Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn recognized as OSU American Indian Alumni Society Distinguished Alumni

Monday, September 18, 2023

Media Contact: Will Carr | OSU Alumni Association | 405-744-5370 | wgcarr@okstate.edu

The Oklahoma State University American Indian Alumni Society is honoring Dr. Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn with its Distinguished Alumni Award. A public reception will be held Saturday, Oct. 7, from 1-3 p.m. at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. 

Minthorn is an enrolled citizen of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and a descendant of the Umatilla, Nez Perce, Apache, and Assiniboine Nations. She received her bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the University of Oklahoma and her doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Oklahoma State University. She is a full professor at OU in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department, joining the faculty in August 2023. 

Minthorn is currently serving as a board member at-large for the Association for the Study of Higher Education and is the first Native American to serve in this role in the association’s history.

She has been awarded the Bobby Wright Award for Early Career Contributions to Research in Indigenous Education through the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association in 2018. She recently received the Exemplary Contributions to Practice-Engaged Research Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2022. 

Minthorn is also the co-editor of "Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education," published by Routledge Educational Leadership Research Series, "Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education" and "Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy," both published by Rutgers University Press, and "Unsettling Settler Colonial Education: The Transformational Indigenous Praxis Model," published by Teachers College Press. 

Net proceeds from the event will go to the OSU American Indian Alumni Society’s endowed scholarship fund, which provides scholarships for Native American students attending OSU. The fund was established in 2021. 

Visit the Alumni Association's website to learn more about the upcoming reception and to register.