Digadatseli’i ᏗᎦᏓᏤᎵᎢ
In February 2009, a small group of Cherokee scholars/educators and language philosophers (Benny Smith, Andy Girty, and Durbin Feeling) convened in Lawrence, Kansas, to discuss the formation of a new group comprised of Cherokee scholars and teachers with a focus on revitalizing the Cherokee language, accountability to each other, and the promotion of Cherokee sovereignty. At this meeting, the late elder Benny Smith provided us with the name digadatseli’i ᏗᎦᏓᏤᎵᎢ which means: “We all belong to each other; for someone to take care of something.”
This page contains: (1) Cherokee professors/instructors currently employed as full time faculty at colleges and universities (visiting faculty and university administrators are separately listed), (2) Cherokee language and humanities specialists who work for Cherokee institutions, in private sector, or independently; (3) Distinguished Cherokee Scientists with substantial research and publications portfolios; (4) other Cherokees who hold terminal degrees and work outside higher education, and (5) current Cherokee PhD candidates.
All individuals listed on this page are enrolled citizens/members of the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and/or the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
To be added to the private email listserv maintained for the Digadatseli’i ᏗᎦᏓᏤᎵᎢ group, contact Professor Jeff Corntassel. To be added to this website or make changes to your current listing, contact Professor Stacy Leeds or Julie Reed. Media inquires are welcome.
Full Time University Faculty
Adcock, Trey (University of North Carolina-Asheville)
Andrews, Scott (California State, Northridge)
Baker, Alissa (Northeastern State University)
Benn-Duke, Samantha (Northeastern State University)
Black, Liza (Indiana University - currently visiting scholar at UCLA) (Personal Website)
Brown, Kirby (University of Oregon)
Burchfield, Renata Ryan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Burkhart, Brian Yazzie (University of Oklahoma)
Byers, Lisa (University of Oklahoma)
Calhoun, Anne (University of New Mexico)
Carroll, Clint (University of Colorado)
Corntassel, Jeff (University of Victoria)
Cushman, Ellen (Northeastern University)
Dawson, Patricia (Mount Holyoke)
Dixon, Lynda Dee (Bowling Green)
Erb, Joseph (University of Missouri)
Frey, Ben (University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill)
Greywolf, Cynthia (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)
Hardbarger, Tiffanie (Northeastern State University)
Haynes Writer, Jeanette (New Mexico State University)
Jackson, Rachel (University of Oklahoma)
Jennings, Catheryn (Michigan State)
Johnson, Jennifer Barger (University of Central Oklahoma)
Justice, Daniel Heath (University of British Columbia)
Keeler, Honor (Wesleyan University)
Kinser, Ryan (University of Iowa)
Lambert, Michael (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Leeds, Stacy (Arizona State University) (Personal Website)
Legg, Emily (Miami University)
Lewis, Courtney (Duke University)
Lewis, Melissa (University of Missouri)
Matlock, Marty (University of Arkansas-Fayetteville)
Oeser, Michael (Southern University Law Center)
O’Keefe, Victoria (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of International Health)
Pettigrew, Dallas (Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work)
Pierce, Joseph M. (Stony Brook University)
Pollet, Rebecca (Vassar College)
Radocay, Jonathan (University of Washngton)
Rhodes, Gary (University of Central Florida)
Ross, Casey (Oklahoma City University)
Sanders, Todd (University of Toronto)
Shade-Johnson, Jacquetta (University of Missouri)
Snipp, Matthew (Stanford University)
Tanner, Jesse (University of Tennessee)
Tehee, Candessa (Northeastern State University)
Teuton, Christopher (University of Washington)
Teuton, Sean (University of Arkansas)
Twist, Kade (Otis College of Art and Design)
Viles, Philip (University of Tulsa)
Walkiewicz, Katie (University of California-San Diego)
Welch, Natalie (Linfield College)
Westerman, Gwen (Minnesota State University) (Personal website)
