Montanans of the Century" by the Missoulian Magazine. She is the recipient of several honorary doctorates and was appointed to the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education in 2006 by Governor Schweitzer. In 2006, Governor Schweitzer appointed her to the Montana University Board of Regents, where she served from May 2006 to February 2011.

Bibliography

*''The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)'' ( World Wisdom, 2007) ntroduction*''Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way'' ( World Wisdom, 2007) ontributor*Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way DVD ( World Wisdom, 2007) * ''The Spirit of Indian Women'' ( World Wisdom, 2005) oreword *''Light on the Indian World: The Essential Writings of Charles Eastman'' ( World Wisdom, 2002) ntroduction

References

External links

Author Page with slideshows and writing excerpts

at the Crow Fair {{DEFAULTSORT:Pease, Janine MacArthur Fellows Female Native American leaders Crow tribe Montana State University alumni People from Roosevelt County, Montana Central Washington University alumni Rocky Mountain College American educators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Native American studies Traditionalist School 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans