Dr. Cynthia Lindquist

Dr. Cynthia Lindquist or Ta’sunka Wicahpi Winyan (Star Horse Woman) is a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Tribe, Fort Totten, North Dakota, who holds a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from the University of North Dakota and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of South Dakota. Cynthia’s current role is the director, Tribal Initiatives & Collaboration for the University of North Dakota after serving as president of her Tribe’s college, Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) for 21 years. Under Cynthia’s leadership, CCCCs physical campus quadrupled, they had 20 years of clean audits, and most importantly, student enrollment and completion rates more than doubled.

Among her key leadership roles, she is a founding member of the National Indian Women’s Health Resource Center, a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow, and she serves on the board of directors for the North Dakota Ethics Commission and Bush Foundation.

She previously served on the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), the Council of Public Representatives for the National Institutes of Health, the American Indian College Fund, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.