Gloria Wolfe wins 2026 Judson Brown leadership scholarship

Gloria Wolfe, a Tlingit student in law and policy at the University of Arizona, has won the 2026 Judson L. Brown Leadership Award and its $5,000 scholarship, Sealaska Heritage Institute announced Sunday.

Wolfe has served as Indigenous leadership director at First Alaskans Institute, cultural heritage director for the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe and secretary for the Alaska Native Sisterhood. She directs the nonprofit White Raven and created the Yakutat Surf Club. In 2024 she founded Khaaswóot Collective, LLC, an Indigenous consulting practice.

"The generations before us carried our languages, our songs, our protocols and our ways of living through extraordinary hardship so I could stand where I am today," Wolfe said. She added that she hopes to create pathways for other Indigenous leaders.

Chris and Mary McNeil established the award in 2006 to honor Tlingit leader Judson Lawrence Brown, first chair of the Sealaska Heritage Foundation. Wolfe graduates next May and plans to pursue a doctorate.