2012 Honorary Doctor of Sciences: Rosita Worl

Rosita Worl
Honorary Doctor of Sciences

Rosita Worl has been contributing to the field of Native Alaska anthropology and scholarship for over 30 years. She grew up in Southeast Alaska and learned from her mother, aunt and grandmother the values of her Tlingit heritage. From an early age, Ms. Worl made education a priority and after high school she ran a program that recruited Alaska Natives for higher education. She earned a bachelor's degree from Alaska Methodist University and went on to receive a master's degree and Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University. Carrying forward her commitment to higher learning, Ms. Worl served as an assistant professor of anthropology at the Anchorage and Southeast campuses of the University of Alaska.

In her role as advocate and community leader, Ms. Worl has worked in various capacities on behalf of Native people. She served as an adviser on Alaska Native and rural affairs to Governor Steve Cowper in the mid-1980s, when she formulated the first State of Alaska Policy on Alaska Natives. She also served as a member of President Bill Clinton's Northwest Sustainability Commission. She has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Indigenous Languages Institute, the National Science Foundation Polar Programs Committee, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission Scientific Committee and the National Museum of the American Indian. Ms. Worl currently serves as president of Sealaska Heritage Institute where she is dedicated to maintaining the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures and languages.

Ms. Worl's research has ranged from Native subsistence rights to Tlingit traditional law to Inupiaq whaling culture, and she has authored or co-authored more than 60 publications, papers, editorials and reviews. Her awards and honors are many, including the Gloria Steinem Award for Empowerment and the Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology. In March of 2012, she was inducted into the most recent class of the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.   
In recognition of her momentous impact on Alaska Native people in the field of anthropology and indigenous leadership, the University of Alaska Anchorage proudly confers upon Rosita Worl the title of Honorary Doctor of Sciences.