MEDIA ADVISORY

TO:                     Education Reporters and Feature Writers

FROM:                Alaska Native Studies

SUBJECT:           UAF Native Elder in Residence

DATE:                Ongoing Class, Fall Semester

LOCATION:        UAF Fairbanks Campus

An Inupiaq elder from Nome will spend part of the fall 2000 semester at the University of Alaska Fairbanks with the Alaska Native Studies Department's Elder in Residence Program. Myron Wheeler is a featured instructor in the class Cultural Knowledge of Native Elders. This upper division course gives students an opportunity to study Native philosophies, values and oral traditions with prominent Native tradition-bearers.

Well known for his ivory, soapstone, wood and alabaster carvings, Wheeler's heritage often takes him to Little Diomede Island where he participates in beluga whale hunting. He's also scheduled to teach an Inupiaq drumming workshop this semester.

The next instructor in the series is Anges Mayo Moore, who is scheduled to begin her class Nov. 7.

Assistant professor of Alaska Native Studies George Kanaqluk Charles teaches the Cultural Knowledge of Native Elders class.

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CONTACT: George Charles, UAF Alaska Native Studies Department, at (907) 474-6606 or ffgpc@uaf.edu, or ANS Department Administrative Assistant Carol Hollingsworth, (907) 474-7181.

TGP/DPD/10-16-00/01-26ma