News

The St. Olaf College Faculty Life Committee will present the 2026 Social Justice Award to Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion Kelly Sherman-Conroy at an April 9 event on campus. In accepting her award, Sherman-Conroy will deliver a public lecture titled Honest Storytelling on Campus: Portraits of Memory, Presence, and Becoming.

The Social Justice Award lecture will take place at 11:30 a.m. in the Buntrock Commons Viking Theater. All are welcome to attend, and it will be streamed and archived online.

A member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Sherman-Conroy is the first Native woman theologian in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to have received a Ph.D. She joined the Religion Department at St. Olaf in the fall of 2024. Her teaching draws on Indigenous knowledge and perspectives, encouraging students to consider how history, power, and identity shape the world they live in. Sherman-Conroy’s nomination for the Social Justice Award included a project proposal to expand the storytelling done for St. Olaf’s 150th anniversary into a powerful, campus-wide initiative rooted in Indigenous practices of narrative, relationship, and witnessing.

“I feel this award is a recognition of the communities that have created me and continue to hold me — I don’t see it as something I’ve done on my own,” she shares. “It comes from my family, my ancestors, the communities and people I walk with, and the students.”

Sherman-Conroy’s approach to social justice emphasizes restoration and responsibility. 

“Social justice is about restoring relationships,” she says. “It’s about telling the truth and learning how to live with one another.”

In the classroom, that philosophy takes shape through reflection, dialogue, and a willingness to engage with difficult questions. Sherman-Conroy invites students to explore new avenues for learning, often asking them to slow down, listen actively, and sit with discomfort. 

“”I try to create spaces where people can engage in different ways of knowing,” she says. “Storytelling, as a form of knowledge, is something I feel strongly must be affirmed in the academic setting. So, I tend to think of my work as both educational and relational — it’s about how we learn from one another, and how we learn to be with each other in more honest, responsible ways.” 

The Social Justice Award selection committee highlighted Sherman-Conroy’s ability to connect this work beyond the classroom. In addition to her pedagogy, she offered a free course on Indigenous spirituality through the St. Olaf Lutheran Center that is open to students, faculty, staff, and community members. 

She is also active in the broader community, serving as both associate pastor at All Nations Indian Church in Minneapolis and as convener of the Interfaith Movement Chaplains Network. The network, which began during the uprising following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, has trained more than 400 interfaith chaplains to respond with care and presence in moments of grief, protest, and crisis. 

Her advocacy has also extended into the public sphere, including recent involvement in ICE-related protests, where she has spoken about the role of faith and community in responding to injustice. 

Still, Sherman-Conroy says some of the most meaningful moments of her work happen on the Hill. 

“I love when something connects for a student,” she says. “When they realize that so much of the history they’re learning about isn’t over and done with — that they are a part of it — it opens the floor for a lot of powerful reflections and conversations. While we are called to acknowledge the harm that both the past and the now hold, we are also very grounded in the idea of healing in the present and future, and how collectively we can contribute to the various models of reparations.”

She has seen the impact of this work reflected in the ways students grow into their voices, both inside and outside the classroom. In her courses, she creates space for Oles to bring their full identities into their work, including allowing them to present to her and their peers in their first language when they choose. 

“Their voice, their background, and their way of knowing things matters, and when they embrace that, you just see this shift,” Sherman-Conroy says. “It’s so beautiful to watch and to see the class support.”

Sherman-Conroy acknowledges that this work can be challenging, particularly as it asks students and colleagues to reconsider long-held assumptions about knowledge and authority. 

“I’m not trying to force people into agreement,” she says. “I’m inviting them into a deeper understanding. I’ve learned that tension isn’t always something to avoid — it’s a sign that something important is being uncovered.”

Looking ahead, Sherman-Conry hopes that students carry these lessons with them beyond the Hill. 

“For me, it’s not just what happens in the classroom in one semester. If Oles can recognize injustice, and respond to it with care and responsibility, and have confidence in who they are — that absolutely ripples outward. I see the work our students put in in the classroom — and the ways in which my colleagues really touch their lives — and I know they are going out into the world asking different questions, and being more attentive to whose voices are missing, because of what they learned here. The amount of inspiration I am filled with in just being a part of this community is truly amazing, and I am so grateful to be an Ole.”