UO School of Law Dean Rennard Strickland, of Osage and Cherokee heritage, is a nationally known scholar of Native American law, art, and culture. Associate Professor Mary Wood's work on tribal environmental issues is being used by several federal agencies in developing national policies. Native American environmental and sovereignty issues have been at the forefront of the UO's annual environmental law conference. Past speakers include Carl Sampson, chairman of the Umatilla Tribe; Ted Strong of the Inter-Tribal Fish Commission; Winona LaDuke of the White Earth Recovery Project; and Huanani-Kay Track, who spoke about Hawaiian sovereignty. UO Department of Linguistics faculty members, including Scott Delancey, Tom Givón, and Doris Payne, have done research in tribal languages and have tailored programs for Native American graduate students involved in the study and preservation of their own languages. Graduate students in the department are studying Klamath, Northern Paiute, Tolowa, and Chinook languages, as well as tribal languages of Mexico and South America. The Department, in partnership with Northwest Tribes, provides the Northwest Indigenous Language Institute. Shari Huhndorf, an Alaska native, Director of Ethnic Studies and associate professor in the UO Department of Englisht provides Native American literature courses and has written books on Native American literature, history, and culture. In 1997 the Oregon Humanities Center sponsored a Native American Literature Conference at the UO, which featured such noted American Indian authors as N. Scott Momaday, JoyHarjo, James Welch, Wendy Rose, PatHilden, and Robert Allen Warrior.