University of Arizona Law Professor Robert A. Williams, Jr., faculty co-chair of the I ndigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program (IPLP), was selected last spring by the Arizona Board of Regents to become one of five new Regents' Professors at the University of Arizona. The distinction is the highest faculty honor awarded at Arizona's public universities, limited to only three percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty members. 

The board cited Williams's influence and reputation in Indian Law and the indigenous student community he has helped build at Arizona Law, which has the largest number of Native American students among the country's top-ranked law schools. The board also pointed to Williams's contributions to the groundbreaking BA in Law major, the fastest growing major at the UA.

Professor Williams's formal induction took place last Wednesday in a ceremony on the UA campus. In celebration of this achievement, we asked the Arizona Law and IPLP community to share their experiences with Professor Williams. Here are just a few of the many responses.

Fellow Arizona Regents' Professor Rebecca Tsosie, who co-chairs the IPLP program, said:

 

	Rebecca Tsosie, Regents' Professor of Law, IPLP faculty co-chair, and  Special Advisor to the Provost for Diversity and Inclusion

"Rob Williams has been a luminary in the field of Federal Indian Law and he set the standard for Native scholars with his stunning critiques of the doctrine, informed by critical race theory, legal history (through an Indigenous lens), and also international human rights law. 

Rob is a brilliant and fearless scholar who expanded the discipline in new ways and brought intellectual vibrancy to our field.

 

He is also an incredibly generous mentor. Rob recruited me to law school and encouraged me to follow this path. Although I ended up staying at UCLA for law school, we kept in touch and he was pivotal in my decision to enter law teaching. He mentored me during my first year as a visiting professor at ASU when I was teaching Indian law from his casebook. He challenged me to write scholarship that was meaningful to me, even if it departed from the standard doctrines. Rob's scholarship influenced the field in ways that were new, creative, insightful, and provocative.

 

I am incredibly thankful to him for everything he has done for me and for many other Native law students and scholars, not to mention the other students and faculty he has mentored. I am so honored to be Rob's colleague in the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, which has trained many of the leading Native attorneys and scholars and continues to serve Indigenous students and communities throughout the world. I thank Rob for his incredible contributions and innovative spirit. Rob continues to lead the way for Indigenous students in higher education, inspiring each generation with his intellectual energy, charisma, and generosity of spirit."

 

"I can only characterize Professor Williams's impact on both my career and me personally as profound. He was not only a deeply inspiring professor and cutting-edge lawyer, but, moreso, he's a humanitarian who leads by example through who he is and how he lives his life. These are vivid memories from my time in the IPLP Program. Professor Williams remains a guiding light in my life no matter where I find myself. I am so happy for his well deserved accolade."

Maria C. Borbón , JD Class of 1987 and LLM Class of 2002, shares:

	Maria C. Borbón (JD '87, LLM '02)

"What makes Professor Williams such a singularly superlative teacher is his unwavering concern for the professional well-being of all of his students. 

I was fortunate enough to have been a member of the first graduating class of the University of Arizona Law's IPLP LLM program in 2002. Our class came from across the globe to join Professor Williams and learn why colonialism still exists throughout the world and why the federal courts struggle to accept the sovereignty of the more than 500 tribal governments in the United States. Since graduating from the IPLP Program, I have worked for two branches of tribal government, and the IPLP Program provided me with the analytical skills I needed to succeed.

 

Professor Williams was voted best professor in his first year teaching at the law school in 1986, based on his ability to provide students with the support they needed to speak in front of the class without fear of failing. For those of us not raised by professionals, it was a meaningful change in an otherwise hyper-competitive and often intimidating environment. By his teaching and scholarship, Professor Williams has made an unequivocally positive impact on several generations of lawyers."

Regents' Professor Williams is pictured at far right, along with other honorees, members of the Board of Regents, and University of Arizona leaders. Source: UA News.