Biography
Dr. Sean Chandler
President
Aaniiih Nakoda College
P.O. Box 159
Harlem, MT 59526
Term: 02/01/2024 – 01/30/2027
Sean Chandler, an enrolled member of the Aaniinen (Gros Ventre Nation), is the president of Aaniiih Nakoda College (ANC) located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in north-central Montana. In 2002, Sean had been employed with ANC, serving mostly as an instructor and director of American Indian studies, until 2017 when he began to fill the role of dean of academics and later as president in 2020. During this time, he has developed an Associate of Arts in Aaniiih Nakoda Language and has signed the Buffalo Treaty: A Treaty of Cooperation, Renewal and Restoration, on behalf of ANC, to become the first educational institution in the United States to become a signatory.
Chandler acquired a Bachelor of Arts in art in 1997, as well as a Master of Arts in Native American Studies in 2003 from Montana State University-Bozeman. In 2014, he attained a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Montana. Awards and honors that Chandler has received include the Kellogg Minority Leadership Fellowship in 2005, Mellon Foundation Faculty Career Advancement Fellowship from the American Indian College Fund in 2011, American Indian College Fund Faculty Member of the Year for Aaniiih Nakoda College in 2012, and in 2018, Sean received the Montana Indian Education Association’s Indian Educator of the Year Award.