Professor Rebecca Tsosie
The Indian Law Section is pleased to announce that the 2026 Lawrence R. Baca Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient is Professor Rebecca Tsosie.
Rebecca Tsosie is a Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Professor Tsosie teaches in the areas of Federal Indian law, Property, Constitutional Law, Cultural Resources Law, and Critical Race Theory. Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 2016, Professor Tsosie was a Regents Professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she also served as Vice Provost for Inclusion and Community Engagement. Professor Tsosie was the first faculty Executive Director of ASU’s Indian Legal Program and served in that position for fifteen years. While at ASU, Professor Tsosie also held an academic appointment with the faculty of Philosophy within the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, and she served as an affiliate faculty member for the American Indian Studies Program and a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist for the Global Institute of Sustainability.
Professor Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent, is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in the fields of Federal Indian law and Indigenous peoples’ human rights. Professor Tsosie is a member of the Arizona Bar Association and the California Bar Association. She serves as an appellate judge for the Supreme Court of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Professor Tsosie received her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she was also a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California.
FBA Indian Law Section Chair Venus McGhee Prince remarked, “We are honored to recognize Professor Tsosie for her lifetime of contributions to not only Federal Indian law but also the broader Indian law community. Her scholarship over the years has helped to shape modern federal Indian law, and her decades of mentorship to Indian law students have made her well-known and well-regarded by academics, practicing attorneys, and the judiciary alike. Her unassuming and generous spirit was captured by her response to the news of being chosen for this award—she was shocked, commenting that there were many other deserving Indian law practitioners. That humility and instinct to recognize the contributions of others underscore why Professor Tsosie more than deserves this honor.”