Manley A. Begay, Jr., Ed.D.
Director, Native Nations Institute

Dr. Manley A. Begay, Jr. is both director of the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy in the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and senior lecturer/associate social scientist in the American Indian Studies Program at The University of Arizona. He teaches courses on nation-building, curriculum development, and Indigenous education. He is also co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He recently was also named as a faculty member to the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth (ISPE) at The University of Arizona and policy advisor to the Dine' Hataalii Association (DHA), formerly Dine' Medicine Men Association. While teaching at The University of Arizona and working with the Native Nations Institute and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Dr. Begay serves as a member of the: 1) Advisory Circle, Dine' Policy Institute, Dine' College in Tsaile, Arizona; 2) Internal Advisory Committee, Native American Cancer Research Partnership, University of Arizona; 3) Advisory Board, Southwest Public Health Institute, Mel and Enid Zuckerman, School of Public Health, University of Arizona; 4) Tribal Institute Planning Committee for the New Mexico State Department of Indian Affairs; 5) Aboriginal Program Advisory Committee (Co-Chair) of the Aboriginal Leadership and Self-Government Program at The Banff Centre for Management in Banff, Alberta, Canada; 6) Native American Advisory Board of the Boston's Children Museum of Boston, Massachusetts; 7) Board of Directors of the Policy Consensus Initiative at Portland State University in Portland Oregon; 8) International Advisory Committee for the Indigenous Community Governance Research Project of Reconciliation Australia in Canberra, Australia; 9) Coordination Team Member of the Native Network for the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution in Tucson, AZ; 10) Governing Council of the National Institute for Native Leadership in Higher Education at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and 11) Advisory Board for the ASPIRE Program at the College of Education, The University of Arizona.

He has served as a lecturer in the Administration, Planning, and Social Policy and Learning and Teaching areas at Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has also served as a member of, among others, the: 1) Fulbright Program as Senior Specialist to Curtin University of Technology, Centre for Aboriginal Studies and Southwest Aboriginal Land and Sea Council in Perth, Western Australia, Australia; 2) Board of Directors, Four Times Foundation, Red Lodge, Montana; 3) Permanent Trust Fund Work Group on the Establishment of a Plan for the Expenditure of the Permanent Fund of the Navajo Nation ; 4) Native American Sports Council Curriculum Development Committee , Sports Warrior Challenge Program in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 5) White House Corps to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa; 6) National Advisory Board for the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies in the Department of Anthropology and the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque; 7) Board of Directors of The Medical Foundation of Boston, Massachusetts; 8) Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.; 9) Faculty Advisory Board of the Harvard Native American Program at Harvard University; and 10) Board of Directors of Tuba City Wellness Center at the Navajo Nation.

He has written extensively on Indigenous leadership, education, and nation-building. He has also worked as a consultant for federal agencies, curriculum development specialist and researcher for a tribal college, and reviewer for several major textbook publishing and film companies. Furthermore, his research and consulting experience has focused on projects about and for Native nations in the promotion of strong and effective institutions of governance and leadership. He has presented on a variety of topics from leadership to Indigenous nation building and from curriculum development to pedagogy and from historical and contemporary Native American issues to education at numerous colleges and universities, private and public high schools, national and international conferences, institutes, and symposia. He has also worked closely with Native nations in the US , First Nations and Bands in Canada , Aborigines in Australia , and Maoris in Aotearoa ( New Zealand ).

Prior to working with the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University , and Native Nations Institute, he was a principal and assistant principal on the Navajo Nation and high school teacher on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. He received his: 1) A.A. from Navajo Community College in 1975; 2) B.A. in Education from The University of Arizona in 1977; 3) M.Ed. in 1984 and Ed.Spec. in 1985 in Educational Administration from Brigham Young University; 4) M.Ed. in 1989 from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University; and 5) doctorate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University in 1997. His doctoral dissertation was titled: Leading By Choice, Not Chance: Leadership Education for Native Chief Executives of American Indian Nations.

Dr. Begay was born in Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation (AZ) and raised in Tuba City via Wheatfields, Navajo Nation (AZ), and his maternal clan is Ma'ii Deesgiizhinii (Coyote Pass - Jemez Clan); paternal clan is Taachii'nii (Red Running into the Water People) and maternal grandfather's clan is Lok'aa dine'e (Reed People) and paternal grandfather's clan is Todichi'ii'nii (Bitter Water People). He is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, married to Carol Goldtooth-Begay of Tuba City, Navajo Nation (AZ), and her maternal clan is Kinyaa'aanii (Towering House People) and paternal clan is Biih bitoodnii (Deer Springs People); maternal grandfather is Tl'izi lani (Manygoats People) and paternal grandfather is Tl'aashchi'i (Red Bottom People). He is the father of a 32 year-old daughter, Mandalyn Echo Cody Begay, and 28 year-old son, Manasseh Cody Begay. As of July 5, 2000, he became a grandfather to Moonoka.