David Risling, former director of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and one of the nation's most effective and influential figures in Native American education, legal rights and economic advancement, has been selected to receive the 1992 UC Davis Distinguished Public Service Award. The award recognizes faculty members who have made significant public service contributions to the community, state, nation and world throughout their academic careers. The award, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, was established two years ago by the campus's Representative Assembly of the Academic Senate, the governing body of UC Davis professors. "When Indian people across the United States think of UC Davis, they are likely to think first of Dave Risling," said Jack D. Forbes, professor and director of the Native American Studies program at UC Davis. "He has exemplified the highest type of unselfish public service for UC Davis and for Native America for two decades." Risling taught at UC Davis from 1970 until his retirement last year. Before and during his tenure at the campus, Risling played a pivotal role in the advancement of educational opportunities and legal rights for Native Americans. An underlying principle of Risling's efforts has been to guide Native Americans toward self-determination, autonomy and mutual assistance in these areas by encouraging them to chart their own course, independent of the actions, or inactions, of mainstream political institutions. Risling is of Hoopa, Karok and Yurok heritage and grew up on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in Humboldt County. He is believed to be the first California Indian to graduate from a university, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In the years since, Risling has helped create more than seven state and national Indian-run organizations promoting Native American rights. In 1967, Risling organized the first statewide conference on Indian education at Stanislaus State College. Later that same year in North Fork, Calif., Risling helped organize the first Indian- -more- 2-2-2 Risling Receives Public Service Award controlled conference on education in the United States, Forbes said. The conference led to the founding of the California Indian Education Association (CIEA), for which Risling served as charter president. It was the prototype for the National Indian Education Association, which Risling also helped establish. The CIEA triggered the development of Native American studies programs at UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Long Beach State College, California State University, Sacramento, and elsewhere. The association also took the lead in the planning for D-Q University, an Indian-controlled community college near Davis, where Risling has served as chair of the Board of Trustees for almost 20 years. D-Q University in turn led to the establishment of many other Indian colleges, and Risling has been a key player in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, established by the new Indian colleges. From 1973-81, Risling served on the National Advisory Commission on Indian Education, appointed to the post by Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter. Risling had helped develop the legislation that led to the creation of the commission. He also was influential in the establishment of the Indian Education Act and the Indian Tribal Community College Act, two laws that now benefit almost 30 Indian community colleges and many more kindergarten through 12th grade Indian schools. Risling also has been an active proponent of asserting the legal rights of Indians. In 1968, he helped found the California Indian Legal Services, a nonprofit, Indian-controlled public agency, to defend treaty-established rights to land, water and sacred areas. At the time, it was one of only two or three groups in the country with such a mission. It led, in 1970, to the creation of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), a national, Indian-interest law firm dedicated to using the legal status of American Indians to improve the lot of individuals and assert the status and rights of Indian tribes. In recognition of his contributions, the state Department of Education and the California Indian Education Association in 1990 awarded Risling the Native American Elders award. That same year, the state Department of Education and the state Senate named him the outstanding educator of the year. Those who have worked with Risling consistently cite his influence, stature and energy as -more- 3-3-3 Risling Receives Public Service Award crucial elements in the success of the various organizations with which he has worked. "I regard Dave as one of the most important teachers I ever had during my university career," said Harmut Lutz, a professor of North American Studies at the University of Osnabruck, Germany. Lutz spent a year as a visiting scholar in the Native American Studies program at UC Davis, co-teaching several classes with Risling. He has maintained a professional and personal relationship with him ever since. "He set a very straight and admirable example of total, relentless and untiring commitment to public service on behalf of native peoples," Lutz said. Joshua S. Reichert, program director for conservation and the environment for the Pew Charitable Trusts, said, "As chair of the Native American Studies program at UC Davis, Dave helped shape one of the most important programs of its kind in the country. Few people have left such a strong mark on so many different institutions serving Native Americans." Ines Hernandez, an assistant professor of Native American Studies at UC Davis, said, "Dave has waged a struggle on behalf of Native American people in the field of education that surely has earned him one of the most significant places in the history of Indians in education in the United States." David H. Getches, a professor of law at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the first executive director of NARF, said, "NARF has gone forward, charged with Dave's leadership and spirit, to make a genuine difference in the rights of American Indians from coast to coast and even in Alaska and Hawaii."