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- By Native News Online Staff
The White House on Thursday announced President Joe Biden has nominated Heather M. Cahoon (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) to the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation.
Cahoon is a federal Indian policy scholar and associate professor of Native American Studies at the University of Montana. She is also the Founder and former Director of the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute, a Native-led research entity and independent think tank that provides tribal nations in Montana with in-depth research and analysis of tribal policies.
In 2015, Cahoon was named the University of Montana’s first Elouise Cobell Land and Culture Institute Scholar, a title reserved for faculty who are continuing Cobell’s legacy of working for justice and equity for American Indians and tribal communities. Cahoon has held gubernatorial appointments with the Montana Ambassadors and the Montana Board of Crime Control’s Youth Justice Council.
In addition to her policy research and teaching, Cahoon is also an award-winning poet and the author of “Horsefly Dress” and “Elk Thirst.” She is from the Flathead Reservation in western Montana.
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