Verna Fowler leaves estate gift to College of Menominee Nation

The College of Menominee Nation has been included in Verna Fowler’s estate wishes, bringing a final gift from the founding president who helped build the tribal college into a Menominee County institution.

For CMN, the bequest is more than a financial boost. It links Fowler’s name to the students, programs and community ties that still define the college in Keshena and at its Green Bay campus.

Fowler’s role began in September 1992, when the Menominee Legislature hired her to create a college for the tribe. CMN started offering general education classes on the Menominee Reservation on Jan. 19, 1993, to 42 tribal members, then was chartered by the Menominee Legislature on March 4, 1993. The college still marks March 4 as Charter Day, a reminder that its founding came from Menominee leadership and Menominee need.

After earning her Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota, Fowler was encouraged by then-Menominee Tribal Chairman Glen Miller and Vice Chairwoman Shirley Daly, Fowler’s sister, to return home and help create a true tribal college. She went on to lead CMN for 24 years, guiding the school through its earliest years and through the period when it moved from a small local effort into a permanent tribally grounded institution.

CMN has said Fowler was recognized during its 2023 commencement ceremony, part of the college’s 30th anniversary observance after her death on Aug. 12, 2023. Current president Christopher Caldwell has described her as someone who continued to care for the college and show love for it even after leaving office.

The college’s own history places Fowler’s work in a longer arc of tribal self-determination. The Menominee Tribe had petitioned the federal government in 1919 for permission to establish a school of higher learning, but never received approval. CMN later tied its 30th anniversary to the theme “Restoring Nations Through Education,” alongside the 50th anniversary of the Menominee Restoration Act of 1973.

That context helps explain why Fowler’s estate gift carries local weight. CMN describes itself as a land-grant institution chartered by the Menominee People, with its main campus in Keshena on more than 50 acres bordering the Menominee Forest and a second campus in Green Bay. A Tribal College Journal profile listed enrollment at 376 in 2025. The college also received initial accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools on Aug. 7, 1998.

The estate inclusion follows another major infusion of support. In late 2025, CMN announced a $10 million unrestricted gift from the MacKenzie Scott Foundation. Together, those gifts give the college more room to sustain scholarships, student success efforts and the programs that keep Menominee education rooted in the community Fowler helped build.