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"Native America in the 21st Century: Beyond Myth" by W. Richard West Thursday, November 14, 4:00 p.m. Hall Auditorium, Oxford Campus

W. Richard West, an attorney and member of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma, has devoted his professional life and much of his personal life to working with American Indians on cultural, educational, legal, and governmental issues.

Richard West is the Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), a national institution of living culture dedicated to the representation and interpretation, of past, present, and future indigenous cultures and peoples of the Western Hemisphere, including art, history, and language.

Prior to becoming director of NMAI, West served as a law partner in Washington, D.C. and subsequently in an Indian-owned law firm in Albuquerque.

West served as general counsel and special counsel to numerous Indian tribes and organizations where he represented clients before federal, state, and tribal courts, and various executive departments of the federal government and Congress.

West graduated from Stanford University School of Law in 1971, where he also was the recipient of the Hilmer Oehlmann Jr. Prize for excellence in legal writing.