NSU names Clint Carroll 2024 Sequoyah Fellow

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - Educator, author, ethnobotanist and anthropologist, Dr. Clint Carroll, has been selected as Northeastern State University’s 2024 Sequoyah Fellow.

“NSU is proud to recognize remarkable Indigenous scholars like Dr. Carroll as Sequoyah Fellows, who year after year enrich the campus community with their knowledge, expertise and passion,” NSU President Rodney Hanley said.

The Sequoyah Fellow program provides an opportunity for NSU and the College of Liberal Arts to recognize an outstanding scholar in the field of Native American studies. During their fellowship year, Sequoyah Fellows are allowed to share their expertise with the NSU community.

“To be recognized as a Sequoyah Fellow is incredibly humbling,” Carroll said. “I’m honored to be regarded in this way by the fellowship committee and the leadership of NSU. Looking at the list of past fellows, I’m truly grateful to be in their company. I look forward to meeting and exchanging ideas with students, faculty and staff at NSU through this exciting opportunity.”

Carroll is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.

His current work builds on his long-standing relationships with Cherokee communities and knowledge-keepers in Oklahoma to advance methods and strategies for Indigenous land education and community-based conservation. He writes and thinks at the intersections of critical Indigenous studies, anthropology and political ecology.

Carroll will present “Knowing the Land: Access, Conservation and Land-Based Education in the Cherokee Nation” this month on the NSU campus.

In this discussion, Carroll will share some of his story and how his path has led to collaborative initiatives for perpetuating Cherokee traditional knowledge and protecting tribal lands.

“One key issue that my research team and I have focused on recently has been access to land,” Carroll said. “This community-based research is aimed at understanding the challenges Cherokee people are facing when they seek to access lands for cultural purposes, what we can learn from these experiences, and how we might formulate and propose solutions—like community conservation areas.”

Carroll hopes those who attend the lecture will take away some examples of current environmental challenges in the Cherokee Nation, as well as some strategic ways those challenges are being addressed.

Carroll’s Sequoyah Fellow lecture will take place on Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Redbud Room of the University Center on the NSU Tahlequah campus. The event is free and open to the public.