SOSU Presents Native American Symposium

10-26-2006

Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s Native American Symposium Committee has scheduled “Insights 2006” for this Wednesday. The symposium will be held at 11 a.m. in the Native American Room in the Henry G. Bennett Library on the SOSU campus.

Speakers for the event will be Claude V. Sumner, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Executive Director, and Sherry Corbin, Assistant to Principal Chief A.D. Ellis.

The symposium is free and open to the public.

Sumner was born in Talihina and was a three-sport letterman and National Merit Scholar at Haskell Institute (Kansas). He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Kansas with a double major in Speech-Drama and Sociology. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma and spent several years in labor law and general practice.

He held several tribal administrative positions before accepting his current post as Executive Director of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Corbin is a native of Lawton and was graduated from Durant High School. She attended Southeastern through the project program Upward Bound.

She moved to Washington, D.C., where she served as Assistant Press Secretary to the legendary Oklahoman Carl Albert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, until his retirement.

Her job experiences include work in Washington as a Capitol Police K-9 officer and explosives expert and working in a security position with the late King Hussein of Jordan.

She is a member of the Choctaw Nation and has spent the last two years working with Principal Chief A.D. Ellis of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, preparing legislation for the tribal National Council focused on opening the Muscogee Casino in Tulsa.