Mitchell, Roy D. | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Roy D. Mitchell was born in Arcata, California in 1958. In 1977 he enrolled in University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), from where he obtained a BA in Anthropology. Four years later he received a second BA from UAF, this time graduating cum laude in Inupiaq Eskimo Language. That same year he also earned a MA in Anthropology from UAF with emphasis on Inupiaq Eskimo and Koyukon Athabasca. A few years later he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley to pursued a doctorate, but apparently never completed the program. While at Berkeley he specialized in Indigenous Circumpolar Peoples, Sociolinguistics, and Educational Anthropology. Thereafter Mitchell taught classes at a number of Alaska universities and colleges.

In 2001 Mitchell was hired as a sociolinguist for Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI). Beginning 1999 SHI hosted an annual Native Language Institute, which included two weeks of intensive classes during which students learned the basics of Haida, Tlingit and Shim-al-gyack—the Tsimshian language. As part of this curriculum Mitchell taught a number of these classes in 2001. In 2004 Mitchell left SHI for employment elsewhere, and as of 2013 was working at UAA.