Holly Youngbear Tibbits - Director of the Sustainable Development Institute

CMN Staff & Faculty Biographies

Dr. Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts
Dean of External Relations

Dean of External Relations, Holly YoungBear-Tibbetts, Ph.D. taught the first course offered at College of Menominee Nation, and returned as a full–time administrator in 1997 as Dean of Institutional Advancement and Director of the Sustainable Development Institute. As Director of the Sustainable Development Institute for eight years, Holly directed much of her attention to the development of academic degree programs in Sustainable Development, research administration, and program planning, design, and development.

She served as the convener of the Institute’s first International Conference, “Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development,” and was the principal architect of the College’s Center for First Americans Forestlands, a collaborative project of College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute and five divisions of the U.S. Forest Service. She became Dean of External Relations in September, 2005 and remains a member of the Institute’s faculty.

Holly earned her masters and doctoral degrees in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a recipient of both a Bush Foundation Leadership Award and a John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation award. She was appointed to serve on the Congressionally-mandated Biomass Research and Development Task Force of the federal Departments of Energy and Agriculture, 2001-2004, and in 2005 was appointed by Governor Doyle to the Wisconsin Bio-industry Council. Her research interests in native lands and resources and their sustainable development are reflected in journal articles, books, and monographs. She is currently preparing a monograph on native tenure of forestlands for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Forestry.

Dean of External Relations, Holly YoungBear-Tibbetts, Ph.D. taught the first course offered at College of Menominee Nation, and returned as a full–time administrator in 1997 as Dean of Institutional Advancement and Director of the Sustainable Development Institute. As Director of the Sustainable Development Institute for eight years, Holly directed much of her attention to the development of academic degree programs in Sustainable Development, research administration, and program planning, design, and development.
She served as the convener of the Institute’s first International Conference, “Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development,” and was the principal architect of the College’s Center for First Americans Forestlands, a collaborative project of College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute and five divisions of the U.S. Forest Service. She became Dean of External Relations in September, 2005 and remains a member of the Institute’s faculty.
Holly earned her masters and doctoral degrees in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a recipient of both a Bush Foundation Leadership Award and a John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation award. She was appointed to serve on the Congressionally-mandated Biomass Research and Development Task Force of the federal Departments of Energy and Agriculture, 2001-2004, and in 2005 was appointed by Governor Doyle to the Wisconsin Bio-industry Council. Her research interests in native lands and resources and their sustainable development are reflected in journal articles, books, and monographs. She is currently preparing a monograph on native tenure of forestlands for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Forestry.