Elias Lee Francis III (ca. 1945-2003) was a Laguna Pueblo-Anishinaabe poet, educator, and founder of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.
Lee Francis, an educator of Native American (Laguna Pueblo/Anishinaabe) and Lebanese heritage, received his PhD from Western Institute for Social Research, Berkeley, CA and his MA and BA degrees from San Francisco State University. His university appointments included Visiting Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico and Interim Director of Native American Studies department, and the American Studies program at the American University, Washington, DC, where he also served as Director of the Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS) program. He also served as Director of the Pre-Engineering Intensive Learning Academy for Native students at California State University, Long Beach, Student Affairs Officer at University of California Santa Barbara, Associate Director of the Educational Opportunity Program at San Francisco State University, and Senior Faculty with Meta-Life Adult Professional Training Institute.
Native American writing
Lee was the National Director of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers of Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1992. He served on the Diversity Committee of the United Way of America, and was an active member in a variety of organizations including the National Coalition for Indian Education and the National Indian Education Association. Lee's expertise in Native American Studies areas included: Literature (Oral and Contemporary), History, Contemporary Society (Political - American Indian Policies; Social - Reservation and Non-Reservation; Native Americans and State/Federal Relations; Health).
Government service
Lee's government service included appointments as Indian Youth Specialist with the US Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention - where he was Editor of Prevention Quarterly; Legislative Assistant to United States Senator Hugh Scott (former Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate), Special Assistant to U. S. Senator Pete V. Domenici, and Staff Assistant with the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations of the US Congress. He also served as a proposal reader for the US Department of Education's Javits Gifted and Talented Program and the Indian Fellowship program which funds Native American university undergraduate and graduate students, the Department of the Interior's Water Resources Training program, US Department of Education's Vocational Education program, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Secretary 's Fund for Technology as well as proposals for Field Initiated Studies and At-Risk Institute.
Research
Dr. Francis was actively engaged in a number of research projects. He studied Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as applied to cultural groups, describing the research in this area as cultural idiocide. Other research interests included the national problem of homelessness, testing models to radically decrease racist behavior in urban communities, and evaluating prevention programs designed to impact alcohol and substance abuse among Native American Indian populations.
Lecturing
An engaging and powerful speaker, Dr. Francis enjoyed speaking to large and small groups on a variety of topics. He was regularly invited to speak to organizations throughout the country. Lee gave Keynote Addresses to audiences throughout the United States and Japan. He was an Invited Speaker at international, national, and regional conferences where he spoke on a wide variety of topics.
Lee Francis was awarded the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas. In 2003 he earned the Albuquerque Arts Alliance’ Bravos Award for Excellence in Literature.
Lee was a Trustee of the Laguna Pueblo Educational Foundation and a member of the editorial board of Michigan State University Press American Indian Literature Series, East Lansing, Michigan. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Indian Center, the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas and the Greenfield Literary Review Center. He was an elected Life Member of the National Psychiatric Association.
