David Risling

David Risling Jr. (April 10, 1921, Morek, Humboldt County, CA - March 13, 2005, Davis, CA) was a Native American (Hoopa) educator and rights activist who was often referred to as "The Father of Indian Education".

After serving in the Navy during World War II, he attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in vocational agriculture. From 1950 to 1970, he taught agriculture at Modesto Junior College. His increasing involvement in activist causes prompted him to move to UC Davis in 1970, where he helped to develop its Native American studies program. He remained there until his retirement in 1993, when the program became a full-fledged department and is currently one of only three such departments offering doctoral degrees.

He was a co-founder of California Indian Legal Services and the Native American Rights Fund and was involved in securing passage of the federal Indian Education and Indian Tribal Community College acts. Thirty-one Indian community colleges and dozens of K-12 reservation school programs resulted from this legislation. He was also a major consultant in the creation of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and was a three-time appointee to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education

The achievement he was reportedly most proud of was his role in creating D-Q University, one of the first six tribal colleges and the only one in California.

Jack D. Forbes (a co-founder of the University) has said, "It was a dream that the late Carl Gorman and I had worked on from 1961-1962, but it was Dave's organizing skill and patience that came to the fore in 1971 when DQU finally acquired flesh and bones."

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