Cherokee and Indigenous Studies Faculty

Dr. Candessa Tehee

Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies
Contact Dr. Candessa Tehee
Dr. Tehee Vitae (pdf)

Candessa Tehee is a full blood Cherokee who grew up in a close knit, traditional Cherokee community where Cherokee language and culture was a mainstay. This background is one that she continues to draw on to guide her life.Candessa serves as Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at Northeastern State University. At the University of Oklahoma, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies and Communications in 2000, a Masters of Education in 2003, and a Ph.D. in linguistic anthropology in 2014.Candessa's dissertation focuses on the experiences of second language users in endangered language communities. Other areas of focus in her studies are the link between language and culture, the social power of language, and the politics of indigeneity. In addition to her academic and career pursuits, Candessa also continues to carry on Cherokee artistic traditions and has been finger weaving since 2000. In 2011, she received instruction from Cherokee National Treasure Dorothy Dreadfulwater Ice in table top loom weaving which allows her to carry on the legacy of her paternal grandfather, Rogers McLemore, Cherokee National Treasure for loom weaving. Candessa continues producing work which carries on the tribal and family tradition of weaving.She makes her home with her three children in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Dr. Kimberly Lee

Associate Professor
Contact Dr. Kimberly Lee
Dr. Lee Vitae (pdf)

Dr. Kimberly Lee is an associate professor in the Department of Languages and Literature whose research and teaching focuses on Native American Writing, Rhetoric and Literature. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2003), where she did archival research on Mari Sandoz, and the intersectionality of Native American cultural continuance and advocacy of Native American rights in the 20th Century. Additionally, she does significant research around American Indian songwork, and Native musicians as catalysts for change and reform.Other interests include Native American Women's Writing, Native American Language and Cultural Revitalization, Native American Ecological Initiatives, and Native Film and Film Makers.Publications: I Do Not Apologize for the Length of this Letter : The Mari Sandoz Letters on Native American Rights, 1940-1966. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, November 2009. (Winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Design, 2010; Nebraska Book Award 2010.)Indigenous Pop: Interdisciplinary Critical Views on Contemporary Music in America. Co-edited with Jeff Berglund and Janis Johnson; University of Arizona Press. (Forthcoming, Spring 2016).

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Dr. Virginia Whitekiller

Professor
Contact Dr. Virginia Whitekiller
Dr. Whitekiller Vitae (pdf)

Dr. Virginia Drywater-Whitekiller (Cherokee), Ed.D., M.S.W., is a professor of social work at Northeastern State University (NSU) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She received her Bachelor of Social Work at NSU, her Master of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, and her doctorate in Higher Education Administration at OSU. Her academic administrative experience includes having chaired Northeastern State University's social work and criminal justice departments, coordinating the Title IV-E program, directing the social work practicum program, and writing the self-study for the Council on Social Work Education re-affirmation. Along with extensive work in direct and macro social work practice with Native populations in health care, education, juvenile offenders, and child welfare, she has 20 years experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate level social work courses. She has served as an external program evaluator for various tribal social service projects and currently is the principal investigator for a university partnership with the National Child Welfare Workforce Initiative, one of twelve in the nation. The NSU program is designed to promote workforce diversity through the recruitment, entry and retention of Native Americans in child welfare and child welfare specialization curriculum development. She has published on topics pertaining to Native American cultural diversity, social work, and higher education retention. Her current research interests include furthering the development of cultural resilience theory regarding Native populations, tribal child welfare and gerontological workforce development, and Native Americans coping with microaggressions.