Oglala Sioux Tribe member
Tribal Relations Specialist
United States Forest Service
Richard Meyers (Richie) is the former Director of Graduate Studies and associate professor at Oglala Lakota College (OLC) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As an Oglala (Lakota) Sioux tribal member, he is one of a small group of federally recognized tribal members to achieve a PhD within the discipline of anthropology. Richie’s had a long and satisfying journey off the reservation pursuing his education and anthropological experiences prior to returning home. He holds a Master’s and PhD degree in Anthropology from Arizona State University, as well as a Master’s degree in English from the Breadloaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he was both a fellow and faculty member. At South Dakota State University, he served as Director of Tribal Outreach to the President, was Program Coordinator of American Indian Studies, and served as Assistant to the Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences on matters of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Meyers has served as a writer for the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs under, both, the Bush and Obama administrations and was a fellow in the Anthropology Department at the Smithsonian. He’s a member of the executive board of the Association of Indigenous Anthropologists (AIA), among a few boards he sits upon. He currently works at the Black Hills National Forest as the Tribal Relations Specialist. He lives with his wife and two daughters on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Eagle Nest District.
