The fifth annual Southeast Indian Studies Conference will be held April 2-3 at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Sponsored by UNCP's American Indian Studies Department, the conference is the premier academic conference on Southeastern Indians of the U.S. This year it will attract scholars from Arizona, Harvard, New York University, South Carolina, Virginia and Chapel Hill.

The conference is free and open to the public. It begins with registration from 8 to 9 a.m. Thursday, April 2, in the James B. Chavis University Center Annex.

The purpose of the Southeast Indian Studies Conference is to provide a forum for discussion of the culture, history, art, health and contemporary issues of American Indians in the Southeast. The conference serves as a critical venue for scholars, students and persons interested in American Indian studies in the region.

UNCP is a national leader in the education of American Indians and ranked sixth in a recent survey of all U.S. colleges and universities for the number of American Indian graduates.

"We are very excited about this year's program, and we're pleased with the quality and depth of the conference's scholarship," said Dr. Mary Ann Jacobs, chair of the American Indian Studies Department. "This is the premier conference for Southeast Indian studies in the nation. The many people who want to present their scholarly research here is impressive."

Keynote speaker is Dr. Donald L. Fixico, a Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole Indian and professor of history at Arizona State University. He will speak on "Native Knowledge of Learning from the Earth" at 12:30 p.m. Friday, April 3.

Fixico has served on the Advisory Council for the National Endowment for the Humanities and his books include "The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies," "Traditional Knowledge" (2003) and "The Urban Indian Experience in America" (2000).

Many local and national scholars will present, including Dr. Malinda Maynor-Lowery, a member of the Harvard University faculty. A scholar and philanthropist with family roots in Pembroke, Maynor-Lowery will speak on "Enterprising Indians: Labor and Capital in the Choctaw Nation."

Dr. Stan Knick, director of UNCP's Native American Resources Center, will present his latest documentary film, "Our People: Occaneechi Band of Saponi Nation."

Dr. Rose Stremlau, a faculty member of UNCP's history department, will present "Redefining Belonging: Gender, Sexuality and the Dawes Rolls."

Buck Woodard from the College of William & Mary and Marty Richardson of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian tribe will present "Communities on the Border: A Look at Virginia-Carolina Indian Social Development Through Three Centuries."

UNCP and N.C. State University graduate Lawrence Locklear will present "Down by the Ole Lumbee: An Investigation into the Use of the Word 'Lumbee' Prior to 1952," and UNCP graduate Tasha Oxendine will present "Lumbee Traditional Healing and Oral Tradition Incorporating Faith."

For more information and a complete conference agenda, visit www.uncp.edu/ais or call the department office at (910) 521-6266.