American Indian Studies

American Indian graduate students working with The Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill organized a national conference March 18 to 20, highlighting academic work by American Indian scholars as well
as research on American Indian issues and communities in topics ranging from education and science to literature and law.

Hosted by The Graduate School and the First Nations Graduate Circle, the event comprised a series of panel discussions and cultural presentations led by Carolina graduate students and faculty. Dozens of prominent researchers, American Indian and non-Indian alike, came together from the United States and Canada. Among them was keynote speaker Rayna Green, of the Cherokee tribe and director of the American Indian Program at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The academic dialogue probed not only issues of identity, cultural boundaries and encounters with race, but also legal and practical questions such as the reconciliation of tribal law with the U.S. legal system and health care and disease prevention for tribal communities.

Cultural highlights of the event included a screening of Royster Fellow Malinda Maynor’s film “Real Indian” and performances by Ulali women’s a cappella trio and Tuscarora dancers.

(From left) University Provost Robert Shelton, former GPSF President Branson Page President-elect Jennifer Bushman, outgoing President Dan Herman and Graduate School Dean Linda Dykstra take a moment for the camera at the Centennial Celebration Gala.

Creating a Graduate Community

While graduate and professional students might feel at home within their own schools and departments, many don’t have the opportunity to meet students in other disciplines. So Jennifer Bushman, the new president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, plans to help unite graduate and professional students University-wide.

Bushman’s plans include activities that will introduce graduate students across department and school lines at GPSF-sponsored social events throughout the year. She said, “The more we have graduate students and professional students communicating with each other, the stronger a voice we’re going to have and the more we can get accomplished.”

Bushman, an Ph.D. student in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and an M.D. student in the UNC School of Medicine, brings significant leadership experience, having served as GPSF vice president for external affairs this past year.

Two of 130 doctoral graduates receive their hoods from Provost Robert Shelton (left) and their advisers in front of South Building on Polk Place last May.

A Symbolic New Pinnacle

The Graduate School celebrated its tradition of service for more that 100 years last spring, marking the event with the establishment of a new tradition. The inaugural doctoral hooding ceremony took place May 17, 2003, symbolizing the completion of training for 130 graduates of Carolina doctoral programs.

Each graduate walked to the stage and received the hood of the commencement regalia from his or her adviser or dissertation committee chair, an exchange that emphasized the important relationship between the University’s faculty and its graduate students.

UNC-Charlotte Professor Beth Elise Whitaker, who completed her master’s and doctoral degrees in political science at Carolina, addressed the graduates. A member of Carolina’s Graduate Education Advancement Board and a former Royster Fellow, Whitaker told graduates of her experiences as a Carolina graduate student and how she uses those lessons in her career in academia.

The decision to hold a hooding ceremony came about through the collaboration of Chancellor James Moeser, Graduate School Dean Lynda Dykstra, Executive Associate Provost Bernadette Gray-Little, the Graduate and Professional Student Federation and professors and students across campus.

This year’s ceremony to welcome new doctoral candidates into postdoctoral life was scheduled for May 8 in Polk Place.

© 2004, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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