Justice Raymond D. Austin is Diné (Navajo) from northeastern Arizona. He is the Distinguished Jurist in Residence for the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, James E. Rogers College of Law. Justice Austin received a B.S. from Arizona State University in 1979, earned a law degree (J.D.) from the University of New Mexico Law School in 1983, and, received a Ph.D. in American Indian Studies (Law and Policy Concentration) from the University of Arizona in 2007.

Justice Austin is a member of the Navajo Nation Bar Association and the state bars of Arizona and Utah. Justice Austin served on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court from 1985 to 2001. Justice Austin also served as judge pro term on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division I (1993-1994) and as solicitor to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals (2005-2007). He served as the Herman Phleger Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Stanford Law School in spring 1995. He has taught courses as visiting professor at the Harvard Law School, Arizona State University College of Law, and University of Utah College of Law. He has also taught seminars on Indian law and tribal law and judicial systems to members of the state bars of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico and to other legal associations. He is a past member of the board of directors for the National Indian Justice Center, National American Indian Court Judges Association, and the Advisory Council on Indian Legal Programs at the Arizona State University College of Law.

Justice Austin's book, Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law, A Tradition of Tribal Self-Governance (University of Minnesota Press), became available in November 2009. Justice Raymond Austin has recently been in UA news regarding his new book "Navajo Courts and Navajo Common Law, A Tradition of Tribal Self-Governance" Click here for details.

 

Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O'odham) directed American Indian Studies for 5 years between 1986-1991 and was one of the co-founders, and now director of the nationally recognized American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI). Ofelia Zepeda is a Regents’ Professor of Linguistics and is interdisciplinary faculty for American Indian Studies. She is the author of the first book on the grammar of the Tohono O'odham language, A Tohono O’odham Grammar. Professors Zepeda's scholarly publications on dialect variation, and issues on language shift and revitalization have appeared in numerous journals and books. Ofelia, as a poet writes in Tohono O’odham and English. Her current books include three books of poetry, Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert, The University of Arizona Press and Jewed ‘I-hoi/ Earth Movements, Kore Press, a bilingual collection (including a CD) and Where Clouds are Formed, The University of Arizona Press. Her poetry and literary essays also appear in various anthologies and collections. She is the series editor of the award winning publication series, Sun Tracks, a publication focusing on Native American authors, The University of Arizona Press. In 1997 the Sun Tracks anniversary volume, Home Places, was edited by Ofelia Zepeda and Dr. Larry Evers (English Department). Zepeda teaches Elementary O'odham Language and courses and seminars on language revitalization and maintenance. She has an extensive service/outreach record and in 1996 received the Tanner Award for significant contributions to the American Indian Community (awarded by the UA Indian Alumni Association). She is also the recipient of an award from the UA Graduate College for service to graduate students. Zepeda actively works with AIS graduate students on independent projects and supervising internships. In 1999 Dr. Zepeda was recognized with a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine MacAuthur Foundation for her life long work on American Indian language issues.

Rob Williams is the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies and Faculty Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson. He served as the first Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (2003-2004 academic year). He was Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School (Winter and Spring term 2003), and previously served as Bennet Boskey Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of Law at Harvard (Winter and Spring terms, 2000 and 2001). An enrolled member of the Lumbee Indian Tribe of North Carolina, Professor Williams received his B.A. from Loyola College (1977) and his J.D. from Harvard Law School (1980). Professor Williams is the author of The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest (Oxford University Press, 1990), which received the Gustavus Meyers Human Rights Center Award as one of the outstanding books published in 1990 on the subject of prejudice in the United States. He has also written Linking Arms Together: American Indian Treaty Visions of Law and Peace, 1600-1800 (Oxford University Press, 1997), and is co-author of Federal Indian Law: Cases and Materials (4th ed., with David Getches and Charles Wilkinson) (West, 1998). His most recent book, "Like a Loaded Weapon:" The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights and the Legal History of Racism in America, will be published by University of Minnesota Press (Fall 2005). Professor Williams was the recipient of a Soros Senior Justice Fellowship award (2001-2002) from the Open Society Institute, and has also received major grants and awards from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Institute of Justice to support his research and advocacy activities on behalf of Indian tribes and indigenous peoples. He presently serves as Principal Investigator for a $1.2 million dollar 2005 congressionally funded research grant to support the establishment of the "IPLP/NNI [Native Nations Institute] Collaborative Project" at the University of Arizona. Williams has represented indigenous plaintiffs and communities before United Nations and Inter-American human rights bodies and the United States Supreme Court ( Nevada v. Hicks, 2001 term). Professor Williams serves as Chief Justice of the Yavapai-Prescott Apache Tribe Court of Appeals and the Court of Appeals, Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation. He also serves as judge pro tempore for the Tohono O'odham Nation. Visit his U of A faculty profile at http://www.law.arizona.edu/Faculty/getprofile.cfm?facultyid=40

Roger Nichols has been at the University of Arizona since 1969. He is Professor of History and an affiliate faculty member in AIS. Prior to and during his appointment at Arizona Dr. Nichols taught at Wisconsin State University, the universities of Georgia and Maryland, and three German universities. Here he has directed three NEH Summer Seminars for College Teachers on recent issues in American Indian history. He offers courses in the history of American settlement, Western America, and Indians in American history. His scholarship related most directly to AIS includes: American Indians in U. S. History; Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History; and Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path. He has edited Black Hawk’s Autobiography and The American Indian: Past and Present (5 editions), and is joint author of Natives and Strangers: A History of Ethnic Americans (5 editions). Presently he is working on books entitled American Indian Wars: Policy or Accident? Generations of Fascination: Europeans and American Indians, and a new edition of The American Indian: Past and Present.