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W.
Richard West
Director of the National
Museum of the American Indian
W. Richard West, attorney and member of
the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma,
is director of the Smithsonian's National
Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). West
has devoted his professional life and much
of his personal life to working with American
Indians on cultural, educational, legal,
and governmental issues.
Before becoming director of the NMAI, West
was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office
of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson,
and, subsequently, in the Indian-owned Albuquerque
law firm of Gover, Stetson, Williams &
West, P.C. He served as general counsel
and special counsel to numerous Indian tribes
and organizations. In that capacity, he
represented clients before federal, state,
and tribal courts, various executive departments
of the federal government and Congress.
Affiliations
and Memberships
West's current board affiliations and memberships
include: Ford Foundation (1999-present);
American Indian Research Institute (1973-present);
University of Redlands (1993-present); National
Trust for Historic Preservation (1994-present);
Bush Foundation (1991-present); National
Support Committee of the Native American
Rights Fund (1990-present).
He is the past chair of the board of directors
of the American Association of Museums,
the nation's only national membership organization
representing all types of museums and museum
professionals. His chairmanship was for
a two-year term that began in May 1998.
From 1992-1995 and 1997-1998, he served
as member-at-large of the association's
board of directors and in 1995-1996 as vice
chair of the board of directors.
As director of the National Museum of the
American Indian, West is responsible for
guiding the successful opening of the three
facilities that will comprise the National
Museum of the American Indian. He oversaw
the creation and completion of the George
Gustav Heye Center, the museum's exhibition
facility which opened in New York City on
October 30, 1994, and continues to supervise
the overall planning of the museum's Cultural
Resources Center, which will house the NMAI's
vast 800,000 object collection, and opened
its doors in Suitland Md., last year. West's
philosophy and vision for the museum have
been critical in guiding the architectural
planning of the Mall museum, which is scheduled
to open on the last available site on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2002-2003.
West devotes considerable time and energy
to the museum's fund-raising efforts. As
part of the legislation establishing the
National Museum of the American Indian,
it was mandated by Congress that one-third
of the construction costs of the Mall museum
be raised from non-federal sources. The
total cost of the Mall museum was estimated
to be $110 million. The first part of the
fund-raising goal was realized on September
30, 1996, the date by which $36.7 million
was raised for construction. West continues
to oversee the fund-raising campaign of
the museum, which will provide for additional
construction funds, an endowment, and ongoing
educational and outreach programs.
Personal
West, who grew up in Muskogee, Okla., was
born in San Bernardino, Calif., on Jan.
6, 1943, the son of American Indian master
artist, the late Walter Richard West Sr.,
and Maribelle McCrea West. He earned a bachelor
of arts degree (major in American history)
Magna Cum Laude in 1965 and graduated Phi
Beta Kappa from the University of Redlands
in California. He also received a master's
degree in American history from Harvard
University in 1968. West graduated from
the Stanford University School of Law with
a doctor of jurisprudence degree in 1971,
where he also was the recipient of the Hilmer
Oehlmann Jr. Prize for excellence in legal
writing and served as an officer of the
Stanford Law Review.
West is married to the former Mary Beth
Braden, who is an attorney and ambassador
with the Department of State in Washington,
D.C. They have two children, Amy, 25, and
Ben, 22.
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