Margaret F. Nelson

Margaret Faye Dawson Nelson (August 16, 1922 – August 2, 2018) was an American Cherokee Nation academic, community organizer, and politician. Born and raised in Claremore, Oklahoma, she studied at Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma State University (OSU), where she had originally dropped out of after her marriage. She then worked as a professor at OSU, collaborated on Ohoyo Ikhana: A Bibliography of American Indian-Alaska Native Curriculum Materials, and was a book reviewer for the American Indian Quarterly. She was a member of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, as well as the president of the North American Indian Women's Association's Oklahoma branch.

Biography Margaret Faye Dawson was born on August 16, 1922 in Claremore, Oklahoma; After graduating from Claremore High School in 1940, she began studying at Oklahoma State University (OSU). On August 1, 1942, she married William Ellis Nelson (died 1984), an aviation pedagogue at OSU and commercial pilot, and she subsequently dropped out of OSU. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1980 and associate professor in 1984, remaining in that position until her retirement in 1990. She worked as an advisor for Native American students at OSU, and in 1984, she voiced her support for more Native American higher education students, concerned about financial issues and endemic dropouts. She was also the benefactor of the Dawson-Nelson Akanadi Scholarship Fund. Helen Jaskoski said that she had "contributed significantly to furthering American Indian education". In 1984, the Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women named her the 1984 Indian Woman of the Year. She also served in the North American Indian Women's Association in leadership roles,