University Administration
(Past and Present)
Brown, Kirby (Acting Director, Native American Studies, University of Oregon)
Calloway, Heather (Executive Director of University Collections and Director of the Center for Fraternal Collections & Research, Indiana University)
Donohue, Betty Booth (Chair of Humanities (2000-2004) Bacone College)
Hotvedt, Carly (Director of Tribal Enterprise, Indigenous Food and Ag Initiative, University of Arkansas)
Jones, Elizabeth (Beth) (Director of Library Technology & Data Management)
Kennedy, Deanna M. (Dean of the College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University)
Lambert, Michael (Founding Director of African Studies Center (2005-2015), University of North Carolina)
Leeds, Stacy (Willard H. Pedrick Law Dean at Arizona State University; Dean Emeritus + Former Vice Chancellor (EconDev) at University of Arkansas)
McClain, Cordney (Director of Diversity and Inclusion, University of Oklahoma Price College of Business) (Teaches at OU+ UCO)
Pettigrew, Dallas (Founding Director, Center for Tribal Social Work)
Westerman, Gwen (Director of the Humanities Program, Minnesota State-Mankato)
Emeritus/Retired
Belt, Tom (Western Carolina University)
Cockrell, Karen Sunday (University of Missouri)
Hammons, A. Diane (Northeastern State University) (Retired)
Holm, Tom (University of Arizona)
Garroutte, Eva (Boston College)
King, Patti Jo (Bacone College)
Oosahwee, Harry (Northeastern State University)
Osborn, James Michael (University of New Mexico , Adjunct Professor) (Retired)
Ray, Alan (Fisher College)
Sly, Gloria (Cherokee Nation) (Retired)
Thurman, Pamela Jumper (Colorado State)
Adjunct or Visiting Professors/Instructors
Coates, Julia (Cal State - Northridge)
Fox, Pamela C. (California State University Bakersfield) & (Bakersfield College)
Jordan, Courtney (University of Tulsa)
West Williams, Joel (Vermont Law)
Cherokee Language, Arts and Humanities Specialists
(with tribes, public or private sector)
Boney, Roy (Cherokee Nation)
Foster, Charles (University of Oklahoma)
Huckabee, Anna (Cherokee Nation)
Kirk, Wyman (Cherokee Nation Immersion School)
Mackey, Ryan B. (ᏩᏕ ᎦᎵᏍᎨᏫ) (Cherokee Nation)
Meredith, America (Cherokee Nation)
Sixkiller, Dennis (Cherokee Nation)
Distinguished Cherokee Scientists
(with significant research and publications)
Montgomery, David (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Cherokees with Terminal Degrees Working Outside Higher Education
(with tribes, public or private sector)
Donohue, Betty (PhD, UCLA) (English)
Cowan Watts, Cara (PhD, Oklahoma State University) (Biosystems Engineering) & (CEO & Managing Member, Tulsa Pier Drilling)
Fitzgerald, Deirdre (Ph.D., BCBA-D, University of Nevada) (Psychology)
Gourd, Charles (PhD, University of Kansas (Anthropology)
Hickman, Caleb (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) (Zoology)
Holland, Ashley (University of Oklahoma) (Art History) & (Associate Curator, Art Bridges Foundation)
Mulcare, Ross (PhD, Harvard University) (History) & (Manager of Archives, Cherokee National Research Center)
Sly, Gloria (PhD, University of Oklahoma) (Education Administration)
Smith, William (PhD, Notre Dame) (Assistant Director, Helmerich Center for American Research)
Still, Corey (PhD, University of Oklahoma) (Adult and Higher Ed)
Evans, Lara (PhD, University of New Mexico) (Art History)
Cherokee PhD Candidates
Bolin, Mark (Oklahoma State University) (History)
Carroll, Beau (University of Tennessee) (Archaeology)
Conway, Hannah (Harvard University) (History of Science)
Ferris, Shane (University of Saskatchewan)
Hausman, Blake (University of CA-Berkeley) (English)
Jackson, Racheal (University of Oklahoma)(Composition/Rhetoric/Literacy)
Parnell, Kirby (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa) (Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography)
Rendleman, Vivien Christie (Duke University) (History)
Spencer, Angela G. (Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health) (Community Health)
Steen, McKalee (UC-Berkeley) Environmental Science, Policy, and Management