Press Releases

April 12, 2002
Shinnecock Nation Member Elizabeth Haile to be Honored by Southampton College

Commencement Ceremonies Begin at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 19

Contact:
Patricia Conway (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Elizabeth Thunder Bird Haile, a member of the Shinnecock Nation, has been named to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Southampton College of Long Island University. She will be honored at commencement ceremonies at the College on Sunday, May 19, 2002.

Haile has served as a consultant in Native American Studies since 1960. She received her BS in Education from SUNY at Oneonta Teachers College in 1952 and went on to earn her Masters degree from New York University in Recreation Education. She teaches sacred dance, traditional Native, modern interpretive dance techniques, and Native American studies. She has been a teacher for many years and has served on national committees of the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Haile has received both local and national honors including a "Women of Vision" Award presented by the Schenectady YWCA and a "Women of Faith" Award in Salt Lake City presented by Presbyterian Church USA.

Closer to home, Haile is a founding member of the Hayground School in Bridgehampton and is a storyteller at the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. She has opened the annual Shinnecock Pow Wow with a liturgical dance and serves on the Shinnecock Land Defense Committee and Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum Board. She has also served on the Shinnecock Nation Tribal Council.

Together with her husband Richard, Haile has four grown children and ten grandchildren. Her daughter, the Rev. Dr. Holly Haile Davis, is the first Native American woman to be ordained by the Presbyterian Church, USA.