Chief of the Coquille Tribe, Assistant Vice President and Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations at the University of Oregon
Younker is the Chief of the Coquille Tribe located in Southwestern Oregaon. He is also the Assistant Vice President and Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations at the University of Oregon and a citizen of the Coquille Indian Tribe. He received his PhD in Anthropology from the UO (2004) and returned to Oregon after teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology for a decade. Younker received the prestigious Ely S. Parker Award in from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (2014) for his work with tribal governments and students in higher education. He is the Past-President of the Association of Indigenous Anthropologists and is originally from Coos Bay, Oregon.