Rate My Professor Marc Roark

Marc L. Roark serves as Interim Dean, Professor of Law, and Interim Chapman Endowed Chair at the University of Tulsa College of Law. In prior roles at the institution, he was associate dean for faculty development and director of the Indian Law program. An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Roark has worked with tribes and tribal organizations on commercial law issues intersecting with tribal sovereignty. He earned an LL.M. from Duke University School of Law, a J.D. (Civil Law) from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, and a B.A. in History from Louisiana State University. His earlier academic appointments include positions at the University of LaVerne, Savannah Law School, and Southern University Law Center.

Roark’s research examines how narratives and norms scale in property conflicts surrounding housing and homelessness, viewed through property norms. With Lorna Fox O’Mahony of the University of Essex, he co-developed resilient property theory and co-authored Squatting and the State: Resilient Property Theory in an Age of Crisis. He has authored 27 articles in U.S. law journals and seven chapters in edited collections, including “Homelessness at the Cathedral,” 80 Missouri Law Review 53 (2015); “Human Impact Statements,” 54 Washburn Law Journal 649 (2015); “Under-propertied Persons,” 26 Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy 1 (2017); and “Scaling Commercial Law in Indian Country,” 8 Texas A&M Law Review 89 (2020). This latter work underpinned the first economic impact study of secured transactions laws on American Indian reservations (AEA Papers & Proceedings, 2021). Roark maintains international affiliations, including as Associate Research Affiliate Professor at the University of Pretoria, Fellow in Emory University’s Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative (2022-2023), and visiting fellowships at the University of Essex (2017) and University of Adelaide (2019). He is a founding member of the Resilient Property Research Network, part of the EVICT scholars’ network on affordable housing, and serves on the Advisory Panel for the UNESCO Housing Chair at Universitat Rovira i Virgili.