{"id":128381,"date":"2026-04-28T13:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-names-new-diversity-affairs-vice-president\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:00:13","slug":"fort-lewis-college-names-new-diversity-affairs-vice-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-names-new-diversity-affairs-vice-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lewis College names new diversity affairs vice president"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Nelson\"
Nelson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fort Lewis College has hired Farmington-based candidate Christine A. Nelson as its new diversity affairs vice president and special adviser on tribal relations.<\/p>\n

Heather Shotton previously filled the role before beginning her tenure as Fort Lewis College\u2019s 11th president July 1. Behavioral Intervention Team Chair Kendra Gallegos Reichlehas took over in an interim capacity during the college\u2019s search for a replacement. Nelson officially steps into the role July 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Nelson(\u2019s) scholarly expertise, executive leadership experience, and deep understanding of how institutions can better serve students will help us strengthen Fort Lewis College as a place where all students feel supported and empowered,\u201d Shotton said in a Wednesday news release.<\/p>\n

Nelson, who holds a master\u2019s and doctoral degrees in higher education from the University of Arizona, Tucson, most recently worked as an associate professor and department chair at the University of Denver\u2019s Morgridge College of Education.<\/p>\n

Nelson is a citizen of K\u2019awaika (Laguna Pueblo) and Din\u00e9\/Navajo (enrolled). She designed and facilitated a four-part, yearlong professional development series for Fort Lewis College in the 2023-24 academic year as a visiting scholar focused on reconciliation, the release said.<\/p>\n

In the role, Nelson will lead the Division of Diversity Affairs, support the College\u2019s 2025 to 2030 strategic plan and take lead on efforts related to reconciliation, student success and belonging, and tribal nation partnerships, the release said.<\/p>\n

Nelson said Indigenous knowledge systems supply campus communities with valuable frameworks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese ways of knowing are grounded in relationships, responsibility, and care for the collective,\u201d she said. \u201cThey help institutions become more human-centered and responsive, which ultimately strengthens learning and working environments for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described her work involving examining the operations of higher education, including its policies, leadership and practices, and investigating whether those operations support or limit a student\u2019s ability to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work is about ensuring that institutions are structured to support meaningful, empowering experiences for everyone who comes through their doors,\u201d she said in the release.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christine Nelson will take lead on reconciliation, tribal nation partnerships and student belonging<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1820,155,132,28,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-education","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128381"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}