The Cherokee Nation Council confirmed Howard Paden as its first Secretary of Language and Culture Thursday, and he took the oath of office. Paden will continue overseeing the tribe’s language programs and advise the chief on how culture intersects with tribal work.
Paden has worked for the Cherokee Nation for nearly 24 years and has led its Language Department since 2020. He was part of the team that developed the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program, an adult immersion program pairing novice learners with fluent Cherokee speakers; it has had 78 graduates.
Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the department has created 123 high-level second-language speakers, delivered over 200,000 hours of lessons and provided essential needs to more than 1,000 first-language fluent speakers. About $182 million has been invested in Cherokee Nation language efforts since 2019. The Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act also funded a $20 million center in Tahlequah, home to the immersion school and language department since 2022.
