Stacy Leeds is an experienced leader in law, higher education, economic development and conflict resolution. She is the 9th dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative law schools.
In addition to serving as dean of two law schools (Arizona State and Arkansas), she was the inaugural Vice Chancellor for Economic Development at the University of Arkansas, where she expanded the university’s intellectual property portfolio and substantially increased funding for faculty inventors and startups.
For over 25 years, Dean Leeds has been a professor and administrator at major research universities, including two AAU institutions (Arizona State and Kansas). She is a top national scholar, public intellectual and educator on Indigenous Law and Policy topics. Her broad teaching experience also includes property law, energy and natural resources, leadership, ethics, business, and economic development courses for undergraduate, graduate, professional and executive education students. She is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute.
Deeply committed to community and public service at the national and local levels, she is a former Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Justice and serves as an advisor, board member and trustee for a variety of public and private entities.
Leeds is a former NCAA student-athlete, a lifelong sports enthusiast, and a former Cherokee Nation Remember the Removal cyclist. She continues to (slowly) chase marathon and half-marathon finish lines while splitting her time between Phoenix/Tempe, Arizona and Tahlequah, Oklahoma.