Story originally published at The Western Carolinian.
Last fall, WCU’s Cherokee Language Program received a significant grant from Cherokee Preservation Foundation, a local nonprofit that supports Cherokee language preservation efforts.
The $223,014 grant, among other support from WCU and outside organizations, has allowed the program to develop into an official minor and certification program.
“We’ve gotten a lot more ambitious with what we are trying to do, on the activities,” said Cherokee Language Program director Sara Synder Hopkins.
Prior to the fall of 2024, Cherokee courses were offered solely as electives, making it difficult for interested students to take the courses as they were not tied to a program. The beginning Cherokee courses fit into WCU’s Liberal Studies program, which is required of all degree-seeking students.
The 18-credit hour minor allows students to explore a variety of Cherokee-related courses, from the language and literature to the culture. The minor expanded on the previously available Cherokee courses to include hands-on work in applicable fields, such as translating old Cherokee texts.
“We added a transcription and translation class that I taught for the first time last semester. The students worked with us on a several research projects,” Hopkins said. “Students were working and learning to read the handwritten documents.”
The work goes beyond the classroom as well. Projects such as the Eastern Cherokee Histories in Translation give students a chance to practice skills learned in translation classes in with diary entries from Will West Long.
“We do a lot of things other than just teach these language classes,” Hopkins said. “I like to have the students involved in what’s happening. They’re not just coming to class; they are seeing that there is a lot of things to be done with language other than just coming to class.”
The first student graduated with a Cherokee minor in the semester it became official, as they had already taken many of the required courses. More students are expected to graduate with a Cherokee minor this semester.
Hopkins said that only a handful of universities offer Cherokee studies programs and even fewer offer Cherokee language as a minor.
“It’s something you can pretty much only get at Western,” Hopkins said. “The university has gone from 1948 bulldozing the sacred mound to spearheading all the Cherokee signage on campus to show where the mound was and where important places were.”
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation grant has also helped create a non-credit Novice Cherokee Language Certificate. This program is run with support from WCU Education Outreach. The certification program is also catered towards EBCI members who wish to learn more about the language.
The first course, Beginning Cherokee Language, ran from August to December 2024. The course, taught by first language Cherokee speaker Gil Jackson and his protégé Jack Cooper, was popular.
“It was filled in 24 hours with EBCI people,” Hopkins said. “We’ve had pretty good retention and response.”
Advanced Cherokee Language, the second course of the certificate, is also being taught.
The goal of the Novice Cherokee Language Certificate is to help teach and preserve the Cherokee language. Students who earn the certificate should be able to speak Cherokee at least at a novice level.
