News Release

EVENT NEWS / March 19, 2008

First Nations Conference at Boise State University Focuses on Native Issues, Features Chief Chadwick Smith

Boise State University will host the fifth First Nations Conference on March 20-21 on the Boise State campus. The conference is free and open to the public.

Chief Chadwick “Corntassel” Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, will speak from 7:30-9:30 p.m. March 21 at the Student Union Jordan Ballroom. Wilma Mankiller, who was scheduled to speak, had to cancel due to illness. Smith is a speaker, educator and constitutional scholar who is known as the “Renaissance Chief.” Smith’s appearance is sponsored by the Boise State Martin Luther King Jr./Human Rights Celebration.

This year’s First Nations theme is “Native Studies at Boise State University: Talking Strategy,” dedicated to a discussion about what will be needed to bring an American Indian Studies program to Boise State. Scheduled speakers include indigenous scholars, tribal members, faculty and administrators, including photographer Lee Marmon and director Heather Rae.

The conference will run from 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and will include opening and closing ceremonies, educational sessions and films. For a full schedule, visit www.boisestate.edu/firstnations.
 
The Student Union Gallery will hold an exhibition in conjunction with the conference; “Pocahontas Meets Hello Kitty” is a traveling printmaking exhibition that uses Pocahontas and Hello Kitty as a ploy to engage the public into being receptive to a new way of looking at Native American women in history. An opening reception will be from 5-7 p.m. March 21. Free parking for the reception will be available in parking structure #2 on the corner of University and Lincoln.

The conference will be followed by the Intertribal Native Council’s Seven Arrows Pow Wow on March 22-23. For more information on that event, visit http://news.boisestate.edu/newsrelease/022008/0228powwow.shtml.

For more information on the First Nations Conference, visit www.boisestate.edu/firstnations or call Larry McNeil at 426-4110 or Gretchen Cotrell at 426-3145.

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Media Contact: Julie Hahn, University Communications, (208) 426-5540, juliehahn@boisestate.edu
 
Boise State University’s new Finish in Four program guarantees that eligible students who follow a planned course of study can complete their degree in four years. If not, Boise State will pay for the additional required courses. More information about Boise State’s graduation guarantee can be found at www.boisestate.edu/finish4.
 

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Last reviewed on Wednesday, March 19, 2008