Courtney King


Courtney King
  • Geography MS Student

Contact Info

Malott 4022

Biography —

Courtney King is a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma who lives and works at the confluence of the Kansas and Wakarusa River Valleys in present-day Lawrence, KS, the homelands of many Tribes, including the Kanza, Osage, Wichita, and Pawnee Peoples. Courtney graduated from Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) with a B.S. in Environmental Science in 2023 and is currently the Program & Land Stewardship Manager for the USDA-NIFA Tribal College Education Equity Grant at HINU. She is also a M.S. student and graduate teaching assistant in Geography, where she will study the effects of cultural fires on native plant communities and soils within a remnant-restored prairie at HINU. Courtney’s work centers Indigenous Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledges to holistically steward and restore native ecosystems of present-day Kansas and beyond. Through research, advocacy, and action, she hopes her work (re)instills a sense of duty in caring for the land as Indigenous Peoples have since time immemorial.

Education —

B.S. in Environmental Science, Haskell Indian Nations University
AAS in Intelligence Operations Studies, Cochise College
A.S. in General Sciences, Johnson County Community College
A.A. in Liberal Arts, Johnson County Community College

Research —

Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledges, native plant species and soils, cultural and controlled fires, restoration ecology, watersheds, decolonial geographies, and Geographic Information Systems.

Teaching —

Graduate Teaching Assistant for GEOG 201/AAAS 203/GIST 210 and EVRN 420