Faculty

NAVAJO
Assistant Attorney General, Navajo Nation Department of Justice

Rodgerick T. Begay is Todik'ozhi, born for Biih bitoodnii, maternal grandparents are Kinyaa’aanii, paternal grandparents are Tsi’naajinii. Rod grew up on the Navajo Nation in the communities of Whippoorwill and Tselani-Cottonwood. Rod and his wife have been together since high school and have a son and three daughters. Rod is a Chinle Wildcat and received his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and earned his law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Professor of Practise, Research Scholar, Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program

Melanie Clerc has more than twenty years of professional experience working in the field of international human rights law and the rights of Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations. She is currently on Special Leave from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) where she has been working since 2005.

TAOS PUEBLO
Indigenous Governance Program Manager, Native Nations Institute

Tory Fodder (Taos Pueblo) is the Manager of the Indigenous Governance Program. A native of Walters, OK, Dr. Fodder is an S.J.D. graduate of the Indigenous People’s Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. Dr. Fodder also holds a J.D. from the University of Arizona, and an A.B. from Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.

LUMBEE TRIBE OF NORTH CAROLINA
Director, American Indian Center, University of North Carolina

Danielle is the Director of the American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina and former Senior Researcher and Tribal Outreach Specialist at the University of Arizona's Native Nations Institute. She received her Ph.D. in the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She holds a M.P.A. and a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Director, International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop
Associate Clinical Professor
Affiliated Faculty Human Rights Practice & Latin American Studies

Seánna Howard teaches International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples and the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop. Professor Howard has been with the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program since 2006, representing indigenous communities on precedent setting cases before the Inter-American and United Nations human rights systems.

Senior Researcher, Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona
Research Director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University
Graduate Advisor, Indigenous Governance Program

Miriam Jorgensen, a settler scholar, is a Senior Researcher at the University of Arizona Native Nations Institute. At the University of Arizona, she holds the additional titles of Research Scientist at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, Affiliate Faculty at the James E. Rogers College of Law, and Affiliate Faculty in the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in American Indian Studies.

Part-time Professor of Practice
Partner at Hobbs, Strauss, Dean & Walker, LLP

Akilah Kinnison is a Part-time Professor of Practice. She teaches Critical Race Theory. Professor Kinnison's research interests include the application of international human rights law to federal Indian law issues in the United States, including access to health care and repatriation of tangible cultural heritage. 

CROW NATION
Attorney. Former Acting Assistant Secretary, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior

Del Laverdure is an enrolled citizen of the Crow Nation and is a member of the Ties the Bundle Clan on his Mother’s side.  He is a descendant of the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians on his father’s side.  Over his career, Del has served many tribal nations in a variety of capacities and assisted with large scale gaming development projects, assessment, negotiation, and implementation of several federal Indian water settlements, energy and tax counsel on several large projects, tax and energy legislation in Congress, and intergovernmental relations at all levels on a wide spec

PUEBLO OF LAGUNA
Former Governor, Pueblo of Laguna

Dr. Richard Luarkie is a visionary leader with an impressive track record spanning over two decades in economic and business development leadership roles in Indian Country. 

WINNEBAGO TRIBE OF NEBRASKA
President & Chief Executive Officer of Ho-Chunk, Inc.

WIRADJURI & WONNARUA
CEO, Indigenous Allied Health Australia

I am a proud Wiradjuri and Wonnarua woman of the Marrmabidya/Kalari rivers (Paternal Grandfather kinship) and Gringai Clan of the Hunter Valley region (PaternalGrandmother’s kinship) in NSW. I hold an Adjunct Associate Professor (Industry) at the University of Technology, Sydney and have formal qualifications in Community Development, Management, and Indigenous Governance. I am a 2021 Impact 25 Award-winner with Pro Bono Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).

CREE NATION
Director, Department of Justice & Correctional Services, Cree Nation

Donald Nicholls is the Director of the Cree Nation Government Department of Justice and Correctional Services. Under the direction of the Grand Chief of the Cree Nation, he advocates for the rights and interests of the members of the Cree Nation of Eeyou Istchee, whose traditional territory, about half the size of France, is located in Northern Quebec, Canada. The Cree Nation Government oversees the implementation of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, Canada’s first modern day treaty and comprehensive land claims settlement agreement.

PASCUA YAQUI TRIBE
Phoenix Region Director, National Indian Gaming Commission

Francisco Olea is an enrolled member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe from the Pascua Pueblo reservation in Tucson, AZ, and serves as the Phoenix Region Director at the National Indian Gaming Commission.

NGARRINDJERI
Professor and Director Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures Research, Jumbunna Institute, University of Technology Syndey

Daryle Rigney, Ngarrindjeri, is Professor and Director Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures Research, Jumbunna Institute, University of Technology Sydney and formerly the Dean of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. He also serves as affiliate faculty at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.

Research Professor of Law, James E. Rogers College of Law

Professor Tatum specializes in tribal jurisdiction and tribal courts, as well as in issues relating to cultural property and sacred places. She was a contributing author to Felix Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law, and has written extensively about both civil and criminal procedural issues, as well as about the relationship between tribal, state, and federal courts. Professor Tatum consulted with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe as it became one of the first in the nation to implement VAWA 2013's special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction.

NNI Senior Policy Associate
President, Taylor Policy Group

Jonathan Taylor is an economist with expertise in natural resources, gaming, and American Indian development. He provides counsel to Native nations in the United States and Canada consisting of public policy analysis, strategic advice, and economic research. He has offered expert testimony in litigation and public proceedings for a number of Native American groups.

Regents' Professor Emerita, Georgia State University

Saito is a member of the Georgia Bar and has served on the Committee on the Involvement of Women & Minorities in the Profession and the Georgia Supreme Court’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts.  She helped found the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association and she has served on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) as well as the Boards of the Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Professors, the Paideia School, the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, and the

MÉTIS
Economist, Big River Analytics

Riel is a Métis citizen, currently living on Algonquin Anishinaabe territory in Ottawa, Canada. 

Riel works as an economist at Big River Analytics. His work focuses on Indigenous economics in Canada, with particular emphasis on Métis labour markets, economic development, and housing need. Riel has a Master's in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

 

Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota

Douglas Thompson joined the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the fall of 2020. He teaches courses for the Master of Tribal Administration and Governance (MTAG) program, the Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship (MTRES) program, and the Tribal Administration and Governance (TAG) program. He is from the Redbone community of southwestern Louisiana.

HOPI TRIBE
Executive Director, Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona

Joan is a citizen of the Hopi Tribe from the village of Old Oraibi, she received a B.S. in social work and an M.B.A. from Northern Arizona University.

Prior to joining the Native Nations Institute in 2001, she served as program director of NAU's Center for American Indian Economic Development (CAIED). Additionally, from 1992-1995, she was co-executive director of the National Executive Education Program for Native American Leadership, a joint project of CAIED and Harvard University.

Senior Researcher, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney

Alison Vivian, SJD, is a Senior Researcher at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, which is housed at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is also an attorney who has practiced law in the areas of Native title; refugee and humanitarian law, and international human rights law.