Alumna Returns to Lead American Indian Center

Posted on Feb. 3, 2012

Amy Locklear Hertel ’97, of the Lumbee and Coharie tribes of North Carolina, will become director of the American Indian Center at UNC on May 1.

The American Indian Center at Carolina is one of few centers on the East Coast to focus solely on American Indian issues.

Locklear Hertel is a project manager at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is a doctoral candidate at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. She earned her master of social work and law degrees at Washington.

She serves as a trustee for the G.A. Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation, which seeks to improve the social and economic conditions of American Indian families and communities. She is a member of the board of directors for the Community Investment Network, a nonprofit that encourages organizations and individuals to engage in strategic giving to enable greater social change in their communities.

Originally from Fayetteville, Locklear Hertel was president of the Carolina Indian Circle while a student and was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece. She was one of the founders of Alpha Pi Omega Sorority Inc., the country’s oldest Native American Greek letter organization.

“The center serves as the University’s front door to American Indian communities across the state and the nation,” said Carol Tresolini, vice provost for academic initiatives. “Ms. Locklear Hertel’s professional experience in social work and law and her life experience as a native of our state and an alumna of our University will help her to expand the center’s capacity to enrich the intellectual life of the campus and link American Indian nations and communities with Carolina’s strengths in research, education and teaching.”

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