Marie Meade
Marie is Yup’ik Eskimo from Southwestern Alaska. Marie states, “I am a modern Yup’ik woman living a contemporary life in Anchorage, the biggest city in Alaska, while remaining connected to a long lifeline of Yup’ik women who were strong and determined in their ways.” Marie says she doesn’t have a conventional college degree, but she received most of her knowledge and education from her parents, family, and community. In 1970 Marie was chosen by her community to teach the first bilingual program in her village under BIA. After several years of involvement in the initial development of the Bilingual Programs in Alaska, Marie started teaching again and has taught in the Anchorage School District and Kuskokwim Community College in Bethel. In the last 15 years she’s been involved in extensive research and documentation of the cultural knowledge of Yup’ik Elders. In 2002, she received the Governor’s Award on Distinguished Humanities Educator. Presently, she teaches Yup’ik language and culture at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. She is also a dancer and a storyteller, a mother of three adult men, and a grandmother.
