Cherokee Nation citizen Stacy Leeds named president of the University of Tulsa
- Cara Cowan Watts
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Cara Cowan Watts | Cherokee 411
TULSA, Okla. — Cherokee Nation citizen Stacy L. Leeds will become the 22nd president of the University of Tulsa on July 1, marking a historic milestone for both the university and Indian Country.
Stacy is also the first female President of TU and the second Cherokee Nation citizen
Leeds, a nationally respected legal scholar, educator, and former Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice, was selected by the University of Tulsa Board of Trustees following a national search. She currently serves as dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
Her appointment represents a homecoming for the Muskogee native, who graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1997.
Leeds brings more than 25 years of experience as a professor, administrator, and leader at major research universities. Over her career, she has built a reputation for academic excellence, financial stewardship, and collaborative leadership.
For Cherokee citizens, Leeds’ journey reflects both historic achievement and deep community roots.
“I am extremely pleased and proud that Stacy Leeds has been selected to be the president of Tulsa University,” said former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Ross Swimmer. “Her academic background, leadership, and business experiences will serve her and the university very well in the future. Congratulations, Stacy and TU.”
Swimmer, who served as the Cherokee Nation's principal chief from 1975 to 1985 and later as Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior and as Special Trustee for American Indians, has long been connected to the University of Tulsa. He served on the University’s Board of Trustees from 1990 to 2018.
In 2016, Ross and his late wife, Margaret Swimmer, established the Margaret and Ross Swimmer Endowed Scholarship in Law at the University of Tulsa to support students pursuing a legal education.
Margaret Swimmer, a 1983 honors graduate of the TU College of Law, went on to build a distinguished career in Indian law at Hall Estill, working with tribal governments and businesses across the country.
Cherokee citizen with deep family roots
Leeds is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation whose family history dates back to the Trail of Tears and the early years of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory.
Her ancestors include the Timberlake, Hicks, Bean, Yates, and Leeds families. She is the daughter of Jim and Sharon Leeds and the granddaughter of Jim and Willa Mae Leeds of Fort Gibson and Fred and Lillian Leeds of Muskogee.
Her Dawes Commission ancestors include Ellen Bean and Edith Yates.
Raised in Muskogee, Leeds attended Muskogee High School, where she was an all-state athlete. She went on to attend Washington University in St. Louis, where she set an NCAA record as a student athlete.
Her educational achievements include:
Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis
Juris Doctor from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1997
Master of Laws from the University of Wisconsin
Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee
Trailblazer in law and higher education
Leeds has built a groundbreaking career in both tribal and academic law.
She was appointed in 2002 as the first woman to serve on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, where she served until 2006. During her career, she also served as a judge for multiple tribal nations, including the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation, Muscogee Nation, Kaw Nation, Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
In 2007 she ran for principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Leeds has also helped shape the field of American Indian law through her teaching and scholarship. She taught law at the University of North Dakota and later directed the Northern Plains Indian Law Center.
She later served as professor of law and interim associate dean at the University of Kansas, where she also led the Tribal Law and Government Center.
In 2011 Leeds made history when she became dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law, becoming the first Indigenous woman to lead a law school in the United States. She served as dean until 2018 and later became the university’s inaugural vice chancellor for economic development.
At Arizona State University, Leeds joined the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law as Foundation Professor of Law and Leadership in the Indian Legal Program. In 2022 she was named the William H. Pedrick Dean of ASU Law, becoming the second woman to lead the law school.
National recognition and scholarship
Leeds has earned national recognition for her teaching, scholarship, and leadership.
Her honors include the Association of American Law Schools Clyde Ferguson Award for excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship. She also received the Immel Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas and was named Alumni of the Year by the National Native American Law Students Association.
She was selected as a Fletcher Fellow in 2008 and named a nonresident fellow of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. While at the University of Wisconsin, she served as a William H. Hastie Fellow.
In 2024, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious scholarly organizations.
Leeds has also authored and contributed to important works on tribal law and governance, including American Indian Property and the widely used legal textbook Mastering American Indian Law, co-authored with Angelique Townsend Eaglewoman.
Leading the University of Tulsa’s next chapter
University leaders said Leeds stood out for its combination of academic credibility, executive leadership, and commitment to student success.
Her experience includes serving on boards such as Arvest Bank and the Native American Agriculture Fund and helping expand innovation and intellectual property development during her time as vice chancellor for economic development at the University of Arkansas.
Leeds said returning to Tulsa represents both a professional honor and a personal homecoming.
“Returning to The University of Tulsa is an honor and profound homecoming for me,” Leeds said in the university announcement.
University leaders also noted her commitment to strengthening connections between the university and the Tulsa community.
Leeds will officially begin her tenure on July 1 and will welcome the University of Tulsa’s Class of 2030 later this summer.
“It’s a good day for TU as they welcome Stacy Leeds as president,” said Deb Reed, a 2009 University of Tulsa College of Law graduate, practicing attorney in Broken Arrow, co-founder of Cherokee411.com, and Miss Cherokee from 1991 to 1992. “She has a pattern of success in academia. She brings this and her expertise to our community, and we are all better for it.”
Philip H. Viles Jr., a former judge on the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal and longtime University of Tulsa affiliate, also praised the appointment.
“Stacy succeeded me on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court in 2002, and I have followed her career since,” Viles said. “When she was inducted into the TU College of Law Hall of Fame, my wife and I were nearby to support her and congratulate her.”
Viles said the university’s description of Leeds reflects the reputation she has built over decades in higher education.
“As TU’s announcement of her hiring said, she brings more than 25 years of experience as a professor and administrator at national research institutions and has an enviable national reputation and a formidable track record of fostering student success and institutional excellence,” Viles said. “Members of the search committee and full board were drawn to her unique portfolio of executive management, philanthropic success, and unimpeachable academic credibility. I second all of that, and I believe she will be a great fit for TU.”
Viles also noted the continued Cherokee presence in the university’s leadership.
“I am glad to note that the previous president of TU was Brad Carson, another Cherokee,” he said.
Viles himself served on the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal from 1976 to 2002, including nearly 16 years as chief justice, one of the longest such tenures in Cherokee history. A University of Tulsa alumnus who earned his law degree in 1975 and an MBA in 1983, he has remained closely connected to the university for nearly six decades as a student, donor, and adjunct faculty member.
He later worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., serving in both the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians and the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development before retiring in 2013.
For Cherokee citizens across Oklahoma and throughout the Cherokee Nation reservation, her appointment represents another example of Cherokee leadership shaping institutions across the country while honoring the legacy of the families who came before.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FORMER JUSTICE PHILIP H. VILES, JR.:
In 2002, former Justice Appeals Tribunal Chief Justice Philip H. Viles, Jr., stood with Stacy Leeds in front of the historic Cherokee Nation Courthouse in downtown Tahlequah as Justice Darrell Dowty swore Justice Leeds in for her first term on the Cherokee Nation Justice Appeals Court, which became the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court during her tenure.