Deborah Kirk

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pawhuska, OK Agency, GIS digitized mapping project

Kirk, a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a National Science Foundation Fellow pursuing her Ph.D. in geography at WVU. Her research focuses on the Trail of Tears as Place and creating an immersive experience using geospatial technologies. She developed and taught the NAS courses Trail of Tears (3 credits) and Trail of Tears Experience (a 1 credit travel course originating at Red Clay (TN) and allowing students to experience firsthand several original portions of the Trail throughout Kentucky and Tennessee). She is a graduate of Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas. She is a member of the Native American Studies Program Committee. 

(In this photo Kirk is pointing to a story site along the Oconaliftee River in North Carolina.)