Christopher M. Caldwell
Despite our present-day adversities and uncertainties, our responsibilities and decision-making should focus on the world our children and grandchildren will inherit as the next stewards.
About
Christopher M. Caldwell, President of the College of Menominee Nation (CMN), is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW). He has led the College since February 2020, serving first as Interim President and officially installed by the Board of Directors in June 2021. Caldwell is the fourth person to lead CMN during its more than 32 years of existence.
He maintains CMN’s responsibility to preserve, protect, and advance the Menominee way of life and learning, which is learning by doing. This responsibility builds on high-quality academics and allows students to pursue their individual goals while supporting the broader interests of the Menominee people. He and his team navigated the College through the pandemic, supporting the campus community as well as surrounding Tribal nations and rural communities.
Caldwell is a proud alumnus of CMN, earning an associate degree in Sustainable Development before furthering his education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He recently completed a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW–Madison. His research focused on Indigenous sustainability thinking and approaches to research at the nexus of Tribal Nations, higher education, and sustainable forestry.
For the past twenty-seven years, his academic experiences have intertwined with his professional career. The majority of his professional experience is in sustainable forestry and environmental studies, including service as a Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) Forestry Technician, a Forestry Intern with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a Forest Products Technician with the USDA Forest Service’s (USFS) Forest Products Laboratory, the Director of Tribal Resources for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, and Director of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) at CMN.
