At the same time, her younger sister, Justine, had begun building a career of her own in academia based, in part, on claiming a Cherokee identity. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin — where she received support from the McNair Program, which helps college students from underrepresented backgrounds — Justine began a doctorate in religion at Harvard University. In 2010, she was offered a visiting faculty position at the St. Paul School of Theology. A news release announcing the hire identified Justine as Cherokee and noted, “It is believed that she also will be the first full-time Native American woman to serve in any full-time faculty position in theological education in North America.”
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