Degree(s): PhD '06

Whereabouts: United States, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

What do you do?
I’m a licensed attorney in Oklahoma and numerous tribal jurisdictions, after having been a journalism professor teaching media law.

How did you get your job?
Started my own practice.

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
Perseverance despite large obstacles.

What advice do you have for current students?
Just breathe and take the next step.

What is your favorite J-School memory?
More than anything, I remember the joy of teaching basic reporting while a PhD student. I like seeing former students on national news or with local by-lines.

Additional Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 9, 2020

OKLAHOMA CITY — A Guthrie, Okla., resident has been named the 2020 winner of the prestigious Marian Opala First Amendment Award from FOI Oklahoma, a non-profit group that promotes transparency for Oklahoma government and citizens.

Kevin R. Kemper received the award today during FOI Oklahoma’s annual awards ceremony streamed online on YouTube and Facebook.

Kemper actively pursues cases to protect people and their constitutional rights and more as a licensed attorney with the Oklahoma Bar Association, the federal Western District of Oklahoma, and numerous tribal bar associations.

Since 2017, he has run his own criminal defense and civil law practice, now called the Law Office of Kevin R. Kemper, PLLC. Also, he serves of counsel for the Burr Law Offices, PLLC, in Oklahoma City.

For decades, Kemper has researched and written about challenges to freedoms of expression and information in Indian County. As a member of the Native American Journalists Association, he founded its legal hotline in 2013, which supports journalists around the United States who report about Indian Country.

“The First Amendment protects and defines my life in so many ways,” Kemper said. “I have to give credit to editors, professors, attorneys, elders, and other mentors for keeping me on the right path and staying committed to freedoms of expression and information. More than that, I was taught to care most about the people.”

After graduating with honors from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, with a speech degree and then the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in journalism, Kemper became the first person ever to earn a dual Ph.D. from the Mizzou School of Journalism, along with a J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. He also has a master’s of law in indigenous peoples law with a concentration in environmental law from the James E. Rogers College of Law, along with a graduate certificate in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. He then earned another master’s of law in energy and natural resources law from the University of Oklahoma’s College of Law.

Kemper, a former newspaper reporter and publisher, also serves on the City of Guthrie’s Library Board and the Board of Directors for FOI Oklahoma.

He has taught various subjects at numerous colleges and universities, including Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, as well as the University of Missouri, the University of Arizona, and the University of Oklahoma. He also served numerous congregations in Oklahoma and Missouri as an ordained minister earlier in his career.

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For more information, you may contact him at (405) 404-4938 or kemperlawoffice@gmail.com

https://www.foioklahoma.org/blog/2020/9/29/2020-award-winners.

Also, if you want to watch presentations, go to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1vSC_-8UPY) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/FOIOK/permalink/3501490146599555/).