PRYOR, Okla. – Beginning in the spring semester, Rogers State University will offer Cherokee language courses on its Pryor campus.

 

Cherokee I will begin in January at the start of the spring 2009 semester and Cherokee II will be offered in the fall. The university plans to continue the course rotation each year. The Cherokee language courses are open to both degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students. Students can take the course as part of the minor in Native American Studies or to fulfill a general education requirement.

 

“We are located in the Cherokee Nation, so it is only natural that we offer Cherokee language classes,” said Dr. Hugh Foley, associate professor and coordinator of Native American Studies at RSU. “This is part of our continued development of American Indian Studies at RSU.”

 

Meda Nix will be the instructor for the course. Nix describes herself as being of full Cherokee ancestry and growing up in a home where both English and Cherokee were spoken.

 

“As a Cherokee citizen I feel like teaching the language is doing my part to keep the language alive,” she said. She is currently a student in the Cherokee Language Degree Program at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., and is taking advanced Cherokee classes.

 

“Being able to walk up to another Cherokee speaker and being able to greet that person in the Cherokee language instills a sense of pride in you,” she said.

 

Nix said she would encourage both those with a background in Cherokee and those with no background at all to take her class.