Joel Isaak
Joel Isaak is a project coordinator for the State of Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED) and also serves as the agency’s Tribal Liaison where he is applying his role to help further the Alaska State-Tribal Education Compacting initiative.
One aspiration Joel has is to see the State of Alaska develop an education system that provides for traditional Indigenous languages, cultural identities, and history to be fully included within the mainstream education system.
Born and raised in the Kenai suburban area, Joel attended K-12 in the Kenai Peninsula School District before earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is now pursuing his PhD. Joel is Dena’ina Athabaskan and currently adjunct teaches the Dena’ina language at Kenai Peninsula College.