Scott Richard Lyons

A former director of Native American studies programs at the University of Michigan and elsewhere, Professor Lyons specializes in Native American literature and culture. His publications include X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent (2010), The World, the Text, and the Indian: Global Dimensions of Native American Literature (2017), and the forthcoming Peacemakers: Mimetic Desire and Violence in Native American Myth and Fiction. He was once a regular newspaper columnist for Indian Country Today. An old-fashioned generalist at heart, Lyons teaches courses on the history of the short story, Catholic literature, totalitarianism, and the mimetic theory of René Girard, in addition to his Native American literature courses. His academic honors include the Beatrice Medicine Award given for distinguished scholarship in Native American studies, and the Henry Russel Award which is the University of Michigan's highest midcareer award. The Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers gave him a Best Journalism award for his newspaper columns. Lyons is the founding director of the Kateri Institute for Catholic Studies and a founding member of the Indigenous Catholic Research Fellowship. A defender of academic freedom and free speech, Professor Lyons is a member of the Academic Freedom Alliance. 

Descending from two formerly warring Minnesota Indian tribes – the Mississippi Ojibwe of Leech Lake (White Oak Point) and the Mdewakanton Dakota of Lower Sioux (Loyalist) -- Lyons' first schooling experience was in Leech Lake Reservation's Head Start program. Many years later, his first permanent academic position was at Leech Lake Tribal College. Lyons considers himself a humble family man and an avid motorcyclist, usually but not always in that order.