Clint Bowers received his B.A. in History from Oklahoma State University in 2007 and is now at work on his M.A. in the field of Environmental History.  He is working with Professor Donald Pisani on a project tentatively titled “Arkansas Riverbed Dispute: Native American Water Rights and Sovereignty Issues, 1892-2002.”  Utilizing various tribal archives, the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Western History Collections at OU, as well other archives from local oil and gas companies, the thesis will pay particular attention to the state of Oklahoma’s role against northeastern tribes.  Mainly focusing on the disruption of sovereignty rights, the paper will note the state’s disregard for prior treaties to acquire tribal land and mineral rights below and along the Arkansas River.  He plans to defend this thesis in the spring of 2009.