Dr. Sean Chandler

Dr. 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.  Since the Fall of 2020, Dr. Chandler has been President of ANC.  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.

Sean 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 with his dissertation entitled, “The Identity of Indigenous Lifeways.”

Sean is also a nationally known artist and has always been involved in art, starting at an early age when his father taught him the traditional arts of his ancestors, including hide and tipi painting. Integrating those early teachings, Sean voices his own style to communicate the contemporary life he lives. His artwork has been acquired by private collectors and museum collections such as, the Minneapolis Institute of Art of Minneapolis, MN, Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, MT, Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, IN and the Missoula Art Museum in Missoula, MT. Most recently, Sean was selected as one of five artists for the 2023 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship of the Eiteljorg Museum.