Emory University’s Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies announces the appointment of Beth Michel as its Senior Associate Director.

In this full-time leadership position, Michel will direct the Center’s strategic initiatives, continuing her work to foster thriving communities of Indigenous students, faculty, and staff at Emory, coordinate campus-wide programming and tribal community partnerships through events like the annual Muscogee Teach-In, and strengthen the development of a new minor in Native and Indigenous Studies.

The Emory Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies launched in the Spring of 2023, building on Emory’s existing Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, which Ms. Michel directed. The Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies is dedicated to nourishing a vibrant intellectual community supports cross-disciplinary research and teaching, as well as opportunities for students to take coursework in NAIS and while respectfully engaging Indigenous communities.

“I am fortunate to continue building a space that embraces Native & Indigenous knowledge and supporting the strategic plans for the minor,” says Beth Michel as she steps into her new role.

Beth Michel is a proud citizen of the Tohono O’odham Nation as well as Hopi and Navajo. Previously, Michel served as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Admission and Office of Undergraduate Admission’s Lead for Native American Affairs at Emory University. Prior to joining Emory, Michel was an Indigenous evaluator at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO) as a contractor.

Michel received a Master of Public Health degree with a global health concentration from Rollins School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Arizona. In 2023, she was honored to receive the Women of Color Initiative (WOCI) Atlanta Collaborative in Higher Education Outstanding Atlanta Staff Impact Award.