Tennille Marley

Tennille Larzelere Marley (Dzil Ligai Sian N'dee –White Mountain Apache) is an assistant professor of American Indian Studies and faculty research affiliate with the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center. She is also a member of the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research (WU-CDTR) and a faculty affiliate with the National Council of American Indians (NCAI) Policy Research Center (PRC).  

Professor Marley received her doctorate in sociology from the University of New Mexico in 2013. She also has a master's of public health and bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona. Marley recently completed the Native Investigator Development Program at the Native Elder Research Center, a National Institute on Aging-funded Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, within the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Denver.

Marley has extensive experience in community health and research in American Indian communities. Her prior research examined the relationship among indigenous knowledge, land, history and diabetes on an American Indian reservation. More recently, she has been working towards establishing a research agenda, based on her prior work, investigating the social determinants of American Indian (AI) health. More specifically, she is interested in exploring the impact of structural rick factors such as neighborhoods, housing, and housing policies on health in American Indian communities. She recently completed a study examining the association between homeownership and health in AI populations.

Marley teaches graduate and undergraduate classes including Introduction to American Indian Studies, American India Sovereignty and the Courts, Federal Indian Policy, Social Change in American Indian Communities, and Historical Trauma, Healing, and Decolonization.