The Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues is named after Joseph Myers, a Pomo Indian from Northern California. Mr. Myers completed his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of California at Berkeley. He has spent more than 30 years as the founding director of the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC) and has been a Lecturer in Native American Studies at UC Berkeley for more than 10 years. Through NIJC, Mr. Myers has served the needs of Indian tribes nationally by providing legal training and technical assistance to improve the quality of life and administration of justice in Native communities. The research center’s name is intended to recognize the extensive service of Mr. Myers to Indian country.

The Joseph A. Myers Center is housed at UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI). World renowned for its research capabilities in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, the University and ISSI, whose research mandate is to focus on the wide array of issues that permeate public debate, politics and policy throughout contemporary American society, is the ideal home for this research center. The Center’s mission is to provide the people of Indian country with pragmatic research products that can be employed to improve the quality of life for Native Americans throughout the US. The Center fulfills this mission by bringing the resources of the University to Native communities; developing, coordinating and funding collaborative, community-driven research projects; providing technical assistance and training; disseminating research publications and reports; and hosting conferences, colloquia and other events open to the public on topics of concern to Native communities.