A scholar from the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma will visit Western Carolina University and Cherokee on Monday, Nov. 8, to inform local residents about an acclaimed course in Cherokee history that will be offered in summer 2005.

Julia Coates, currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Davis, will give informal talks about “The Cherokee Nation History Course” at noon in Room 104 of Western’s Killian Building and at 5 p.m. at the Family First Center in the Dora Reed Building, located on Acquoni Road in Cherokee.

Coates’ visit is being sponsored by Western’s Cherokee Studies program.

The course, which will be taught by Coates in Cherokee, covers significant aspects of Cherokee legal, social and cultural history and addresses treaty rights and legislative agendas. Harvard University cited the course in 2002 as one of 16 exemplary initiatives nationwide that promote tribal excellence in self-government.

Coates is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who is originally from Pryor, Okla. She earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and creative writing at San Francisco State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in American studies at the University of New Mexico.

For more information about the Nov. 8 presentations, call Western’s Cherokee Studies program at 828.227.2302.