Indigenous Student Seminar Academic Program

Indigenous Student Seminar sessions are taught by fellows of the Hoover Institution, tribal leaders, and scholars working on indigenous issues. The core curriculum explores a law and economics approach to examining federal policy, tribal governance, and indigenous entrepreneurship. The curriculum assumes no previous coursework in public policy-related subjects.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS

The Indigenous Student Seminar offers participants networking opportunities with scholars in the field of Public Policy from the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. Visit the Seminar Faculty page for updates as we confirm speakers for the August 2025 seminar.

A DAY IN THE INDIGENOUS STUDENT SEMINAR

Days will be organized around the themes of Pre-Contact Indigenous Economies, Federal Indian Law and Policy, and Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Each day will include lectures from scholars and policy practitioners and robust Q&A sessions. Some days will also include small group discussions. Lunches will be attended by the entire class and one or more professors from that day’s sessions. 

Some sessions will end in the late afternoon. There will be group dinners with invited speakers on some of the evenings. Students can expect to receive readings and case studies that must be completed prior to the seminar to ensure active participation in group meetings and class discussions.

PREVIOUS INDIGENOUS STUDENT SEMINAR TOPICS & FACULTY

The RIE Project in a Nutshell
Dominic Parker, Ilene and Morton Harris Visiting Fellow

Creating Private Sector Economies in Indian Country
Robert Miller, Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University 

The Time Trap: Addressing the Stereotypes that Undermine Tribal Sovereignty
Adam Crepelle, Campbell Visiting Fellow

Who are American Indians?
Matthew Snipp, Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Sociology, Stanford University 

Income Growth and Economic Freedom on Reservations
Terry Anderson, John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow
Thomas Stratmann, Professor at George Mason University

Culture-driven Property and Business Development
Richard Monette, Professor of law at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

The Property Species
Bart Wilson, Professor of Economics and Law and the Donald P. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Economics and Law at Chapman University.

Indigenous Business and Entrepreneurship
Daniel Stewart, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, Gonzaga University
Deanna Kennedy, Associate Dean, Academic Programs, University of Washington - Bothell 

Tribal Development: Practical Perspectives
Derrick Watchman, President of Sagebrush Hill Group LLC

Speeding Up Indigenous Self-Determination Speeding
Andre LeDressay

Reflections on We Are Not Your Savages, Myth Montana, and Native American Visual Sovereignty 
Haley Rains, UC President’s/Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz and Indigenous Student Seminar Alumni

A Contemporary Student Perspective on the 21st-Century "Indigenous Economy"
Aldo Aragon, Post-Baccalaureate Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and Indigenous Student Seminar Alumni

The Warrior's Journey: A New Traditional Approach
Misty Kuhl, Director of the Department of Indian Affairs in Montana

Economics, First Nations, and the Canadian Context
Donn Feir, Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Research for the Next Generation
Dominic Parker, Ilene and Morton Harris Visiting Fellow
Daniel Stewart, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, Gonzaga University

The Alliance for Renewing Indigenous Economies is a joint project of the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics in Kamloops, the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.