Biography

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan was appointed a Commissioner of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women by Senator Greg Treat in March 2019.

Dr. Khan is an Oklahoma Humanities Scholar presenting public talks statewide, including at women’s correctional facilities, where she focuses on education and women’s empowerment. Recent programs that Dr. Khan has facilitated with incarcerated women have been especially well-received.

Through the Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma program, she gives she gives them a voice and a safe environment for self-expression. As an educator, her goal is to engage in reflective action working with diverse social and cultural groups. Her commitment to pedagogy, scholarship, and faith in opportunities that education provides to broaden horizons motivate her to build bridges across racial, political, and cultural divides.

Dr. Khan was honored by the Journal Record as one of the fifty women making a difference in Oklahoma in 2019. She was recognized as one of the 100 Trailblazers for 2018 by the Oklahoma League of Women Voters and recently received the President’s Volunteer Service Award & Silver Medal for her national public speaking and work at the community and grassroots level in Oklahoma. She received the Oklahoma Human Rights Award from the Oklahoma Universal Human Rights Alliance and the Oklahoma City chapter of the United Nations Association in 2016.

Dr. Khan is on the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team. She is also a member of the Harvard-based Scholars Strategy Network. She remains an active member of the multicultural, multinational and multireligious Women’s Interfaith Alliance. She has served on the board of Generation Citizen, a nonprofit organization seeking to empower the younger generation through civics education.

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan is a former professor at Rose State College, Midwest City, OK and taught as a Visiting Professor at the University