Virginia Whitekiller

Bio

Virginia Drywater-Whitekiller (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians) is a professor of social work at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In addition to teaching, she pursues an active research agenda utilizing the theory of cultural resilience as applied to American Indian/Alaska Native/First Nations population issues such as microaggressions, higher education retention, identity, and Indian child welfare. Dr. Drywater-Whitekiller served as the 2018-2019 Fulbright Canada Jarislowsky Research Chair in Aboriginal Studies at Vancouver Island University, British Columbia. In 2009 she was selected as a Smithsonian Community Scholar conducting research at the Smithsonian Achieves in Suitland, Maryland. Dr. Drywater-Whitekiller has written for and has been awarded $2,338,110.00 in external grant funding that directly correlates with program development, evaluation, and assessment in medical and social service occupations.