Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s annual Asanbe Diversity Symposium, slated for next month, will feature Native American educator, writer, filmmaker and producer Dr. Patty Loew.
At 1:00pm on Friday, April 1st, Loew will lecture in the Honors Commons on “Creation to Contemporary Conflict: Native American Origin Stories as Predictors of Modern Environmental Struggles.” At 3:00pm in the same room, there will be a showing of her documentary film, “Way of the Warrior,” followed by a 4:00pm discussion of the film.
Loew, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, is an associate professor in the department of life science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also works as a producer for WHA-TV (PBS) and co-host of “In Wisconsin,” a weekly news and public affairs program that airs statewide on Wisconsin Public Television.
She is the author of two books: “Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal” and “Native People of Wisconsin,” a social studies text for elementary school children, as well as dozens of scholarly and general interest articles on Native American topics. She has produced several documentaries, including “No Word for Goodbye,” “Spring of Discontent” and “Nation Within a Nation,” which have appeared on commercial and public television stations throughout the country.
Her PBS documentary, “Way of the Warrior,” examines the role and cultural meaning of Native American military service in the 20th century, including World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Loew has received honorary doctorates in humane letters from Edgewood College in 2003 and in public service from Northland College in 2002. She received the Wisconsin Writers Association Best Juvenile Nonfiction award for “Native People of Wisconsin” in 2003, and in 2001, received the Outstanding Book Award from the Wisconsin Library Association for “Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal.” Loew also serves on the board of directors of the Unity Journalists of Color.
The annual symposium was established in memory of Dr. Joseph Asanbe, APSU’s first professor of African and African-American literature. Born in Nigeria, Asanbe earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University. After joining the APSU faculty in 1987, Asanbe often expressed his vision of APSU as a diverse university where all people are valued.
The Asanbe Diversity Symposium is sponsored by the APSU Department of Languages and Literature. Co-sponsors are the Office of Academic Affairs, the President’s Emerging Leaders Program, the Honors Program, the Women’s Studies Program, the African American Studies Program, the APSU Department of History and Philosophy, the Hispanic Cultural Center, the Center of Excellence for Creative Arts, the APSU Department of Communication, the Episcopal Campus Ministry and The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
For more information, contact Dr. Karen Sorenson, professor of French, by telephone at 931-221-6246 or by email at sorensonk@apsu.edu.
