Ronald Trosper is Professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, where he served as department head from 2011 to 2014. A citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, he holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University (1974), an M.A. in Economics from Harvard (1970), and a B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard (1967). His career includes early positions as Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Washington (1973–1977), Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston College (1977–1980), and Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University Summer School (1980). At Northern Arizona University, he was Director of the Native American Forestry Program (1989–2004), Professor in the School of Forestry (1992–2004), Interim Chairman of the Department of Applied Indigenous Studies (2000–2001), and Interim Director of the Institute for Native Americans (1995–1996). He also served as Acting Director of the National Indian Policy Center at George Washington University (1994) and as Associate Professor and Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia (2004–2011).

Trosper's research specializations include Indigenous economic theory, traditional ecological knowledge, aboriginal forestry, American Indian economic development, ecological and environmental economics, and community-based research methods. He has published multidisciplinary work in American Indian Studies, Ecological Economics, Economics, Policy Studies, Forestry, and Anthropology. Key publications are the book Indigenous Economics: Sustaining Peoples and Their Lands (University of Arizona Press, 2022); Resilience, Reciprocity and Ecological Economics: Northwest Coast Sustainability (Routledge, 2009); edited volumes Traditional Forest Knowledge: Sustaining Communities, Ecosystems and Biocultural Diversity (Springer, 2012, coordinating editor with John A. Parrotta) and Aboriginal Peoples and Forest Lands in Canada (University of British Columbia Press, 2013, editor with David B. Tindall and Pamela Perreault); and articles such as Northwest Coast Indigenous Institutions that Supported Resilience and Sustainability (Ecological Economics, 2002) and Resilience in Pre-contact Pacific Northwest Social Ecological Systems (Conservation Ecology, 2003). Awards include the Presidents Award from Northern Arizona University (2003) for teaching, service, and scholarship; 2004 Ralf Yorque Competition Winner, Ecology and Society; Ford Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1972–1973); and Pew Fellowship (1995). He teaches Indigenous economics, Native nation building, traditional ecological knowledge, and community-based research.

Professional Email: rltrosper@email.arizona.edu