Chris Angela Nelson

Chris A. Nelson, PhD, (Diné and Laguna Pueblo) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Denver in the Morgridge College of Education – Higher Education Department. Chris received her doctorate in higher education from the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education. She also holds a master’s in Higher Education from the University of Arizona and bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Phoenix. With over 10 years of higher education experience, she has a cross sectioning of experiences ranging from educational pathways in STEM, policy research, and student affairs. She has served as a summer research associate with the American Council on Education and is an alumna of the Jack Kent Cooke Dissertation Fellowship.
Chris utilizes a Native Nation Building lens and critical theory to explores the purpose of higher education by addressing the collective and political factors influencing Indigenous college students and tribal communities. Her research challenges the socially accepted norm that college is an individual pursuit resulting in primarily individual benefits. Ultimately, as first-generation college student, she works for underserved communities and their students, who deserve every chance to access, persist, and complete a higher education degree.