Meet the Professors
Courtney Allensworth Esposito
Courtney Allensworth Esposito currently serves as an Indian Probate Judge for the United States’ Department of the Interior (DOI). Prior to her appointment, she was an attorney for DOI’s Office of the Solicitor, where she specialized in issues relating to uses of Indian lands. Before joining DOI, Courtney was honored to serve the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa as in-house counsel. She holds a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline), a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies and Public Policy from the State University of New York – Albany, and a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Luther College.
Jason Anthony Robison
Professor Jason Anthony Robison joined the faculty of the UW College of Law in May 2013 after completing his S.J.D. at Harvard Law School. He held a variety of legal and policy positions before becoming a law professor, including with the Harvard Water Security Initiative, the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School, the Colorado River Governance Initiative at the University of Colorado, the Oregon Supreme Court, the Special Litigation Unit of the Oregon Department of Justice, and the Motions Department and Office of Appellate Legal Counsel of the Oregon Court of Appeals. Professor Robison has also worked as a teaching fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Environmental Science and Public Policy program at Harvard College. Professor Robison loves the American West. Environmental and natural resources law, property law and theory, and Western environmental history are his primary scholarly fields. Professor Robison was honored to receive the Chief Washakie Foundation’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2019 for chairing the subcommittee that drafted UW’s first-ever Native American & Indigenous Affairs Strategic Plan. He is a proud member of the UW President’s Native American Affairs Advisory Council as well as the Leadership Team for the Water & Tribes Initiative in the Colorado River Basin. Professor Robison also enjoys serving as Chair of the Colorado River Research Group.
Michelle Bryan
Professor Michelle Bryan teaches in the law school's Natural Resources & Environmental Law Program. Growing up in farming, ranching, and energy development communities in the West, Professor Bryan was drawn to the fields of natural resources and environmental law. Prior to joining the law faculty, she worked in private practice representing a variety of clients including local governments, private landowners, non-profits, developers, and affected neighbors and community groups. She brings this diversity of perspective to her scholarship and teaching.
Anthony Johnstone
Anthony Johnstone is the Helen and David Mason Professor of Law and an affiliated Professor of Public Administration at the University of Montana's Blewett School of Law. He teaches and writes about Federal and State Constitutional Law, Legislation, Election Law, Jurisprudence, and related subjects. Professor Johnstone's scholarship has been cited more than one hundred times by judges, scholars, and practitioners. He has served as counsel in more than two dozen published cases in state and federal courts, including petition-stage or merit-stage briefs for six cases at the Supreme Court of the United States.
Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark
Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark is an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Governance and the Director of the Indigenous Nationhood program at the University of Victoria. She is Ojibwe from Turtle Mountain and has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. Her primary area of research and teaching is in the field of Indigenous Comparative Politics, Native Diplomacy & Treaty and Aboriginal Rights in the United States and Canada. She is the co-editor of Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories with Jill Doerfler and Niigaanwewidam Sinclair and is the co-author of the third edition of American Indian Politics and the American Political System with Dr. David E. Wilkins. Her research background includes collaborative work with Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. She was awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her project titled “Sakimay First Nation Governance,” in collaboration with John Borrows which involves students, Anishinaabe Elders, and Sakimay First Nation community members, and aims to advance the development and resurgence of Anishinaabe political structures and institutions that are informed and shaped by Anishinaabe philosophies, values, and teachings.
Kekek Jason Stark
Kekek Jason Stark is a Turtle Mountain Ojibwe and member of the Bizhiw (Lynx) Clan. He is a former president of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. He is a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and alum of Hamline University School of Law. Kekek served as the Attorney General for the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. As the Attorney General, Kekek served as the chief legal representative and advisor to the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board and provided technical supervision of the Office of the Attorney General on a wide range of issues including: treaty rights, natural and cultural resources, land use, child welfare, child support, real property, procurement, preference, tort, contract, constitutional, gaming, environmental, intellectual property, employment law and litigation. Prior to assuming his role with the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe, Kekek served as an Attorney / Policy Analyst for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. His work at the Commission involved the preservation, implementation and utilization of treaty reserved rights for 11 Ojibwe bands encompassing Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Kekek has served as an adjunct instructor for the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, the University of Wisconsin – Superior, and the University of Minnesota – Duluth. Kekek has served as board member of the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute, the Bad River Head Start Policy Council, the Anoka-Hennepin Indian Education Committee, and Nawayee Center School.