Professor Cornel Pewewardy is an associate professor of Native American Studies at Portland State University. Professor Pewewardy (D.Ed. 1989, Pennsylvania State University) is Comanche-Kiowa and an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation. Dr. Pewewardy served as a post-doctoral fellow in the Center for Multi-Ethnic Education at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining Portland State University, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Leadership and Center for Indigenous Nations Studies at the University of Kansas as well as adjunct faculty in American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University. From 2005-2007, Dr. Pewewardy was the Dean of Academic Instruction at the Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Oklahoma. In 2007 Dr. Pewewardy taught courses in American Indian Studies at Fresno City College in Fresno, California and worked as a Tribal Administrator and consultant with local casino gaming tribes in the Central Valley of California.
A former kindergarten teacher and elementary principal on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, Dr. Pewewardy is the founding principal of the American Indian Magnet Schools in St. Paul (MN) Public School District. For his architectural design of this award-winning, public magnet school, the National Indian Education Association selected him the 1991 National Indian Educator of the Year.
His research interests focuses on Praxis in Indigenous Studies; Indian Mascots and the Spectacle of American Sports Culture; Recording, Archiving, and Transcribing Tribal Music and Songs; Intertribal Powwows in a Contemporary Society; Critical Race Theory; Tribal Colleges and Universities; Holistic Education of Indigenous Peoples; Identity Politics and Representation in the Curriculum; and Applied Indigenous Leadership.
In his professional career Dr. Pewewardy received numerous awards in transformational leadership, teaching, research, and service. Recently, he is the recipient of the 2007 G. Mike Charleston Research Award for Outstanding Scholarship in American Indian Education from the American Educational Research Association (AERA); 2005 Distinguished Scholar Award from AERA; 2005 Anthony Daniels Award for Leadership and Achievement in Multicultural Education at KU; and five-time recipient of the Big Twelve Outstanding American Indian Faculty of the Year. Dr. Pewewardy was also selected the 2001 W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence at KU. He received the 2001 Crystal Eagle Award in American Indian Studies at KU. Dr. Pewewardy is a 2006 Tribal College Leadership Development Project Fellow at the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He reviews for several professional refereed journals in Indigenous studies, Indian education, multicultural education, and teacher education. Professor Pewewardy has been the faculty advisor to the First Nations Student Association for seven years at KU.
Professor Pewewardy has eight professional music CD recordings on Southern Plains music and ten CDs with combined, various artists. In 1998 the Lawrence (KS) Arts Commission awarded Cornel the Phoenix Award for his lifetime contributions to music and arts. He was also named the 1997 Musician of the Year by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.