Congratulations, Ryan Duncan!
It is our great pleasure to announce the promotion of Ryan Duncan to Assistant Director of the Native American Cultural Center (NACC). Ryan began as NACC Program Coordinator in July 2024 and has been an integral part of the NACC since. In his short tenure, Ryan has overseen essential NACC programs, effectively managed NACC operations, as well as supervised and guided students. He has also taken on additional responsibilities and initiative to ensure that the NACC remains a valuable resource at Stanford.
Additional Information About Ryan
Ryan Duncan (he/him), from Choctaw, OK, is a proud Chickasaw Nation citizen and part of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. From 2016 to 2020, Ryan served as a certified community language instructor for the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma City, OK, where his passion for language and cultural preservation took root. Through this work, he focused on community-based interventions that engaged and empowered youth in language reclamation efforts. Building on this foundation, Ryan pursued his education at Stanford University, graduating in June 2024 with both a BA in Native American Studies and an MA in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. His graduate research focused on Federal Indian education policies and systems change, with an emphasis on how Native students succeed in academic settings shaped by historical and ongoing inequities.
While at Stanford, Ryan was also a Haas Center Education Partnerships Fellow from 2021 to 2024, where he worked on community efforts to help Stanford leverage its resources to support the education of K-12 schools in East Palo Alto.
Having recently been promoted to Assistant Director of the NACC, Ryan is excited to continue cultivating a welcoming and supportive environment at the NACC, developing innovative programming, mentoring future students, and enhancing existing initiatives — building on the strong foundation of support he experienced throughout his time at Stanford.
Please Join Us in Congratulating Ryan!
He will assume his new role on March 17, 2025, and we are excited about his continued contributions to the NACC, to CECL, and to Student Affairs broadly. You can learn more about him in his bio below. We’d also like to express our gratitude to the NACC Assistant Director Search Committee, chaired by Queer Student Resources (QSR) Associate Director and Assistant Dean Michael Yepez, for their efforts and for completing a successful search.
Sincerely,
Samuel Santos Jr.
Associate Vice Provost of Student Affairs
Inclusion, Community, and Integrative Learning (ICIL)
Abiya Ahmed
Interim Assistant Vice Provost, ICILInterim Executive Director, Centers for Equity, Community, & Leadership (CECL)
