Lee Hester

Biography

"Dr. Lee Hester has been a member of the USAO faculty since 2000. He teaches Tribal Government and Law, History of Federal Indian Law, Contemporary American Indian Issues, American Indian Identity, Native American Philosophy, American Indian Art, American Indians in Film, American Indian Economics, Casino Management, Plains Indian Warfare, Removal, Native American Literature, and American Indian Education. Hester is the director of American Indian Studies and director of the Meredith Indigenous Humanities Center. He is the advisor to all American Indian Studies majors and is a faculty advisor to American Indian student organization on campus. Hester has been published in numerous academic journals, as well as American Indian newspapers and newsletters. His many academic works include the book, Political Principles and Indian Sovereignty, and such articles as, American Indian Wars on the Silver Screen, Ceremonial Worlds and Environmental Sanity, Truth and Native American Epistemology, and Choctaw Notions of Sovereignty. He was awarded the Presidential Award of Excellence for Environmental Protection Services in 1973 by President Richard Nixon. In addition to his classroom activities, Hester has served as President, Chairman of the Board and Cultural Committee Chair for the OK Choctaw Tribal Alliance Inc., is a founding board member for the Oklahoma Association for Healthcare Ethics, a founding Board Member of the Choctaw Code Talkers Association and is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, the American Philosophical Association and the American Indian Philosophical Association. Before coming to USAO, Hester taught at Oklahoma City University, Lakehead University in Canada and at the University of Oklahoma."

Research Interest

Tribal Government and Law, History of Federal Indian Law, Contemporary American Indian Issues, American Indian Identity, Native American Philosophy, American Indian Art, American Indians in Film, American Indian Economics, Casino Management, Plains Indian Warfare, Removal, Native American Literature, and American Indian Education.