Finding Freedom in the Unexpected: Professor Kristi Tredway’s Journey as a First-Generation Scholar
About Kristi Tredway
Professor Kristi Tredway currently serves as a professor of intersectionality, social justice, and breast cancer disparities at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Prior to joining the School in August 2024, she was a Research Associate faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a member of the campus-wide President’s Diversity Leadership Council, and an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine.
Finding Purpose Through Unexpected Turns
For Professor Tredway, life has never followed a straight path. Coming from a working-class, mixed-race American Indian (Choctaw) family, she wasn’t expected to become a professional tennis player—let alone a professor. Yet each unexpected turn opened new doors and helped her define her own sense of purpose.
“My life has been about finding power as a girl and then as a woman,” she says. “And then learning how to create space for other girls and women to find power.”
Her first career as a professional tennis player introduced her to a world of strength, community, and activism among women. But when a serious injury ended that chapter, her coach, Rosie Casals of the famous Original 9, encouraged her to try college “until she figured out what to do next.” What came next was a deep and unexpected love for ideas, critical thinking, and social change.
At the University of Colorado, where she studied Women Studies and Philosophy, Professor Tredway discovered a passion for feminist theory and activism.
“I never thought of being a professor until Alison Jaggar, a famous feminist ethicist and the reason I majored in both departments, looked at me during a Feminist Theory class and said, ‘You should become a professor.’ I literally turned around to see who she was talking to, and there was nobody there; she was talking to me.”
Staying at Colorado, she completed a master’s degree in American Indian religions just two generations after her grandfather was reprimanded for speaking Choctaw at school. Later, as a PhD student in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, she combined that passion with research—writing a dissertation on women’s tennis under the mentorship of Patricia Hill Collins, the pioneering scholar of intersectionality.
Freedom in the Absence of Expectation
Even as her academic career took shape, life shifted again. A breast cancer diagnosis changed her focus from understanding disparities in women’s sports to exploring health disparities in breast cancer care. That pivot brought her into public health, where she continues to explore how race, sexual orientation, and gender expression intersect to shape health outcomes.
“I didn’t set out to be in public health,” she says. “But in that lack of expectation, I found the freedom to explore what I was curious about—and that curiosity has guided my work ever since.”
For Professor Tredway, that freedom has become a defining force—one she now works to pass on to her students. As a first-generation college graduate, she understands the uncertainty that often accompanies new beginnings. In her classes, she creates space for students to find confidence, build skills, and embrace curiosity as a form of empowerment.
Her advice to first-generation students reflects her own journey: “Keep the curiosity that brought you here. That curiosity will let you think outside the box—and that’s a huge asset in public health and in life.”
Celebrating National First-Generation College Celebration Week
This story is part of the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health’s First-Generation Faculty Feature series for National First-Generation College Celebration Week, recognizing the resilience, creativity, and leadership of faculty who were the first in their families to earn a college degree.