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Southern Oregon University

McNair Scholars

Brook Colley is currently a senior at Southern Oregon University. She is a dual major in Sociology and Political Science, with a minor in Creative Writing. Brook grew up in Oregon's Willamette Valley, nestled between the Cascade Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and fields-upon-fields of farming communities. Born to a Wasco, Eastern Cherokee, and Japanese mother and an Irish father, Brook has a unique interest in cultural dynamics and fusion cultures. She strives to grow and transform internally and within her community. Currently she works as the Director of Communication for the Associated Students of Southern Oregon University, is Publicity Coordinator for the Native American Student Union, and has been acting as the summer interim coordinator for the Multicultural Student Center. Brook has felt privileged to be a student senator, and to have sat on various committees focusing on budget, sexual assault on campus, and diversity. She has worked closely with the Women's Resource Center and the Queer Resource Center. Brook is a global thinker, a true believer in multiculturalism, and a community organizer. Her education as a leader and an academic, both institutionally and personally, has been forged by projects focusing on community responsibility and by the strength of character of the people she meets. Brook's educational goal is to earn her PhD in the field of political sociology, with a focus on Indigenous peoples and their social and political participation in the globalized, post-modern world. Eventually she would like to engage in theory building research with the intent to understand the complexities of Native culture and Native intellectualism and how they have been, and can continue to be, included in national and international political discourse.

 

Mentors: Dr. Julie Kochanek, Sociology, Dr. Jean Maxwell, Anthropology

Historical Analysis of Indian Gaming (Requires Flash Player)