The Dhillon School of Business (DSB) at the University of Lethbridge is honoured to announce renowned international scholar and leader Dr. Leroy Little Bear (BASc (BA) ’72, DASc ’04) as its newest adjunct professor. Little Bear is currently the University’s Niitsitapi Scholar, acts as senior advisor to University President & Vice-Chancellor Dr. Mike Mahon and teaches in the Dhillon School of Business’ Indigenous Governance and Business Management program.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Little Bear and highly value his wisdom and knowledge,” says Dr. Kerry Godfrey, dean of the Dhillon School of Business. “Our school continues to purposefully find ways to foster reconciliation in business and we believe this partnership will both enhance and broaden the perspectives of our faculty, staff and students, as well as make the Dhillon School of Business a better partner in Indigenous and non-Indigenous business education across Canada.”
The DSB has a 35-year history of supporting community-guided Indigenous business education designed to strengthen Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships in business. Little Bear will also help the school develop stronger connections with the local Blackfoot community and other Indigenous communities in Alberta and Canada.
‘It is a great honour,” Little Bear says. “It has always been my goal to promote the U of L and to graduate future leaders for our communities.”
Little Bear was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019, received the University of Lethbridge Ingrid Speaker Research Medal in 2017, was awarded the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2016 and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Lethbridge and the University of Northern British Columbia. He is also an honorary Eminent Scholar at Red Crow Community College. Little Bear holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Utah, a BA from the University of Lethbridge, and an Associate Arts Degree in Forestry from Wenatchee Valley College.
Little Bear has been a mentor and consultant on Indigenous matters at local, provincial, national and international levels, and helped establish the Native American Studies program at the U of L. His writings and work have greatly influenced legal and policy realms including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the re-establishment of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the First Nations Buffalo Treaty. He is the author of a number of esteemed publications and was the first Indigenous person to be quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada. Little Bear was born and raised on the Blood Reserve (Kainai First Nation) west of Lethbridge.