Christie Kelly
Christie Kelly
Sonoran UCEDD
The University of Arizona, AZ
Christie G. Kelly was born in Everett, WA, but grew up in South Georgia. Her mother’s family is from the Tulalip tribe and her father’s family is from the Navajo Nation. Christie is a 1997 Graduate of Brigham Young University, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. In 2006, she completed a Master’s Degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Christie is currently a PhD student at UA in Higher Education and minors in American Indian Studies. American Indian higher education is her passion.
Her first job in higher education was her position as the Site Manager for the University of Oklahoma overseas program in Osan, South Korea. Upon moving back to the states and getting settled in Tucson, she worked as a Case Manager for the Intake Team at La Frontera. After working in behavioral health for a short time, Christie realized she missed working in post-secondary education so she got a job working in education and professional development at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. She assisted military personnel and civilian contractors with education and professional training goals. She decided to gain experience in front of an adult class, so she got a position as a workshop facilitator for the Department of Economic Security, a job she completely enjoyed. Then, when a grant position opened up at Pima Community College, she applied and got the job. Christie worked for the TRiO Student Services grant for 2 years, working with first generation, low-income students, as well as students with disabilities. Their goal was to encourage transfer of community college students to 4-year institutions. She enjoyed working in higher education so much, she pursued a PhD in higher education. She currently works as the counselor at Tohono O’odham Community College. Due to the small size of TOCC, she is also the Title IX Coordinator and the Campus Clergy officer.
Christie was a Chief Manuelito scholar as an undergraduate and an Arnold Air society scholarship recipient as a Master’s student. She received the Diversity Fellowship from the Education Department at UA in 2012-2013, as well as the Cobell graduate fellowship for the 2015-2016 academic year. She held various graduate positions including working at a graduate assistant with the college of LGBT Studies and as the graduate teaching assistant for the Arizona Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholars (ASEMS) program. She was also a research intern at the Native American Research and Training Center (NARTC), where she worked as the social media intern for two years.
She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and the mother of two daughters ages 20 and 16. She has lived all over the U.S. and she is one of 7 children in her family. On a larger scale, Christie is interested in sociology of education, as well as factors that relate to equality in education including race, gender, and socioeconomic status. On a smaller scale, she is fascinated by the current and historical factors that (have) impacted American Indian education. Specifically, Christie wishes to explore how tribal colleges can meet federal postsecondary educational guidelines and policy while also maintaining unique cultural elements within that policy.