Adelheid Herrmann (born April 15, 1953) is a Dena'ina Athabaskan researcher and politician. She is a shareholder in the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, one of the 13 Alaska Native corporations.

Early life and education

Herrmann is the granddaughter of Charles Herrmann (1893–1959) and Anna Gartelman Herrmann. Charles Herrmann was born in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Germany, migrated to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1910, and found employment in the Bristol Bay area of Alaska. Anna Gartelman was

Aleut Aleuts ( ; (west) or (east) ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska ...

woman from Nushagak. Adelheid was born in

Levelock, Alaska Levelock () is a census-designated place (CDP) along the Kvichak River in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. It was known by the indigenous name of Kivichakh, a variant of ''Kvichak (disambiguati ...

on April 15, 1953, and grew up in Naknek, where she attended Bristol Bay High School (1966-1970). She earned a degree in public policy, fisheries, and Native American studies (1999) from Antioch University and a D.Ed. in organizational leadership with an emphasis in fisheries and oceans (2013) from the University of La Verne in California.

Career

From 1983 to 1989 Herrmann was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing Naknek for the Democratic Party in the 13th, 14th and 15th legislatures. she is a post-doctoral research assistant at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where her areas of expertise are climate adaptation and social science; she is working on a project "with the goal of building the capacity of rural communities to respond and adapt to climate change" She is also a member of the Council of Elders of

Alaska Pacific University Alaska Pacific University (APU) is a private university in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It was established as Alaska Methodist University in 1957. Although it was renamed to Alaska Pacific University in 1978, it is still affiliated with the ...

, a body whose mission is "to support, strengthen, and ensure the development, integration, and prioritization of encompassing Alaska Native knowledge, language, values, perspectives, history, and concerns in education at Alaska Pacific University". As a member of the Council of Elders, Herrmann aims to implement the "tribal college concept" which places Native Alaskans themselves as the head of their educational path.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrmann, Adelheid Living people Alaska Native women Denaʼina people Members of the Alaska House of Representatives Native American state legislators in Alaska Women state legislators in Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks people Alaska Pacific University people University of La Verne alumni Antioch University alumni 20th-century American women politicians American people of German descent 20th-century Native American politicians 1953 births 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Alaska Native people 20th-century Alaska Native people 20th-century Native American women 20th-century members of the Alaska Legislature