The Native American Studies Program at West Virginia University will host the annual Peace Tree Ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 1st from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with guest of honor Daniel Wildcat, Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma.

That evening, Wildcat will be welcomed at 6:30 p.m. with a reception in room G09 White Hall, followed by his 7:00 p.m. lecture, “We Are All Related: Indigenous Reflections on Resiliency.” Wildcat will discuss how indigenous knowledge addresses current environmental concerns such as global climate change. “We are all related” is a traditional view of humans as relatives to all of creation.

Wildcat is the director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center and a professor in the Indigenous and American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.

His work with the center has helped facilitate transferring accurate environmental information to tribes and bringing research opportunities to tribal college faculty and students throughout the United States. He helped form the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group and organize the conference, “Planning for Seven Generations” sponsored by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He also co-chaired, with environmental leader Wynona LaDuke (White Earth Anishinaabeg), the national climate change workshop, “Native Peoples-Native Homelands.”

The Peace Tree is located between Martin and Elizabeth Moore halls on the downtown campus. Students from the WVU Organization for Native American Interests will participate in the events.

This year’s ceremony marks the 23rd anniversary of the planting of WVU’s first peace tree commemorating the University’s commitment to the rediscovery and celebration of America’s Native American heritage, by Chief Leon Shenandoah, Tadodaho of the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, and Chippewa Chief Robert TallTree.

The reception and ceremony are free and open to the public. They are co-sponsored by the Carolyn Reyer Endowment for Native American Studies, the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the WVU Department of History.

For more information, contact Bonnie Brown at 304-293-4626 or BonnieM.Brown@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

as/09/11/2015

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.