BSNC congratulates shareholder Roy Apaagzuk Agloinga on receiving the 2021 Governor’s Arts and Humanities Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities through education. Agloinga grew up in Natchirsvik (White Mountain) and continues to work with the remaining fluent speakers of the Iġałuik dialect of Qawairaq Inupiaq. Agloinga and other volunteer community members spent countless hours working with Elders to build the Qawiaraq Language Preservation Project and make the language accessible to current and future generations. Agloinga co-authored an audio and written record and a Qawiaraq Iġałuik Inupiat Dictionary with Luann Harrelson.
Agloinga serves as Program Officer of External Affairs for the Rasmuson Foundation. He currently serves on the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and is co-chair for the Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Western States Arts Federation, a regional nonprofit dedicating to strengthening the arts. He is a tribal member of the Native Village of White Mountain and a shareholder of Golovin and White Mountain Native Corporation. Agloinga has a bachelor’s degree in English and a degree in secondary education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is a continuing student of Inupiaq and Spanish.