Irene Dundas is a Tlingit educator, cultural practitioner, and community leader from Ketchikan, Alaska. She is of the Ts’áagweidí (House that Anchored the Village) clan of Kake, Alaska, and is the daughter of the Neix.ádi of Cape Fox Village, now Saxman, Alaska.
Irene serves as the Cultural Resources Director for Ketchikan Indian Community and has dedicated much of her career to strengthening cultural identity, preserving traditional knowledge, and advancing Indigenous stewardship. Her work spans cultural resource management, repatriation, place-based education, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.
For more than six years, Irene has served as a cultural advisor and instructor with Sealaska Heritage Institute and the University of Alaska Southeast, helping educators throughout Southeast Alaska incorporate place-based learning, cultural values, and Indigenous ways of knowing into their classrooms. Through this work, she has supported more than 100 educators across the region and helped strengthen culturally responsive teaching practices that connect students to the lands, waters, histories, and communities of Southeast Alaska.
Irene’s work is rooted in the belief that culture provides identity, belonging, and healing. She is particularly passionate about repatriation, the preservation of ancestral knowledge, and ensuring that future generations remain connected to the teachings of Elders, the responsibilities of stewardship, and the cultural values that have guided Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.
Through her work as an educator, cultural practitioner, and advocate, Irene strives to ensure that culture remains a living part of education, community life, and the future of Southeast Alaska.