Kelly Berry

Dr. Kelly Berry is an enrolled citizen of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma with Kiowa and Choctaw relations. He recently served as a Mellon Impact Post-Doctoral Fellow/Lecturer in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and will begin as an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at East Central University this Fall.

He holds an active Oklahoma State Department of Education teaching certificate and is certified to teach US History, OK History, Government, and Economics (5-12). Dr. Berry served as faculty at Riverside Indian School, the Bureau of Indian Education’s (BIE) oldest off-reservation Indian boarding school as the computer applications and social studies teacher, while also serving as co-chair for the social studies department. Dr. Berry also served as GED program coordinator and lead GED instructor for the Comanche Nation Higher Education Department from 2016-2020. Comanche Nation GED social studies and currently serves as a board member for the Oklahoma Council for Social Studies (OCSS).

Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, he held the academic appointment of Indigenous Initiatives Research Associate in the college of education at Kansas State University, where he served on the advisory committee and as instructor for the Indigenous Education Leadership Certificate Graduate Program, while completing his doctoral studies in educational leadership. While a doctoral student, he was the recipient of the 2024 Oklahoma Council for Indian Education (OCIE) Indian Student of the Year (Higher Education), 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award for the Oklahoma Native Americans Students in Higher Education (ONASHE) Annual Conference at the University of Oklahoma, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Barbara L. Jackson Scholar. H was recently honored as the 2025 Oklahoma Council for Social Studies University Social Studies Faculty of the Year.

Dr. Berry began his career in education as the director of admissions, outreach officer, GED dean of students, and adjunct faculty at Comanche Nation College. He served on the initial design team for the Comanche Charter Academy and now serves on Comanche Charter Academy’s Elementary Curriculum and Standards Advisory Committee.

Throughout his career as a teacher educator of 14 years, he has been involved in Indian education in a variety of capacities including certified classroom teacher at Riverside Indian School, for the Comanche Nation Higher Education Department’s GED Program, and for the Comanche Nation Higher Education Department’s Senior (Elder) Basic Computer Course. He has served as faculty at several colleges and universities including Comanche Nation College, Cameron University, Bacone College, Upper Iowa University, University of Washington-Tacoma, Kansas State University, University of Kansas, Wichita State University, and the University of Oklahoma. 

He has served as reviewer for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference Research Proposals – Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Group (SIG), National Council for Social Studies Annual Conference Proposals, Oral History Review, Educational Administration Quarterly, The Rural Educator, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) Annual International Conference Proposals, and as an AP Seminar Reader. 

Dr. Berry continues to serve his career, community, and tribal nation through professional associations and committees as a board member Oklahoma Council for Indian Education, University of Central Oklahoma’s Tribal Governance (Graduate Degree Program) Design Team, National Council for Social Studies (active member), University of Oklahoma eSports Alumni Advisory Board, University of Oklahoma eSports Research Committee, National Indian Education Association (NIEA) Native Educator Education & Development (NEED) Committee, Turetii Haniʔaiku Foundation Board Member – Comanche Charter Academy, and National Constitution Center’s (NCC) Teacher Advisory Council. He currently serves on the editorial board for Dine College Press. 

His lines of research include federal Indian boarding schools and colonial Indian schools in the 13 colonies as he is a descendant of two survivors of Indian boarding schools. His great-grandfather attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School and Chilocco Indian School, and his great-grandmother attended Rainy Mountain Indian School. Currently, he is a Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Scholarly Fellow researching the impacts of Indian education and Indian schools in the American colonies and how they served as precursors to the federal Indian boarding schools and self-determination Indian schools of today.