David West

David West (Potawatomi, Miami, and Kickapoo) was born in Weyerhaeuser Logging Camp #6, just outside of Bly, Oregon. He lived there until he was five years old, and then moved back to Southern Oregon. His family were homesteaders on his dad’s side in the Buncom area of Little Applegate and Sterling Creek, and he is a third generation Oregonian. David’s Indigenous family arrived from Oklahoma in 1920, after having been removed there from the Great Lakes.  He is Citizen Potawatomi, Miami, and Kickapoo.

In addition to being an Enrolled Member and Elder of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, David is the Director Emeritus of Native American Programs at Southern Oregon University.  He has been a member of the Oregon Indian Education Association for 35 years, and also a member of the National Congress of American Indians.  He has been selected as the Indian Educator of the year, and as the Elder of the year (in a different year) by the same organization.  David is a Traditional Community Facilitator.  His extended family is big and wide, matched by his loving spirit!

In June of 2001, Rogue Community College, of which he is an alumni, established an award in his honor: the David West Seventh Generation Diversity Award.  It is bestowed annually to RCC staff/faculty members who have shown a deep commitment to the values of diversity, inclusiveness, fair and principled leadership, and who have influenced the lives of students and staff through honoring diversity and in celebrating the richness of our college community.  David lives by the principle that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations in the future, a world that we want for our children’s children’s children, several generations and beyond.