UAS to award honorary degrees to clan leaders L’eiwtú Éesh Herman Davis and Aanyáanáx Ray Wilson
- Daily Sitka Sentinel
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By Daily Sitka Sentinel
Tlingit clan leaders L’eiwtú Éesh Herman Davis and Aanyáanáx Ray Wilson will receive honorary doctorates of laws from the University of Alaska Southeast during the May 3 spring commencement ceremony at UAS in Juneau.
UAS announced the awards for Davis and Wilson, as well as other distinguished Southeast Alaskans, on Friday.
Davis, of Sitka, is clan leader of the L’uknax.adí, from Kayaashka Hít (Platform House). He “has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication as he has worked to ensure that his knowledge of the Tlingit language, culture, traditions and history is preserved and passed on,” UAS said in its announcement.
“Davis has generously shared his extensive Traditional Ecological Knowledge, identified key historical locations on the landscape and worked with scholars to preserve Tlingit place names,” UAS stated. “As a master-level birth speaker, Davis has taught Tlingit language and dance for 50 years through the Sitka Native Education Program and Noow Tlein Dance Group, integrating storytelling, song, and dance into lessons and helping build an extensive curriculum to share with others. He has collaborated with co-awardee Aanyáanáx Ray Wilson to repatriate significant ceremonial pieces, including a Raven helmet.”
Davis and Wilson worked for decades to repatriate the Raven helmet that Ḵ’alyáan of the Kiks.ádi clan wore during an 1804 battle in Sitka against Russian colonists.
The state-run Sheldon Jackson museum announced in December that it would return the helmet to the care of Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and Kiks.ádi clan members, in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Wilson, of Juneau, is clan leader of the Kiks.ádi, from G̱agaan Hít (the Sun House).
In Friday’s release, UAS stated that Wilson “has shown remarkable leadership in sharing Tlingit dance, stories, practices, and values, and has shifted the paradigm for how museums work with and represent Indigenous Peoples."
“As a Tlingit culture-bearer, Wilson taught dance and culture for 25 years with the All Nations’ Children dance group (Lda Kut Naax Sati Yatx’i), and helped collaboratively develop a tool that teaches children about the Tlingit language and culture through music,” UAS said “Wilson worked with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to ensure traditional cultural protocols were followed while restoring a ceremonial sculpin hat, and advised the American Museum of Natural History on integrating Indigenous perspectives into renovations, ensuring that Tlingit culture and traditions were represented as living and dynamic.”
UAS also announced Friday that it will confer an honorary doctorate of laws on Younce Kóo oo Wóo Russell Dick, of Hoonah, from the Kaagwaantaan (Eagle/Wolf) Clan.
Dick “is a catalyst for innovation and economic growth throughout Alaska and beyond," UAS said. “As president and chief executive officer of Huna Totem Corporation, Dick has been an extraordinary leader in sustainable tourism, cultural stewardship, and workforce development.”
UAS also noted that Dick helped transform Icy Strait Point into a globally recognized destination.
“Throughout his career, Dick has held key leadership roles at Sealaska Corporation, Alaska Dream Cruises, Haa Aani, LLC, and Icy Strait Whale Adventures (Three Wolves Charters), and served as vice chair of the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority Board of Directors,” UAS stated.
The university in recent years has honored several Alaska Native leaders with honorary doctorate awards. In 2024 it conferred an honorary doctorate of education on Gooch Tláa/Kéet Tláa/Anne Johnson, a cultural educator and culture bearer who has contributed to the Sitka Native Education Program for some 50 years.
In 2021 UAS conferred an honorary doctorate of education on Pauline Duncan, a teacher and culture bearer of Sitka who created many culturally relevant classroom materials for Native children in her decades as a classroom teacher.
• This article originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
