Western Carolina University

 Rodney B. Lewis – Attorney and Native American Keynote Speaker. Lewis was the first Native American lawyer to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. Rod served as the General Counsel of the Gila River Indian Community for more than 30 years. For much of his tenure as General Counsel, Rod led the battle to secure the water rights of the Gila River Indian Community. Rod worked tirelessly in litigating and ultimately negotiating the single largest Indian water rights settlement in the history of the United States. This settlement resulted in the return of 653,000 acre-feet of water to the "River People" of the Gila River Indian Community and $200 million to construct a system to deliver water to the reservation.

Ron Rash – Author and Appalachian Keynote Speaker. Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling novel, Serena, in addition to four other prizewinning novels: One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, The World Made Straight, and The Cove; four collections of poems; and five collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O.Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.

 

Dr. Lisa J. Lefler – Director, Culturally-Based Native Health Programs, WCU, and Founder/Director, Center for Native Health, Inc., a local non-profit. Lisa received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee and is an Applied Medical Anthropologist who has worked with dozens of tribal communities in the U.S., particularly the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, and the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, and Chickasaw Nations in Oklahoma.

  

Dr. David Cozzo - Dr. David Cozzo is an ethnobotanist specializing in the relationship of the Cherokee to their botanical world. He is an Area Specialized Agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension based at the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians Extension Center and is the Project Director for the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources. He teaches courses and has published articles on the nutritional and medical ethnobotany of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

 

Pamela Duncan – Assistant Professor, WCU, and novelist. Duncan
was born in Asheville and grew up in Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Shelby, North Carolina. She holds a B.A. in journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. in English/​Creative Writing from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She lives in Cullowhee and teaches creative writing at Western Carolina University. She is the author of three award-winning novels and is working on her fourth. A native Appalachian, she is co-chair of the Rooted in the Mountains symposium.

 

 Tom Belt (Cherokee) - Cherokee Language Instructor, WCU. Belt is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a fluent Cherokee speaker. He attended the Universities of Oklahoma and Colorado and taught the Cherokee language at the Cherokee elementary school for seven years in Cherokee, NC.  Belt has also served as a consultant to various indigenous language programs in public schools and on the post-secondary level. He has been a resident of North Carolina for the last nineteen years and worked as a counselor's aide in a local treatment center for native youth with chemical dependencies. Belt currently teaches Cherokee language classes at WCU and is a frequent guest lecturer at other universities, including Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Purdue University.  He works with the Center for Native Health, Inc. as a consultant.

Lauren has been serving at WCU since 2005. She became the Energy Manager for the Facilities Management Department in 2007. Her focus includes creating a holistic approach to integrating sustainability and energy conservation systematically across the campus and community. It is a dynamic goal that includes all areas of campus and involves wearing many hats from campus programs, technical competencies, and strategic planning. Her family includes her husband Blair and two young boys Harper and Myles. In her free time she likes to enjoy time outside with her family, hiking, traveling, playing in her garden, and being a mom.

Nancy Stephens, RN, BSN, HTCP, HTI – Nancy, a WCU alumni, has been in the nursing profession for 15 years. She began studying Healing Touch in 2007, became a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner in 2009 and is completing the process to become a HT Certified Instructor. Currently, Nancy is employed at Cherokee Indian Hospital as a staff nurse where she integrates Healing Touch into her nursing practice, thus treating the mind, body, and spirit of her patients.

Dr. Heidi Altman – Associate Professor of Anthropology, Georgia Southern University. Dr. Altman is a Linguistic and Applied Anthropologist, a consultant and Director of Research and Development for the Center for Native Health, Inc. Her research includes exploring the interface between language, health, and worldview.

 

T.J. Holland (EBCI) –Cultural Resources Manager, Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP), Director and Curator, Junaluska Memorial and Museum, Robbinsville. Holland serves on the advisory board for the American Philosophical Society’s Building Bridges Program. He is a member of the Snowbird Cherokee community and is a frequent referee of Snowbird stickball games.  Holland is also an artist with a BFA from WCU.

   

Reverend Rosemary Peek – Pastor, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Sylva, NC, and Pastor, Lutheran Campus Ministry, WCU. She received a B.A. in Public History at Queens University, Charlotte and graduated from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC in 2008.

 

 

Greg Leading Fox (Pawnee) – Greg is a member of the Skidi Band of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and works for the Unity Regional Healing Center in Cherokee, an Indian Health Service facility.  Greg is a military veteran and served as a Marine.  He sings with other Native men to continue the traditions of drumming as he was taught by his grandfather and other tribal elders. He and his drum group often travel to sing at pow wows and other events.