Shannon O’Loughlin (‘01), CEO of the Association on American Indian Affairs, is Keynote Speaker for University of Arizona Law 2022 Convocation

Shannon O’Loughlin (‘01), CEO and attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs, will deliver the keynote address at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law 2022 convocation ceremony on May 14. 

O’Loughlin has practiced law for more than 20 years and is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. She is former chief of staff to the National Indian Gaming Commission, where she assisted in the development and implementation of national policy throughout the agency and oversaw the agency’s public affairs, technology, compliance and finance divisions. O’Loughlin has also served Indian Country in the private sector as an attorney, leading a large national firm’s Indian law practice group that worked to strengthen, maintain and protect Indian nation sovereignty, self-determination and culture.  

In 2013, she was appointed by Secretary of the Department of the Interior Sally Jewell to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Review Committee, and in 2015 she was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first Native American to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee within the State Department. 

O’Loughlin received her BA in American Indian Studies from California State University, Long Beach and joint MA and JD degrees from the University of Arizona in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. She is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. 

The Law College Association (LCA) board nominated O’Loughlin for the University of Arizona Alumni Association's Professional Achievement Award (UAAA), given to a person who has attained prominence in his or her field. She will be presented with the award during this year’s convocation ceremony, along with Rita Meiser (‘76), receiving the UAAA Distinguished Citizen Award, the Honorable Rosemary Marquez (‘93), receiving the UAAA Public Service Award, and Judith Leonard, receiving the LCA Award.