Cherokee Indian Literature Talk to be Held at SUNY New Paltz

NEW PALTZ — Ronald Welburn, associate professor of English and director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will speak at SUNY New Paltz on Wednesday, March 15. A Cherokee-Assateague Indian, Welburn will discuss Cherokee literature at a forum in the Jacobson Faculty Tower (JFT) lounge at 4 p.m.

According to Laurence Hauptman, a professor in the History Department at New Paltz, “Welburn is a recognized authority on Native American oral literature as well as contemporary Native American literature in English,” and has been in the field for more than a quarter of a century. Welburn is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Coming Through Smoke and the Dreaming. A book, Roanoke and Wampum: Topics in Native American Heritage & Literature, will be published this year by Peter Lang Publishers.

Welburn will be available to students throughout the day to discuss Native American literature and his own work. He will also speak in Hauptman’s course titled “Native American History,” which begins at 10 a.m. in Humanities Building 214.

Welburn’s talk is one of three offered this semester by the American Indian Studies Program at New Paltz. It is funded by a grant from the SUNY New Paltz Foundation.

The JFT lounge is located on the 10th floor of the Faculty Tower which is situated on the northwest side of the campus, between the Old Main and Humanities buildings. The forum is open to the public, and there is no admission charge. For more information, please contact Hauptman at (845) 257-3523.