CENTER FOR NATIVE HEALTH

Trey Adcock (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ, enrolled Cherokee Nation), PhD, is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of American Indian & Indigenous Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville. He was named one of seven national Public Engagement Fellows in 2018-2019 by the Whiting Foundation for his work documenting a Bureau of Indian Affairs run day school in the TutiYi “Snowbird” Cherokee Community. He obtained his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Sequoyah Dissertation Fellow focusing on technology integration at an American Indian boarding school in Oklahoma. Dr. Adcock’s work has been published in the Journal of American Indian Education, Teaching Tolerance and Readings in Race, Ethnicity and Immigration. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Native Health and sits on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Cherokee Studies.

Micah Swimmer, M.A. was born and raised on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, North Carolina. He is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokees. Micah earned his Associates and Bachelors degrees from Haskell Indian Nations University and his Master’s degree from the University of Kansas. His focus has been Indigenous Studies, with a special concentration in Language Revitalization and Preservation. Micah has utilized his familial knowledge of the Cherokee language and culture along with his western education to serve in several capacities with the Eastern Band of Cherokees, most recently as the Cherokee Language and Culture Specialist for the Human Resources Department. Throughout his career he has worked in language preservation efforts focused on all age groups, from newborns to adults.

Micah is an active community member, serving as a youth basketball and football coach and is also a keeper of Cherokee traditions as a member of the Warriors of Anikituwah and the Kolanvyi Indian Ball team. He is also the leader of a dance group for young people, the Aniyvwiyahi Analsgisgi (The real people dancers) who perform traditional Cherokee dances. Micah travels regularly to provide educational workshops on the Cherokee language, dances, and culture. He is often accompanied by his wife Carrah and their children: Dvdaya, Ogana, and Yona-Uweluga who are all also ambassadors of the Cherokee language and traditions.