John W. Tippeconnic III, a member of the Comanche Nation and part Cherokee, is currently teaching courses in American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos. He is also an Emeritus Professor and Former Director of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University. Previously, he was a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Penn State University where he held the Batschelet Chair in Education Administration. He also directed the Penn State American Indian Leadership Program. He is the former Director of education for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Director of Indian Education for the U.S. Department of Education. He served as vice president of Navajo Community College (now Dinè College) and was a founding member of the governing board of Comanche Nation College. Early in his career he taught 4th grade and middle school math and social studies and was the Director of the Center for Indian Education at ASU.
He served two terms as president of the National Indian Education Association and received their Indian Educator of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He was named a “Fellow” by the American Educational Research Association and chaired their Indian Education Special Interest Group. The Comanche Tribe also recognized him for his work in education.
His latest publications include the co-edited book, Voices of Resistance and Renewal published by the University of Oklahoma Press and Leadership and Indian Education: A Dozen Observations, a chapter in the book American Indian Stories of Success. Prior work includes co-editing the book, Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Education, and The Dropout/Graduation Crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native Students. He co-edited a special issue of the Journal of American Indian Education on Culturally Responsive Education for American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian students. He served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Education and the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. He currently is on the editorial board of the Journal of American Indian Education and is an Indigenous Education Series Editor for the University of Nebraska Press. He is co-editor of a forthcoming book titled On Indian Ground: The Southwest.
His research interests are policy, diversity, leadership, and American Indian education.