Writing by Liberal Studies Assistant Professor Victoria Hykes Steere is included in a new anthology of life stories by indigenous scholars whose work is earning a place social research.

“Indigenous Pathways into Social Research: Voices of a New Generation” offers insight into challenges confronting the authors and the strategies they’ve used to overcome.

Hykes Steere is a lawyer who joined the APU faculty in 2011. She is an internationally ranked authority whose work centers on advancing Alaska Native people. The Alaska Conservation Foundation has recognized her achievements and will present her with its 2013 Caleb Pungowiyi Award at an awards ceremony Sept. 19.

For the anthology, Hykes Steere contributed a chapter that honors the relatives who influenced her as she grew up Inupiat in the Norton Sound community of Unalakleet.

“Writing the chapter was easy,” she said. “My family – those who raised me – continue to influence who am I, what I do, what I value and how I define myself.”

Published in April by California-based Left Coast Press, “Indigenous Pathways” presents the life stories of scholars from around the world who are influencing traditional scholarly research models.

Left Coast said the stories show “the challenges, paradoxes and oppression they (the writers) have faced, their strategies for overcoming them, and how their work has produced more meaningful research and a more just society.”

Hykes Steere holds degrees from Colby College and the University of Iowa College of Law. She completed a master’s degree at the University of Washington School of Law, concentrating on law and policy involving the environment, natural resources, human rights and public land.