Sponsored by UH-National Native American Law Students Ass’n., ‘Ahahui o Hawai‘i, & Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law
Funding provided by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Time: 9:00 a.m. Registration
          9:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Symposium
Place: Classroom 2
Registration: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~nalsa/symposium.html
Free and Open to the Public

Join our special guests and others for a lively discussion of Native Rolls, Membership Definitions, Inherent Sovereignty, and Federal Recognition

SPECIAL GUESTS

Stacy Leeds, Dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Stacy Leeds is the first American Indian woman to serve as dean of a law school. She has served as a judge for many tribes including the Cherokee Nation, where she was the only woman and youngest person to ever serve as a Supreme Court Justice. Dean Leeds has focused her teaching and extensive research on American Indian law, property, and natural resources. Recently, Dean Leeds was appointed to serve a two-year term on the National Comm’n. on Indian Trust Administration & Reform within the Dept. of Interior.

Pilar Thomas, Deputy Director in the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs. As Deputy Director, Ms. Thomas assists the Director in developing national energy policy and programs related to Indian energy development. Prior to joining the Dept. of Energy, Ms. Thomas served as the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior where she was responsible for providing day to day legal advice and counsel related to federal Indian law, tribal law, and legal issues involving Indian tribes.

John D. Waiheʻe, III, former Governor of Hawaiʻi and current Chair of the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission. The first Native Hawaiian to be elected to the office, John D. Waiheʻe served as the Governor of Hawaiʻi from 1986 to 1994. As a delegate to the 1978 Constitutional Convention, he was instrumental in the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and adoption of provisions advancing civil rights, and Native Hawaiian and environmental interests. A 1976 graduate of the U.H. Law School, in 2011, Gov. Waiheʻe was appointed to head the newly created Roll Commission to establish a roll of Native Hawaiians.

Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, Faculty Director, Indian Legal Program; Director, Indian Legal Clinic; and Associate Clinical Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. Prof. Ferguson-Bohnee has extensive experience in Indian law, election law and policy matters, voting rights, and status clarification of tribes. She has assisted in complex voting-rights litigation for tribes and drafted state legislative and congressional testimony on behalf of tribal clients with respect to voting-rights issues.