David Beck
Office: NAC 112A
Phone: (406) 243-6097
Email: dave.beck@mso.umt.edu
Current Position:
Professor and Department Chair
Description:
One of the focal points of my work is to identify and analyze American Indian agency in the course of tribal history. I am a historian with research interests in federal Indian policy, twentieth century American Indian history, tribal sovereignty, and urban Indian history. I have studied these fields in relation to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the southwest Oregon coast, and the Chicago American Indian community. In my teaching I attempt to provide students with the analytical tools and knowledge base to promote tribal community development.
Courses:
NAS 100 Introduction to Native American Studies
NASX 260 Indigenous Community Development in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
NASX 304/RELS American Indian Beleifs and Philosophy
NASX 354/ANTH/HIST Indians of Montana Since the Reservation Era
NASX 475/PSCI 475 Tribal Sovereignty
NASX 494 Capstone Reading Course
NAS 594 Graduate Seminars in history and community development
Education:
Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Chicago
M.A., History, University of Illinois at Chicago
B.A., American Studies, Northwestern University
Affiliations:
Associated Faculty, Department of History, University of Montana
Consultant, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Historic Preservation Department, Keshena, Wisconsin
Advisor, Saokio Heritage, East Glacier, Montana
Project Director, Natives of Montana Archives Project (NOMAP), Smithsonian Institution and University of Montana Mansfield Library
Advisor, Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassador Program, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Professional Experience:
Professor, Department of Native American Studies, University of Montana, since 2006
Associate Professor, Department of Native American Studies, University of Montana, 2000-2006
Dean and Senior Resident Faculty, NAES College, Chicago, 1997-2000
Director, Tribal Research Center and Professor of History, NAES College, 1992-1997
International Experience:
Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassador Program faculty, travel to visit indigenous communities and people, and government officials in Peru (2011), Venezuela (1999), Guatemala (1998), Mexico (1993, 1997), Bolivia (1994)
Field School, British Columbia and Northwest Coast, May 2012
Faculty Exchange Visit, University of Tromsø, Norway, May 2011
Field School, Mexico City, Hidalgo and Colima, Mexico, May 2010
Visiting Faculty, Universidad de Colima, Mexico, January 2010
Visiting Faculty, Universidad Tecnológica del Valle de Mezquital, Ixmiquilpan, Mexico, January 2010
NEH Summer Institute to study ancient Maya, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (1997)
University of Montana FIPSE Tri-national (Canada-U.S.-Mexico) Mobility Grant representative
Honors/Awards:
Honored by Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians Education Department, July 2012
Short Term Visiting Researcher, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, June 2010
Honorable Mention, 2010 Joel Palmer Award, Oregon Historical Society, for “’Standing out here in the surf:’”
Short-Term Visiting Scholar, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, June 2009
Short Term Fellowship for Individual Research, The Newberry Library,
Short-Term Visiting Scholar, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, June 2008
Visiting Faculty, Department of Anthropology,
Short-Term Visiting Scientist,
Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award of Merit, for The Struggle for Self-Determination, June 2006
Donald J. Sterling, Jr., Research Fellowship,
University Grant, University of Montana, 2004-05
Wisconsin Historical Society Distinguished Service to History, Book Award of Merit, for Siege and Survival, June 13, 2003
Certificate of Appreciation for Ten Years of Community Service, Piegan Institute, 2003
NEH Summer Institute, “Re-Imagining Indigenous Cultures: The
Eighth Annual Honors Societies Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award, University of Montana, 2002
University Grant, University of Montana, 2001-02
Plaque of Acknowledgment “for making an important contribution to the success of the American Indian Ambassadors Program: Medicine Pathways for the Future,” June 26, 1997
Presented Eagle Feather by Menominee Indian Nation Historic Preservation Office for work on sturgeon and wild rice, August, 1994
NEH Summer Seminar, Native American History,
Selected Publications:
Seeking Recognition: The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, 1855-1984. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
The Struggle for Self-Determination: History of the Menominee Indians since 1854.Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Paperback edition, 2007. Winner, Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award.
Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634-1856. Lincoln: Nebraska Press, 2002. Winner, Wisconsin Historical Society Book Award of Merit.
The Chicago American Indian Community, 1893-1988, Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Sources in Chicago.Chicago College Press, 1988.
Other Publications:
With Rosalyn R. LaPier. "Crossroads for a Culture: American Indians in Progressive Era Chicago," Chicago History 38:1 (Spring 2012): 22-43.
"'Collecting among the Menomini': Cultural Assault in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin," American Indian Quarterly 34:2 (Spring 2010): 157-93. Please contact me if you do not have access to Project Muse and would like a copy of this article.
"'Standing out here in the surf:' The Termination and Restoration of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw of Western Oregon in Historical Perspective," Oregon Historical Quarterly 110:3 (2009): 6-37. Honorable Mention, 2010 Joel Palmer Award, Oregon Historical Society
“Developing a Voice: The Evolution of Self-Determination in an Urban Indian Community,” Wicazo Sa Review 17:2 (2002): 117-41.
"The Myth of the Vanishing Race,” Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian website, Northwestern University Library & Library of Congress.
“Protecting the Menominee: The Urban Setting as a Platform to Advocate for Justice,” in Susan Lobo and Kurt Peters, ed., American Indian Urban Experiences. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001. Pp. 155-62.
“From Colonization to Self-Determination: American Indian Higher Education Before 1974,” Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 27:2 (1999): 12-23. Originally pp. 16-24 in Joanna Brown, ed., Critical Issues in Indian Higher Education. Chicago: American Indian Press, 1995. ERIC number ED 388 478.
“The Chicago American Indian Community, An ‘Invisible’ Minority,” in Maxine S. Seller and Lois Weis, eds., Beyond Black and White: New Voices, New Faces in United States Schools. Albany State University of New York Press: 1997. Pp. 45-60. Reprinted in Terry Straus and Grant P. Arndt, Native Chicago.
“Return to Namä'o Uskíwämît, The Importance of Sturgeon in Menominee Indian History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 79:1 (Autumn, 1995): 32-48. Reprinted in Menominee Tribal News, April 12, 1996, pp. 16-19.
