Ryan Duncan

Ryan Duncan (he/him), from Choctaw, Oklahoma, is a proud enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and an affiliated member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Before attending Stanford, he worked from 2016 to 2020 with the Oklahoma Choctaw Tribal Alliance in Oklahoma City, supporting youth engagement and Choctaw language reclamation through community-based instruction.

He currently serves as Assistant Director of the Native American Cultural Center (NACC) at Stanford University, where he supports students, leads programs, and cultivates a welcoming space for cultural celebration, connection, and community care.

Ryan earned his B.A. in Native American Studies from Stanford University and his M.A. in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. As an undergraduate, he worked through the Haas Center for Public Service with East Palo Alto schools in the Ravenswood Reads and Preschool Counts programs. This early experience in education partnerships grounded his work in bridging community and academia through direct engagement and collaborative support.

His work in student affairs is informed by a passion for systems change, rooted in his graduate studies focused on Federal Indian Education Policy. Ryan’s academic and practical experiences center on identifying how existing tribal education infrastructures can be leveraged to advance cultural preservation and language reclamation efforts, shaping programs that support Native students holistically.