U. of New Mexico Law Dean Picked to Lead Bureau of Indian Affairs

President Obama on Thursday nominated Kevin K. Washburn, dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, to be the Department of the Interior’s next assistant secretary of Indian affairs. If confirmed by the Senate, he would lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which provides services to some 1.9 million American Indians. Mr. Washburn, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, joined the University of New Mexico’s law school as dean in 2009. As assistant secretary of Indian affairs, he would succeed Larry Echo Hawk, who resigned from the post this year.