Blackfeet Community College President Tapped for National Fellowship
Dr. Brad Hall is the first Montanan selected for the Ascend Fellowship, which brings together leaders from across the country for 18 months to develop and implement ideas aimed at helping children and families
By Mariah Thomas
For Dr. Brad Hall, the president of Blackfeet Community College (BCC), leading the tribal institution represents a full circle moment in his life.
He is Blackfeet and grew up on the Blackfeet Nation. Hall received his bachelor’s, master’s and a Doctor of Educational Leadership degree from Montana State University. He began his career in education teaching social studies at Heart Butte School. In 2013, he took a job as an institutional researcher for Blackfeet Community College, returning to Browning. After a stint working at the University of Montana, he took the helm at BCC in 2022.
He describes his role as the president as “heart work.”
“It’s a privilege and an honor — the greatest honor of my life, thus far,” he said. “And the faculty, staff, students, are tremendously impactful in my life, my career, and I really am happy that I made this career move because I’m now living back home, where I want to be and doing what I want to do.”
Since taking over, he has worked on plans to expand the school and he regularly encourages his staff to chase professional development opportunities. Most recently, the push for staff to take on those opportunities applied to himself.
Hall received a nomination, applied and earned selection as an Ascend Fellow through the Aspen Institute. The institute brings leaders across the country together to “ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world.”
The Ascend Fellowship offers an 18-month program for fellows. They develop an idea, receive feedback from leaders across several sectors, get consulting and coaching and eventually, implement their idea. Ideas aim to help children and families. Throughout the program, fellows travel to Aspen four times for weeklong forums, where they connect and collaborate with their cohort.
Past fellowship participants include Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Past fellows’ projects span the gamut from preventing children from entering the foster care system to addressing Black maternal health. Hall’s selection as a fellow marks the first Montanan to take part in the program.
“A national fellowship is really a big deal,” Hall said. “It’s not just for me personally, but for the institution to have that level of exposure, nationally, with its leader being selected for that award.”
He said the experience remains too new for him to have an idea he hopes to implement at the end. But, Hall plans to keep an open mind and make new connections through the fellowship. He has already completed readings for the first forum, which is upcoming, and said the program’s focus on social justice was a key takeaway.
Hall also looks forward to working with leaders in different sectors, like nonprofit or business leaders. He views networking as vitally important in his job, as he’s always pursuing new funding mechanisms and other innovative ideas to keep the college moving forward. Both are opportunities he thinks the fellowship will provide.
“It’s gonna be really transformational for myself,” he said. “And I think I’m really eager to learn from other people and I’m also really eager to learn more about myself.”
Blackfeet Community College celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Hall said students leave the school well-prepared for the future, and its innovative workforce programs have helped fill workforce shortages.