The vision of this doctoral project was to document Native educational leaders who center their school leadership in ancestral knowledge and the cultural practices of their communities as they lead from the middle. Leading from the middle acknowledges a cultural lens to compare that approach to the indigenous. Leading from the middle acknowledges…

This ethnographic study examines the Lipan Apache ("Ndé") Tribe of Texas powwow as a curriculum of culture(s) and a pedagogy of place through which culture is preserved, performed, transmitted, and transformed. Integrating both emic (insider) and etic (outsider) perspectives, I combine personal experiences as a Lipan Apache tribal member…

Indigenous people of the world fight to maintain our lifeways, culture, and more specifically our languages. Speakers have endured waves of violence and persecution and in the face of that still fought to preserve and bring back languages. Language loss has been observed by communities and linguists and each figures out ways to document and…

Multicultural music education and diversity in the elementary general music classroom continue to lie at the center of music education discourse seeking to decolonize elementary general music programs. There are many non-canonical music teaching resources available to 21st-century music educators, however, little is known about the presence of…

There is a significant diaspora of Mixtec people residing along California's Central Coast, mostly working in the agricultural sector. The new realities in the diaspora have brought Mixtec varieties in contact in new contexts where they co-exist with other Mexican Indigenous languages, as well as with Spanish and English. We urgently need more…

The national nursing shortage is projected to increase as the bulk of the United States population ages out of the workforce and is likely to require more age-related healthcare services. The lack of ethnic, racial, and gender-based diversity in the current workforce exacerbates this shortage, and the need for a diversified workforce acknowledged…

Online communication platform usage in education is growing, however, current research lacks consideration of widespread use to close the parent-teacher communication gap in elementary, Title I schools. This study aimed to explore online communication platforms and parent-teacher relationships, intending to contribute new information on the…

This phenomenological study explored the perspectives of American Indian/Alaska Native students who had all graduated from the same Northeast-Nebraska public school located on a federally recognized Indian reservation and completed at least a four-year degree. To that end, the central research question addressed by this dissertation is, "Why…

This dissertation argues that indigenous language revitalization and reclamation projects are best understood as multigenerational and multi-participant conversations, which I will frame as language conversations. Language revitalization and reclamation relies on relationships, access, and accountability within indigenous frameworks. This model of…

Indigenous K-12 school leaders contribute to Tribal Nation building by leading schools that recognize and embed student culture. A large body of literature suggests the importance of culturally responsive leadership and recognizing students' cultural strengths within the foundations of the school. Indigenous K-12 school leaders' work toward…

The complicated history of the education of Native American children through U.S. government-sponsored practices has led to the elimination of the Native children's sense of Indian identity, culture, and language (Noel, 2002). In addition, increased emphasis on standardization and high-stakes accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of…

Buckless, Jessica Jasmine. Portraiture of Two Tribal College Leaders. Published Doctor of Education dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2022.This study explored the lives and self-perceived impacts of Tribal college presidents in a northwest state of the United States. This qualitative inquiry employed portraiture in which the…

Native women in higher education have faced many challenges and disparities, specifically within 4-year institutions. This research used a qualitative method known as storytelling to identify ways of progression for Native women in higher education leadership while being supported by the theoretical framework of aspirational capital. Additionally,…

The very low college success rate of American Indians and Alaska Natives has inspired a scholarly literature that seeks to explain this outcome and, more recently, to account for why some Native students persist in college. Few studies, however, look at Native students who actually have graduated from college, and these rarely reflect Native…

There has been a calling to promote diversity in the healthcare workforce to alleviate the health problems that currently exist among the Native American population. Minorities are disproportionately represented in the nursing workforce (Beard, 2014), especially Native Americans. Increasing the number of Native American nurses in the healthcare…