Lynda Dee Dixon, Professor in the Department of Communication, is continuing to serve on the Sequoyah Commission for the Cherokee Nation. She was appointed by the Principal Chief Chadwick “Corn Tassel” Smith. The commission has included special assistant to Chief Smith Chair Dr. Richard Allen; Dr. Ellen Cushman (Writing, Rhetoric & American Culture, Michigan State University); Dr. Leslie Hannah (Professor and Director of the Cherokee Language Revitalization Program, Northeastern State University OK); Dr. Tom Holm (Emeritus Professor University of Arizona); and until her recent death, former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation. The Commission members continue to develop plans as projected by Chief Mankiller for (1) permanent archives– virtual and hard copy– of research by and about Cherokees from the past, present, and future and (2) language and culture undergraduate BA and graduate degrees at Northeastern State University. The first report was presented to the Chief last year (2009); the second report will be presented to the Chief at the Annual Homecoming for the Cherokee Nation, August 10. Each year in April and in August, Indian researchers submit research papers for review that if accepted will be presented at two American Indian conferences each year. The conference this April was “Fancy Dancing.”
