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 and public intellectual on Indigenous Law and Policy issues. 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. Leeds is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Law Institute. She is a past recipient of the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award.
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 two-sport NCAA student-athlete and a life-long sports enthusiast. She is a former Cherokee Nation Remember the Removal cyclist who continues to (slowly) run marathons and half marathons. A Cherokee Nation citizen and a 6th generation Northeastern Oklahoman, she splits her time between Tempe/Phoenix, Arizona and Tahlequah, Oklahoma.