Janie Pease's Accomplishments

As the years passed, Ms. Pease Windy Boy divorced, and remarried taking the name Pretty on Top. Janine Pease worked to expand Big Horn College applying for grants, and seeking funding from every source in order to expand the college and provide more services to the students. Her father Benjamin, often spoke of how Chief Plenty Coups would tell the Crow people that with education you will be the white man equal. Over the next decade the college expanded to more than 300 full time students and a staff of over 40. During this time Janine continued her own education at Montana State University and in 1994, became the first Crow Indian woman to earn a PHD. She received MSU’s Outstanding Graduate Achievement Award twice and was named one of the one hundred outstanding graduates on the centennial of Montana State University. 1994 was an important year for Dr. Pease, she was awarded the $275,000 genius grant by the MacArthur Foundation for taking Big Horn College and leading it from humble beginnings to full accreditation. She was named by President Clinton to the Advisory Council on Indian Education, capping a year of honors and achievement. In 1996 President Clinton again named
Pease was able to capitalize on her growing reputation and achievements and attract over $7 Million in pledges, grants and donations to the college. Her goal was to build a new campus and expand services to the students. It should be noted that during the infant years of the college, when the budget was only $50,000. Dr. Pease returned part of her salary to keep the school going. In the year prior to the change in Crow administrations the college construction fund had grown to several million dollars in grants. Outstanding grants amounted to over $4 million. In order to insure the integrity of the fund, Dr. Pease placed the money in a trust account in a local bank. This fund became one of the main catalysts for the tribulations that would soon face Dr.