The tribal college movement lost one of its warriors with the passing of Dr. Nathaniel St. Pierre, president of Stone Child College on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation and an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe. A longtime advocate for tribally controlled higher education, St. Pierre worked in a variety of capacities at Stone Child, including as an instructor, counselor, and, most recently, president.

Dr. St. Pierre earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Montana State University in Bozeman, focusing his studies on adult and higher education. As an educator, scholar, and intellectual, he wrote on the need to increase the educational opportunities for tribal communities. In his essay, “Strengthening Tribal Nations through Vocational Education,” St. Pierre traced the history of federal education programs, most notably those concentrating on vocational or trades programming. “Past efforts to educate Native Americans failed because they did not recognize the economic and cultural needs of their students,” St. Pierre maintained. “Despite being chronically underfunded, tribal colleges are striving to meet those diverse needs.”

As a traditional Cree, Dr. St. Pierre stressed the importance of a robust cultural grounding at tribal colleges and its importance in the success of Native students. He was buried in a traditional way on St Pierre Ridge near Rocky Boy. His talents as an educator and leader will be sorely missed.