American Culture Program considers the addition of Native American Studies correlate

Elysia Glover Staff Writer

Fresh from the Native American and Indigenous Studies Conference at the University of Georgia, faculty from Vassar’s American Culture Program are currently developing a Native American Studies correlate.

Consideration of the correlate was initiated three years ago by former Director of the American Culture Program Eileen Leonard. Historically focused on issues of individualism and community, the program began to reconsider what it meant to study American culture and how the field reflected the nation in the global context.

“As part of that rethinking about what constitutes American culture, we began to question how we could talk about American culture and not have part of the curriculum focused on Native American studies,” explained Professor of English Patricia Wallace.

Students ran with the idea. “There was also a lot of interest from students in the program, people who had spent time on reservations as part of a Junior Year Abroad or summer program, some who had written a thesis on native issues and did not have anywhere to continue their studies,” said Wallace.

In September 2006, faculty of the American Culture Program hired Molly McGlennen to help develop the Native American Studies Program. McGlennen has since been made an Assistant Professor of English.

Since McGlennen’s arrival, the American Culture Program has offered an introductory course on Native American Studies. McGlennen and Wallace plan to expand and formalize the program in the coming year by incorporating the disciplines of history and literature.

The response from faculty in a variety of disciplines has been overwhelmingly positive. A faculty seminar on the topic in Fall 2006 included faculty from the Biology, Sociology, Political Science, Art, English and Dance Departments, among others.

Next year, a host of 200-level courses in women’s studies, anthropology and history will focus on Native American issues.

McGlennen has also worked to bring a number of major names from the field of Native American Studies to campus, including participants in last year’s poetry roundtable “Earthworks: A Night of Native American Poetry,” which featured renowned contemporary Native American poets Janet McAdams, Kim Blaeser and Gordon Henry.

Following the positive feedback that they received during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Vassar representatives at the recent conference, Wallace and McGlennen were both encouraged that the program is on track.

McGlennen explained that “We are pinpointing the courses we already have on campus, and looking at what courses we want to develop.”

The program is also aimed at exploring the issues beyond the classroom.

“We are even playing with the idea of bringing in an elder-in-residence,” said McGlennen. “We are trying to find creative ways of bringing native people to campus.”
Wallace echoed that the goal of the program is to address local relevance as well as general issues.

“We really want to work on building an experiential component to the correlate, a connection with local Native America communities and a way for the program to contribute in some way to these local communities,” she said.

Potential connections with native communities in the region and in New York City are in the works, which will offer greater possibility for collaboration across disciplines.

“We actually imagine some courses that can be cross-listed,” said Wallace. “There are a number of multidisciplinary programs on campus that are wonderful and we see a future collaboration with urban studies, women’s studies and maybe even international studies or environmental studies.”

The correlate program is scheduled for review by the faculty and administration in Spring 2009. If approved, the correlate will be offered starting in Fall 2009. Students are already eager to participate.

“I have been getting a lot of students e-mails and people coming up to me asking, ‘When is this correlate going to start?’ and ‘What classes are you teaching?’” said McGlennen. “There is a lot of interest in the correlate and I have been encouraging those who have contacted me to start taking the courses being offered next year.”

Both Wallace and McGlennen hope that the program will open up the Vassar community to Native American history and culture. “The name ‘Poughkeepsie’ is a Native American name,” said Wallace. According to the Town of Poughkeepsie Web site, the name means ‘the reed-covered lodge by the little water place.’

“I think most students at Vassar do not think about how we are on native ground or that there is a strong native presence in New York state,” said Wallace.

While it may be too early for students to declare the correlate, the community is already anticipating the new program.

“The ALANA Center has already sent us an e-mail asking us to celebrate the new correlate,” said McGlennen, “and while we are not quite there, it is great to see that people are excited about it.”