Dr. John L. Garland (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), Director of Research & Scholar Success, Cobell Scholarship Program Dr.
David Sanders (Oglala Sioux Tribe), Vice President of Research, Evaluation & Faculty Development, American Indian College Fund
Dr. Johnny Poolaw (Delaware, Chiricahua Apache, Comanche, Kiowa), Director of Student Success, AISES
This roundtable presents the origin, evolution, and impact of the research collaboration led by the National Native Scholarship Providers (NNSP) — a partnership of Indigenous-serving scholarship organizations including the American Indian College Fund and the Cobell Scholarship Program — grounded in the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance: Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics. Through two flagship mixed-methods studies — College Affordability for Indigenous Students and Sense of Belonging & Campus Climate for Indigenous Students — the NNSP initiative demonstrates how Indigenous-led, principles-based data partnerships can produce granular insights, strengthen organizational research capacity, and advance the broader field of Indigenous higher education. This session will: 1. Trace the origin story of the NNSP collaboration 2. Unpack how each CARE principle was operationalized in our data practices and governance workflows 3. Showcase key findings and institutional implications from the two studies 4. Invite interactive dialogue on how inter-organizational data sovereignty and collective research models might be adapted by other Indigenous-serving institutions.