History
Our program dates back to the early 1980s when two friends with a vision decided it would be great to offer WVU students the ongoing opportunity to learn more about Native America. One of those friends, Carolyn Reyer, who’d had a long personal interest in Native America, observed that the university lacked any courses focused on Native Americans.* She then proposed sponsoring campus visits and guest lectures by a number of prominent Native leaders. The other friend, Dr. Ann Paterson (then Chair of Sociology and Anthropology), chaired an interdisciplinary faculty committee to help oversee the lecture series and ensure that Native American perspectives would be shared with the university and larger community.
1992 was an exciting benchmark year for us. Dr. Paterson coordinated WVU’s NAS program, overseeing the interdisciplinary NAS Committee, which continues to guide the program today. That year marked the Columbus Quincentenary and NAS chose to commemorate the year with a series of significant events titled, “Rediscovering our Nation’s American Indian Heritage.” The series included the planting of the first WVU Peace Tree with Chief Leon Shenandoah and Chief Robert TallTree, and presentations by such notable Native American leaders as Chief Oren Lyons, Peterson Zah, Joseph Bruchac, and Beverly Singer, among others. (Thanks to Dr. Paterson’s grant proposal, funding from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History helped support the year-long series of events.)
Also in 1992, the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences became home to the NAS committee and the first 3-credit course, “Introduction to Native American Studies,” was offered. A new student group, ONAI (the Organization for Native American Interests) was formed and the official NAS logo was adopted.
By 1998 the NAS minor was officially being offered and Dr. Ellesa Clay High was appointed as the second NAS Coordinator, serving a seven-year-long term. Her efforts further enhanced academic and cultural opportunities and resulted in the program’s first national conference (on Eastern Woodland American Indians), “Claiming our Heritage for the Future” (read more about the conference in the Fall 2001 NAS newsletter on our News Archives). During her tenure, the annual Elder-in-Residence program was formalized and the Sycamore Circle Lecture Series, as well as the West Virginia Native American Heritage Series were formed. A Native American Studies Resource Room was established, the NAS newsletter began publication, the first website was launched, and Dr. High formalized a student internship with the National Park Service.
In the 2002-2003 school year, Dr. Carol Markstrom contributed her leadership, serving as interim coordinator during Dr. High’s sabbatical, and overseeing the 2003-Elder-in-Residence program with Peterson Zah (Navajo), as well as a successful Native American Film Festival, which highlighted the university’s annual Diversity Week schedule.
Most recently, Bonnie M. Brown, a former WVU assistant professor of journalism, was appointed coordinator in 2005. Building on the hard work and creativity of the past decades, today the program is expanding its course offerings, attracting new faculty, exploring new avenues for course delivery, and welcoming a record number of students into our NAS classrooms. True to the NAS Mission, our tradition of offering excellent academic and cultural programming continues, with the addition of formalized student and faculty research collquia. The future of Native American Studies at WVU looks as bright as ever!
*Read more in our Newsletter Archives.