Rachel Jean Davis 

Rachel Jean Davis is a citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, an educator, artist, and scholar whose life’s work bridges Indigenous wisdom, educational sustainability, and transformative change. As the Native American Center Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and an Ed.D. candidate in Educational Sustainability, Rachel’s leadership is grounded in relational accountability, sovereignty, and the understanding that education must serve both people and planet.

Her work weaves together Indigenous knowledge systems, storytelling, and futures studies to create spaces of belonging, responsibility, and ceremony within higher education. Through initiatives like the Digital Land Back Campaign, the First Fire Program, and cross-cultural exchanges, Rachel invites students to reconnect with ancestral values, the living land, and the deeper meanings of sustainability. She sees education as a sacred act—a site of remembering, repair, and regeneration for communities and ecosystems alike.

Through the Acosta Institute Fellowship, Rachel hopes to deepen her practice of healing-centered leadership and continue developing frameworks that merge spirit, scholarship, and sustainability. She joins the Fellowship with a vision of education as ceremony—where learners, educators, and communities gather to honor their interconnection, nurture resilience, and imagine more just and abundant futures together.