SHI LAUDS RETURN OF TLINGIT MANAGER AS HEAD OF SITKA NATIONAL PARK
October 10, 2018
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is applauding the return of Tlingit Mary Miller as the superintendent at Sitka National Historical Park.
Miller, who earned a civil engineering degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington, is wholly qualified for the position and personally represents the history of the park as a Tlingit of the Shangukeidí clan with some Russian heritage, said SHI President Rosita Worl.
Miller also helped spearhead projects to perpetuate endangered Northwest Coast art practices when she previously served as the park’s manager, Worl said.
“She was a pivotal figure in SHI’s effort to form a mentor-apprentice team in Sitka in recent years to pass on the endangered knowledge of how to make traditional dugout canoes. We are happy to have her back and know she will excel as superintendent of the park, which is the ancestral homeland of the Sheet’ká Kwáan,” Worl said.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.
CONTACT: Amy Fletcher, SHI Media and Publications Director, 907.586.9116, amy.fletcher@sealaska.com.
Caption: Crew unloads log used for SHI’s recent master-apprentice program at the Sitka National Historical Park. Miller helped coordinate the project, which passed on the endangered knowledge of how to make traditional dugout canoes.
