Dr. Shotton will discuss the multiple and nuanced ways that universities perpetuate settler colonial aims of erasure for indigenous students. She will invite us to unsettle our institutions and reimagine higher education as a site of love and resistance through our scholarship, learning, and practice.
Heather Shotton, Ph.D., is a citizen of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes and is also of Kiowa and Cheyenne descent. She is an associate professor in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies and Director of Indigenous Education Initiatives in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma. She also serves as affiliate faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies and Native American Studies. Dr. Shotton’s research focuses on indigenous students and indigenous women in higher education. She served as a co-editor for three books that address Indigenous Higher Education; Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education (Stylus), Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education (Rutgers University Press), and Beyond Access: Indigenizing Programs for Native American Student Success (Stylus). She has spent her career advocating for indigenous students and communities in educational systems. Dr. Shotton is a past president for the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), a former NIEA Educator of the Year, and a strong advocate for indigenous education.
