News Release

American Indian scholars to gather on UNC campus
for conference; education, identity, health among topics

CHAPEL HILL -- Scholars, students and community leaders from across North Carolina, the United States and Canada will gather on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus Oct. 7 and 8 for a conference on a wide range of issues facing American Indians today.

Conference panels will discuss topics as diverse as healing approaches to diabetes, education, tribal identity in a modern world and Native language acquisition.

The conference is open to the public; cost for registration is $25 for students and $75 for the public through Sept. 28. More information is available by visiting www.nativeconf.unc.edu.

The two-day conference, "New Directions in American Indian Research: A Gathering of Emerging Scholars," will highlight research by American Indian scholars, as well as non-American Indian scholars. The event also will feature cultural performances by American Indian artists: Tommy Wildcat, Bo Taylor, Pura Fe, Mark Deese and David Locklear, all from North Carolina.

"Some people may not know that North Carolina is home to the largest American Indian population east of the Mississippi River," said Dr. Sandra Hoeflich, Graduate School associate dean for interdisciplinary education.

"This region has been home to indigenous people for at least 10,000 years. American Indians have been and continue to be a force in the state of North Carolina. And UNC-Chapel Hill has benefited greatly from the leadership and initiative of American Indian graduate students."

An estimated 164 undergraduates and 27 graduate students currently enrolled at UNC are American Indian.

Nationally recognized scholars and authors will present at the conference, including:

• Dr. Amanda Cobb, director of the Institute for American Indian Research and professor of English and American studies at the University of New Mexico;
• Dr. David Burgess, professor of biology at Boston College; and
• Dr. Duane Champagne, professor of sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Concurrent with the conference, UNC is hosting a recruitment weekend for prospective American Indian graduate students. Undergraduates and others interested in advanced study at UNC will attend informational sessions, visit graduate programs and become acquainted with the campus.

The conference and recruitment weekend are part of an ongoing effort at UNC to focus attention on the benefits, rewards and possibilities of higher education.

Jennifer Taylor, a doctoral candidate in biology and a member of the Cherokee nation, will present her research at the conference. She studies N.C. crabs to better understand how they switch between two types of skeletal support systems when they molt.

"I think the conference is really a unique opportunity," she said. "I’ve never been to anything like this, and to have a smaller-scale meeting feels so much more personal. I also think having it in North Carolina, where there are so many American Indians, makes it even more important."

Taylor received the Sequoyah Fellowship from UNC’s Graduate School; the fellowship was created to help provide financial support to UNC’s American Indian graduate students, as well as students whose research focuses on American Indian issues.

The conference is being sponsored by the First Nations Graduate Circle, a graduate student group at UNC; the Carolina First Minority Alumni Committee; UNC’s Graduate School, Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, Center for the Study of the American South and Curriculum in American Studies, a component of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Western Carolina University.

For more information, e-mail nativeconf@unc.edu or call (919) 843-3494.

- 30 -

Note: For feature story ideas and downloadable photos highlighting UNC’s American Indian students who will be participating in the conference, visit www.gradschool.unc.edu/nativeconf/media.html

UNC Graduate School contact: Deborah Makemson, (919) 843-3494 or makemson@email.unc.edu
UNC News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu