Back row, from left, Dr. Michael Hughes, East Central (OK) University Clemente Instructor; Dr. Scott Barton, ECU College of Arts and Social Science Dean; ECU President Dr. Richard Rafes; moderator Amy von Tungeln-Gantt; Chickasaw Nation Arts and Humanities administrator Lona Barrick; and Dr. Tom Cowger, endowed history chair for the Chickasaw Nation. Front row, from left, Dynamic Women of the Chickasaw Nation Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten, Nancy Elliott and Dean McManus.

ADA, Okla. – Three exceptional citizens of the Chickasaw Nation shared insight and wisdom during the fourth annual Dynamic Women of the Chickasaw Nation Forum, conducted April 10 on the campus of East Central University (ECU) in Ada.

Chickasaw legislator Dean McManus, Ada educator Nancy Elliott, and meteorologist Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten shared their views on a variety of topics, and the future of the Chickasaw Nation. The three women candidly offered their perspectives on their career choices and other life experiences.

A fourth panelist, author Linda Hogan, could not attend the event.

The evening serves as an avenue for people from all walks of life to come together and find common ground, Lona Barrick, administrator of the tribal Arts and Humanities Division, said. All three women, who come from different generations, shared their priorities with the assembly.

Preserving the past and the importance of education relating to the tribe’s future were common themes.

“I am so proud of what the Chickasaw Nation has become today,” Mrs. McManus said.

Mrs. McManus began work-ing for the tribe in 1968 as a Community Health Representative. As an early CHR, she made home visits and saw the citizens’ needs and programs needed to fulfill those needs.

The tribe’s Education Division is an outgrowth of those early days, she said, and today it provides Chickasaw youth unlimited opportunities.

She also said she was proud of the tribal language initiative.

She related that her grandmother had the greatest influence on her choice of career, and her life.

“I’d like to believe I took after her, she had such a big heart,” she said.

Family is a central theme in Nancy Elliott’s life. Mrs. Elliott, a 25-year veteran of the Ada School system, said she was proud of her Chickasaw heritage and the opportunities the tribe has afforded her family.

She had a thriving career at Southwestern Bell and a chance for a promotion, but made the decision to go back to school to be an educator.

Her decision was based on the fact the promotion would have taken too much away from her children.

Mrs. Elliott said her mother was the biggest influence on her life.

“She was always happy, always smiling, despite having a hard life,” Mrs. Elliott said.

Her mother, she said, encouraged all her children to seek out their highest career goals.

“It was never a question of if I was going to college,” Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten said.

She chose her path, she said, based on how she could best help people, such as designing better storm shelters.

All three women agreed the tribe should focus on building businesses so tribal citizens can provide for their families, and have a better balance between home and work.

“The family is struggling, and I think the Chickasaw Nation does a fantastic job providing for the children, though the camps and after school programs,” said Mrs. Elliott.

Education, each of the women said, was the key to the Tribes’ success.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for Native American students to become active; the Chickasaw Nation has eliminated all speed bumps to get an education…all the way to a Ph.D.”

Van Cooten, who holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology, a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering and a doctorate in engineering and applied science, stressed the importance of utilizing the knowledge of indigenous people in research.

By communicating with the indigenous people, she said, and listening to their stories, researchers can learn about climate change.

She reminded the assembly that “water is no longer a natural resource, it is a commodity,” and that a reliable water source is vital to the future.

Ongoing research is revealing new scientific facts about the future of water.

“Bring the science to the table and use science to drive the policy,” she said.

A short video featuring award-winning author and environmentalist Linda Hogan was shown during the event.

Ms. Hogan’s novel “Mean Spirit” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1990 and won an Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction in 1991. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas in 1998. She has played a prominent role in the development of contemporary Native American poetry and prose.

Amy von Tungeln Gantt served as moderator for the evening. She expressed the importance of having a significant population base of educated Chickasaw citizens to shape the tribe’s future.

The annual forum is hosted by the Chickasaw Clemente Humanities Studies program through the Chickasaw Nation Division of Arts and Humanities, in partnership with ECU.

The two groups have a “deep partnership” said ECU President Dr. Richard Rafes. Dr. Rafes said 21 percent of the student population at ECU was Native American and the event provided an opportunity for students to learn about Chickasaws and Native American culture in general.

ECU’s Native American Student Association hosted a reception immediately following the forum.

For information about the 2008 Dynamic Women of The Chickasaw Nation Forum, contact Laura Clark or Mark Milligan at the Chickasaw Nation Division of Arts and Humanities, at (580) 272-5520.