Debra Dzijúksuk O’Gara is Tlingit, Yupik, Irish and raven from the Teeyhitaan clan
and the Cedar Bark House of Wrangell, is an Assistant Professor in the Tribal Governance
Department of the Rural and Community Development College.
She has worked in the legal field for 32 years primarily for several Northwest Tribes
in Washington and the Tlingit & Haida Tribes in Southeast Alaska. Since 2007 she has
helped to build and developed the Tlingit & Haida Court first as a Magistrate, then
the elected Chief Justice, the Presiding Justice and now a Pro Tem Judicial Officer.
Most recently she has also worked for the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center as
the Senior Policy Specialist on domestic violence and sexual assault issues.
In addition to focusing on a legal career, Professor O’Gara continued her education
by earning a master’s in public administration at the University of Alaska Southeast
in 2013 and currently as a PhD candidate at the UAF Indigenous Studies program she
is researching dispute resolution practices and justice systems among the Tlingit
people before Western colonialization.
Professor O’Gara currently resides in Petersburg, Alaska and comes from a mixed family
of fighters, survivors and victims’ – some with education; successful careers in law,
government and church; alcoholism; violence; poverty; challenges; and trauma. Her
mom, Carol O’Gara, and Auntie, Joan Baijot, were born and raised in Mountain Village,
Alaska. Their mother, Frances Tamaree Sheppard was born in Wrangell was a nurse and
healer. Her maternal grandfather, George Sheppard, was born in Saint Michael and was
a trader. Her great grandmother was Tillie Paul Tamaree, a civil rights activist and
mother to William and Louis Paul, and Tillie’s second husband, her great grandfather,
William Tamaree, was a community leader, peacemaker, and a carver.
Professor O’Gara enjoys creating art in all forms and in the last several years has
concentrated on weaving – spruce root and cedar bark basketry, Ravenstail and Chilkat
where she reconnects with her ancestors, learning stories, history, and lessons.