American Indian Studies Welcomes New Faculty Member

August 24, 2021

Dr. Kimberly Robertson, a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, was hired as an associate professor of American Indian studies. She will teach the new required ethnic studies course. 

Dr. Robertson, who received her master’s in American Indian studies and her doctorate in women’s studies at UCLA, taught as an associate professor at CSU Los Angeles in women’s gender and sexuality. Although CSULA did not have American Indian studies, Robertson created and was a faculty advisor for the American Indian Student Association.

“As a Native woman and a first-generation college student, I found that educational spaces were really challenging for Native peoples and Native women,” Dr. Robertson says. “I wanted to become a professor to be able to connect with other first-generation Native students. To recruit more Native students and to provide services for Native students.”

Dr. Robertson, whose expertise is in Native and women of color feminism and American Indian studies, is also an artist who uses Native practices to create. Most recently, Dr. Robertson’s art was featured on the cover and inside “Otherwise Worlds,” a Duke University Press publication. She also had two co-authored articles in the publication. 

Last month, Dr. Robertson won the Mozaik Future Art Award for an art piece she created with her daughter. She also works as the co-creative director for Meztli Projects, where she gives workshops, like teaching beading or talking circles, with youth and Native women. 

Dr. Robertson is an active member in the Los Angeles Native community, while raising two children as a single mother. Her children inspire her to create an educational experience that is uplifting and empowering. 

“One of the biggest pieces of my life is just trying to create the opportunities in college that I would like them to have,” Dr. Robertson says.