Janine Pease is an American educator and Native American advocate. She is the founding president of the

Little Big Horn College Little Big Horn College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Crow Indian Reservation in Crow Agency, Montana. It has an open admissions policy and welcomes enrollment from any adult with a high school diploma or GED. The student ...

as well as the past president of the

American Indian Higher Education Consortium The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) was established in 1972 to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations. The four founders were Gerald One F ...

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 The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

. 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 The Colville Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the northwest United States, in north central Washington, inhabited and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which is federally recognized. Established in ...

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 Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

in 1994. One of her paternal great-grandfathers was

White Man Runs Him White Man Runs Him (''Mahr-Itah-Thee-Dah-Ka-Roosh''; – June 2, 1929) was a Crow scouts, Crow scout serving with George Armstrong Custer's 1876 expedition against the Lakota people, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne that culminated in the Battle o ...

, 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 Life ...

. 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 Big Bend Community College (BBCC) is a public community college in Moses Lake, Washington. History Big Bend Community College was authorized by the Washington State Board of Education in 1961. Beginning fall quarter 1962 BBCC held its first r ...

. 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

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 Fort Peck Community College (FPCC) is a Public college, public Tribal colleges and universities, tribal Land-grant university, land-grant community college in Poplar, Montana. The college is located on the Fort Peck Assiniboine people, Assiniboin ...

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 headquarte ...

. 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 popula ...

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 MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

and the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

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 The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fall ...

Board of Regents, where she served from May 2006 to February 2011.

Bibliography

*''The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)'' (

World Wisdom World Wisdom is an independent American publishing company established in 1980 in Bloomington, Indiana. World Wisdom publishes religious and philosophical texts, including the work of authors such as Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Titus Bu ...

, 2007) ntroduction*''Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way'' (

, 2007) ontributor*Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way DVD (

, 2007) * ''The Spirit of Indian Women'' (

, 2005) oreword *''Light on the Indian World: The Essential Writings of Charles Eastman'' (

, 2002) ntroduction

References

External links

Author Page with slideshows and writing excerpts

at the

Crow Fair The Crow Fair was created in 1904 by Crow leaders and an Indian government agent to present the Crow Tribe of Indians as culturally distinct and modern peoples, in an entrepreneurial venue. It welcomes all Native American tribes of the Great Plai ...

{{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