Biography
Professor Menka is a Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabaskan) and Lumbee Assistant Professor of Law who teaches and writes about Indigenous Peoples and Native Nations, constitutional law, legal history, property law, and environmental law and policy. Her scholarship and research aim to support the self-determination of Native Nations, and Indigenous Peoples forcibly removed to, or otherwise incorporated within, what is now known as the United States. By building coalitions, legitimating a plurality of worldviews, and increasing self-determination for Native Nations, peoples, and communities, Professor Menka believes a more just and equitable society is possible. She currently serves as the Faculty Director for the Center for Indian Law & Policy at Seattle University School of Law.
Before joining SU Law, Professor Menka served as the Executive Director of the Center for Indigenous Law & Justice at Berkeley Law. Prior to serving as Executive Director, Professor Menka served in several capacities at Berkeley Law including in the Environmental Law Clinic as a Supervising Attorney, as a Lecturer, and as the Tribal Cultural Resources Project Policy Fellow. While at UC Berkeley Professor Menka also created and taught a popular new undergraduate Legal Studies course, Decolonizing UC Berkeley. Prior to her legal career, Professor Menka completed her M.S. in Soil, Water, and Environmental Science on the health impacts of arsenic and lead from abandoned mining sites utilizing aqueous bench chemistry, x-ray fluorescence, and other particle accelerator methodologies.
Professor Menka values public service and has served as Board Treasurer for several non-profit organizations, including, the California Indian Law Association, the Water Protector Legal Collective, and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science. She has worked on policy issues in the Alaska and Hawaii state legislatures and has completed various intern and management programs including at the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.
