Charles E. Taylor: Educator and Native American Cultural Preservationist
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| Charles Edward Taylor Photo by Johnnie Grant |
By Johnnie Grant
Charles Edward Taylor was born on the Qualla Boundary Indian Reservation in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Mr. Taylor is a full blooded enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and has resided in West Asheville for the past 8 years.
Educated in the Swain County School system Taylor graduated from Swain County High School in 1989. He furthered his education at Asheville-Buncombe Community College and received an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Medical Laboratory Science in 1991.
In
1995, he earned a Bachelors Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science, from
Western Carolina University and was board certified as a Clinical
Laboratory Scientist in the same year. During his career he has worked
in various disciplines of the clinical laboratory with primary
concentration in the blood banking and hematology division of the
clinical laboratory.
In 2004, he
earned a Master’s of Public Health from the University of
Tennessee-Knoxville, with a specialty concentration in the areas of
Community Health Education and Health Promotion, and is currently an
assistant professor of Health/Clinical Laboratory Sciences at Western
Carolina University.
His primary academic responsibilities at WCU are
public instruction in infectious diseases and transfusion science to
pre health professionals and clinical laboratory science majors.
Taylor is also
active in preservation and revitalization of Cherokee culture and
language. He works extensively with Cherokee scholars at Western
Carolina University in projects and research involving the Cherokee
language.
A fluent and
literate speaker of the Kituwah dialect of the Cherokee language,
Taylor is regarded as an essential element of preservation, education,
and perpetuation of a unique cultural identity attribute, the Cherokee
language. He is currently involved in the development of a Culturally
Based Native Health Program, a collaborative effort involving Western
Carolina University, Wake Forest University, and the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians.
Taylor’s future
endeavor is to pursue a Doctorate degree in fall of 2008 in the area of
Medical Anthropology and continue in the academic realm of instructing.
