It is our pleasure to announce the 2026/27 Henry Roe Cloud fellow, Natalie Jones. The Henry Roe Cloud Fellowship honors the legacy of Henry Roe Cloud (Ho-Chunk), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Nebraska and graduate of Yale College, 1910. Since 2010, the Roe Cloud Fellowship has helped to develop American Indian Studies at Yale by facilitating the completion of the doctorate by scholars working on pressing issues related to the American Indian experience.
Natalie Jones-Kerwin (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research sits at the intersection of Indigenous Studies and Political Science, examining Native American political identity, sovereignty, and participation across tribal, state, and federal systems. Her work centers Indigenous theories of peoplehood and relational accountability and advances Indigenous Data Sovereignty through community-engaged research, including qualitative interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and original survey design. She leads Talking Circles and mentorship programming through the Network for Development and Growth for Native Solidarity and serves on the Board of Directors for both the Indian Summer Festival and Roots for Resilience. Her work is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, the American Political Science Association, and the UW-Madison Election Research Center.