Dr. Kehli Henry joined the Native American Institute as the Tribal engagement and research coordinator in September 2025. She was previously a research fellow at Michigan State University in the STEM Ed-PaCER program, which focused on participatory and community-engaged Indigenous education research. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from MSU in 2019, where her graduate work focused on health and wellness in contemporary American Indian communities.

Kehli’s father is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, and she has decades of experience in working with and for Tribal nations primarily in youth programs and education-related roles.

Her professional interests include:

• Indigenous/Tribal data sovereignty and data governance
• Indigenous and participatory research methods and methodologies
• American Indian education
• Land- and culture-based education
• Student success and resilience
• American Indian health and wellness
• Anishinaabe history and language preservation and revitalization