For many faculty members, the end of November signals the beginning of the descent into long hours and sleepless nights filled with reading papers, preparing finals and grading assignments. For English professor Eric Anderson, November was a busy month from the start.
Students, faculty and staff celebrated American Indian/Alaskan Native Heritage Month this November, and Anderson serves as faculty advisor for the student group behind the activities, the American Indian/Alaskan Native Student Association, or AIANSA.
The group is small in number but high on energy, said Anderson, who, along with the Office of Diversity Programs and Services, helped the group set up nine events during the month. The group even organized a Powwow - a traditional Native American gathering featuring dances and music - with professional performers that attracted visitors all the way from Charlottesville.
“The group just has an amazing amount of energy, and I really admire and respect them,” Anderson said. “They find good ways to learn about their heritage and culture and share them with other people.”
Anderson’s own interest in Native American studies is well documented. For more than 10 years, he has authored books and published chapters about Native American literature, culture and poetry. He is currently working on a new book, “On Native Southern Ground”, which explores texts dating back to pre-1700 southeastern captivity narratives.
He joined George Mason University in 2004 after teaching at Oklahoma State University, in which 2,032 of the school’s 23,522 students in the fall of 2010 identified themselves as Native American. By contrast, Only 64 of the 32,067 students at Mason enrolled in the 2009-2010 academic year identified themselves as an American Indian or Alaska Native.
But that small number of students has made many things happen.
“They are very strong, very spirited, dedicated and hardworking,” Anderson said.
Students pushed for the Native American and Indigenous Studies minor, which Mason first began offering in the fall of 2008. Anderson, with his background in Native American literature, is now the director of the minor, which will graduate its first student in May 2011.
“Students had been asking for it for a couple of years,” Anderson said. “When I was hired in 2005, I was coming from Oklahoma State, where I already had tenure, so we were in a much stronger position to actually do this.”
This semester, Anderson taught one section of English 325: Dimensions of Writing and Literature. Next semester, he will teach an English 363: Special Topics class on William Faulkner and one section of English 610: Proseminar in Teaching the Reading of Literature.
December 26, 2010