Stein-Chandler to receive posthumous MSU honorary doctorate

By Carol Schmidt

MSU News Service

BOZEMAN - Lynette Stein-Chandler, who dedicated her life to pulling the Aaniiih language from the brink of extinction, will posthumously receive an honorary doctorate in letters from Montana State University during fall commencement, university officials announced Friday. 

MSU's fall commencement ceremonies are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

MSU officials said Stein-Chandler's legacy and passion for sustaining the culture and language of Native people in Montana is recognized with the degree. Stein-Chandler's degree will be accepted by family members, who have deep roots at MSU. Wayne Stein, MSU professor emeritus of Native American Studies and Stein-Chandler's father, will deliver the acceptance address.

"Lynette made a profound impression on everyone she worked with and who met her. We all felt her loss deeply," said MSU President Waded Cruzado. "Her commitment to preserving languages was about preserving the very heart and soul of a culture. It's hard to overstate the immense cultural richness that exists in a people's language. Lynette understood that so well and knew that preserving languages was giving them a home, a history and hope for the future."  

Although only 41 when she died suddenly in August 2017, Stein-Chandler left her mark on the successful instruction of Native languages in the region. It was a passion that she developed when she was just 13 and learned from her great-grandmother that there were only 23 Aaniiih speakers remaining alive among the White Clay tribe of which she was an enrolled member. She vowed to increase that number and, by the time she had graduated from Butte High School and later MSU with a bachelor's degree in English literature and then became the first student to receive a master's degree in Native American Studies in 2003, the number of Aaniiih speakers had dwindled to about a dozen.

By that time Stein-Chandler had met her husband, Sean Chandler, who also received his master's in Native American studies from MSU. In 2001 the couple moved to Fort Belknap to start their school and raise their children surrounded by family and White Clay culture.

Although both were members of the tribe, neither had grown up on the reservation. Stein-Chandler was raised in various locations in Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Dakota and Bozeman as her father moved the family for his career. 

Stein recalled that, even as a child, his daughter had an affinity for picking up all languages, but especially Native languages wherever they lived.

"Lynette lived life pedal to the metal," Stein said. "Once she decided to do something, she did it until she was the best."

It was that way with teaching language, he said.

  To help her learn the language, Stein-Chandler first discovered and studied audio tapes of native Aaniiih speakers recorded by anthropologists during the 1950s.

Then Stein-Chandler found a mentor for successful techniques of teaching Native language: the late Darren Kipp from the Blackfeet Tribe. In turn, he introduced Stein-Chandler to techniques taught by other First Nations people, including Native Hawaiians and the Maori of New Zealand. The Chandlers invited those teachers to the White Clay Language School, an immersion school housed on the Aaniiih Nakoda College. Stein-Chandler also became a skilled fundraiser and grant writer who found ways to fund the private school. While she was establishing the school, she also earned a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Montana.

Her successful efforts to revive the Aaniiih language earned Stein-Chandler national and, later, international recognition, particularly among indigenous communities wishing to duplicate her success. Also known for her compassion, Stein-Chandler received the Unsung Hero Award in 2011 and the Montana Indian Educator of the Year in 2012, and in 2012 the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council declared a "Dr. Lynette Chandler Day" in her honor.

"Lynette had so many interests, activities and accomplishments, she literally never stopped moving until the day she died," Stein said.

He said Stein-Chandler passionately believed that education was the way forward for her people, but that it was also vital to embrace the ways of being of her ancestors.

"She made it her life's work to do just that," he added.

At the time of her death, a new cohort of first-grade students had begun their education at the White Clay Language School, and the number of Aaniiih speakers had grown to about 50, Stein said. Sean Chandler continues to direct the school.

For more information about MSU's fall commencement, visit http://www.montana.edu/commencement/.