September 04, 2025

Professor Robert J. Miller honored with Lifetime Achievement Award from Native American Bar Association of Arizona

The Native American Bar Association of Arizona (NABA-AZ) will honor Professor Robert J. Miller with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming Seven Generations Dinner and Silent Auction on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Miller, a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, is the Jonathan and Wendy Rose Professor of Law and faculty director of the Rosette LLP American Indian Economic Development Program with the Indian Legal Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is being recognized for decades of contributions to federal Indian law, scholarship and mentorship.

Career in law and scholarship

Miller’s work in Indian law has always been grounded in who he is — a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. In 2003, his Tribe appointed him as its representative to the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial committee, which inspired his scholarship on the Doctrine of Discovery. That work has since led to two books, more than a dozen law review articles and several book chapters on the Doctrine. 

“Publish or perish — that’s what professors face,” Miller said. “I never expected to write a book, and now my sixth one is coming out this December. To have any impact at all in Indian law is a very pleasant surprise to me.”

Miller’s expertise has been cited widely in scholarship and media. His words have also been featured in cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Missouri History Museum, the Alaska Heritage Center Museum and his Tribe’s history exhibit at the George J. Captain Library.

“It was shocking to see,” Miller said of coming across his name in a Smithsonian display. “To see my work in a place like that — it made my jaw drop.”

He also serves as editor of the “New Visions in Native American and Indigenous Studies” series, co-published by the University of Nebraska Press and the American Philosophical Society since 2014, which showcases new voices and scholarship in the field.

Recognition from peers

For Miller, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from NABA-AZ is a deeply meaningful recognition.

“It’s an honor and it is humbling,” he said. “I appreciate very much being recognized as having done something worthwhile. Instead of just writing to fulfill the obligations of the job, this award makes me feel like my work has truly mattered.”

Over his 34-year career, Miller has also served as a Tribal judge for multiple Tribal Nations, including as chief justice for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and as a justice on the Grand Ronde Tribal Court of Appeals, the Northwest Intertribal Court System and the Shawnee Tribe Supreme Court. He became the first Native American elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS) in 2014 and now serves on its governing council, where he chairs the Native American Advisory Council and helped draft protocols for handling Native American objects and working with Tribes that may object to certain materials being made public. His election also marked a historic milestone that helped pave the way for the subsequent election of other distinguished Native American leaders and Indian law scholars into the APS, including Stacy Leeds, Willard H. Pedrick Dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU, further broadening representation within one of the nation’s most prestigious scholarly societies.

Guidance for the next generation

Miller joined ASU Law’s faculty in 2013, where he has taught and mentored students who have gone on to leadership roles in Indian Country and beyond. He continues to teach and mentor students through the Indian Legal Program, encouraging them to embrace the responsibility of working in Indian law.

“Take your work seriously from day one,” he said. “If you’re planning a career in Indian law, that’s a very important job — to help Tribes protect and exercise their sovereignty. The work you do for Tribal governments today can have an impact for decades.”

Written by Danielle Williams