Thank you for joining the University of Oregon's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center (ENR) and cross-campus partners for the 18th Annual Rennard Strickland Lecture at Oregon Law. A free and public virtual event, the lecture took place on Thursday, October 24, 2024.
We were pleased to welcome Mr. Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III (Cayuse and Walla), the Director of the National Park Service, as this year's speaker. Director Sams delivered a lecture titled "Fulfilling a Covenant: Stewardship of America's Best Idea — The intersection of Indigenous Knowledge and the 1916 Organic Act." The talk recording is now live on Youtube.
Chuck Sams (Cayuse and Walla Walla) in an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, where he grew up. He also has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe and Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck. On December 16, 2021, he was ceremonially sworn in as the 19th director of the National Park Service (NPS) by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. For 30 years, Sams has worked in Tribal and state government and in the non-profit natural resource and conservation management field, with an emphasis on the responsibility of strong stewardship for land preservation for this and future generations. Before becoming the NPS Director, he was Oregon Governor Kate Brown's appointee to the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Prior to joining the Council, he served his community as Executive Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Sams is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where he served as an intelligence specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Concordia University and a Master of Legal Studies in Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma School of Law.
The ENR Center, through the Native Environmental Sovereignty Project, established the Rennard Strickland Lecture series in 2006 to honor the former Oregon Law professor and dean, who retired that year and passed away in 2021. Strickland, an Osage citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was widely regarded as a national leader in Indian law and policy. His leadership helped shape the ENR and Indian Law programs at Oregon Law. In keeping with Strickland's assertion that, "[i]f there is to be a post-Columbian future – a future for any of us – it will be an Indian future" (Tonto's Revenge, 1997), the Rennard Strickland Lecture series is designed to recognize and underscore the importance of Indigenous environmental-legal leadership and Tribal sovereignty in the twenty-first century.
The 18th Annual Rennard Strickland Lecture is co-sponsored by the University of Oregon Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies, the Native American Law Students Association, and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
Past lecturers include:
Professor Mary Wood, University of Oregon School of Law
Professor William Rodgers, University of Washington School of Law
Professor Rebecca Tsosie, University of Arizona Law
Former Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, Department of the Interior
Former Solicitor Hillary Tompkins, Department of the Interior
Former Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs Patrice Kunesh, Department of the Interior
Professor Robert Anderson, University of Washington School of Law (now serving as Principal Deputy Solicitor, Department of the Interior)
Former Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, Department of the Interior
Professor Robert Williams, University of Arizona Law School
Professor Carole Goldberg, University of California Los Angeles Law School
Dean James Anaya, University of Colorado School of Law
Professor Gerald Torres, Yale Law School
Mary Kathryn Nagle, Pipestem Law
President Fawn Sharp, Quinault Tribe and President of the National Congress of American Indians
Professor Stacy Leeds, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Professor Matthew L.M. Fletcher, University of Michigan Law School
Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law