NSU cuts ribbon on new Center for Tribal Studies space

Northeastern State University celebrated the newly relocated Center for Tribal Studies with a ribbon cutting ceremony earlier this month.

Campus and community members gathered to recognize the next chapter in the center’s history of serving NSU students.

This is the first time since the center was created 33 years ago that the main office will be located on campus. The center was previously housed in the Zoe Davis House and Bacone House.

The Cherokee Nation donated $300,000 in support of renovating space in the NSU University Center to move the Center for Tribal Studies to a centralized area on campus. Of this donation, $200,000 was dedicated to construction and NSU matched that investment amount for the new space. The remaining $100,000 of Cherokee Nation’s donation will be used to support immersive learning opportunities for students in the coming year.

“We are grateful for the Cherokee Nation’s support of this important project,” NSU President Steve Turner said. “Having the center centrally located and in an updated space will allow us to better serve American Indian students and increase our collaboration with the Nation and other tribal-serving organizations.”

The new location is a permanent space to house Center for Tribal Studies staff and any potential grant-funded positions geared towards supporting Indigenous students. It also provides a space for Native-focused student organizations to meet and host activities and allow external partners to better serve students by hosting office hours on campus. Along with office space, other features include a student lounge, cubicles and a conference room equipped with a Zoom cart.

In addition to cutting the ribbon on the new space, a new logo for the Center for Tribal Studies was unveiled at the event.

“We decided this move presented another opportunity to revise and modernize our logo, and we're excited to present it to you today,” NSU Center for Tribal Studies Director Sara Barnett said. “We went through many different versions before landing on this simple yet telling representation of our purpose: to support students through graduation in a culturally inclusive way.”

The new Center for Tribal Studies space is located in the NSU University Center basement on the Tahlequah campus. For more information about the Center for Tribal Studies, visit https://offices.nsuok.edu/centerfortribalstudies/default.aspx.