Steve Russell

Steve Russell is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, born and raised in the Creek Nation. He dropped out of Bristow, Oklahoma High School in the ninth grade. After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1968, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, and went on to earn a law degree from the same school. He also received a master of judicial studies degree from the University of Nevada at Reno. His first career was as a Texas trial court judge, first on the Austin...See more

Steve Russell is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, born and raised in the Creek Nation. He dropped out of Bristow, Oklahoma High School in the ninth grade. After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1968, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, and went on to earn a law degree from the same school. He also received a master of judicial studies degree from the University of Nevada at Reno. His first career was as a Texas trial court judge, first on the Austin Municipal Court and then Travis County Court at Law No. Two. His second career was as a criminal justice professor, first at the University of Texas at San Antonio and then at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is currently Associate Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at Indiana University and retains his judicial status in Texas as well. Twice retired, Russell lives with his wife Tracy in Georgetown, Texas. He writes a regular column on tribal affairs for Indian Country Today. Russell is the author of Sequoyah Rising: Problems in Post-Colonial Tribal Governance (Carolina Academic Press 2010), Ceremonies of Innocence: Essays from the Indian Wars (Dog Iron Press 2012), and Wicked Dew (Dog Iron Press 2012), winner of the Poetry First Book Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas in 2008. See less