Darlene "Dalee" Sambo was born in Alaska in 1959.[1] Her parents were raised in Unalakleet, an Inuit village, but she grew up in Anchorage.[2] She was interested in issues affecting Alaska Natives from an early age, recognizing the problems with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act while in junior high.[3]
While attending high school, Dorough organized an independent study working on the 1976 campaign of Inuit politician Eben Hopson for U.S. House of Representatives.[2] Hopson founded the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) in 1977, and Dorough began her volunteer work with the new organization at its first meeting, while she was still in high school.[4] Before accepting her high school diploma, she completed the American Indian Lawyer Training Program in San Francisco and earned a certificate as a Tribal Court Advocate.[3] From 1978 to 1981, she attended Anchorage Community College, which would later become the University of Alaska Anchorage.[3][5]
After working as a paralegal for multiple organizations, in 1982 Dorough became the Executive Director for the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Anchorage, a position she held until 1989.[5] She went on to serve as the Executive Director for the International Union for Circumpolar Health (from 1991 to 1993) and the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (from 1993 to 1994).[5]
From 2008 to 2018, Dorough was an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Alaska Anchorage.[7] In that role she took selected students to attend meetings of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.[3] After leaving her position as assistant professor, she continued her affiliation with the university as a senior scholar and special advisor on Arctic Indigenous Peoples.[8]
Dorough was appointed to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by the U.N. Secretary General in 2011, serving two three year terms.[3] She is also the co-Chair of the International Law Association's Committee on Implementation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.[7]
In 2018 Dorough was unanimously elected as chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.[9] The organization represents approximately 165,000 Inuit from the Russian Far East, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.[7] Dorough's efforts include promoting food security and protecting the Arctic environment in the face of climate change.[2][10]
Awards
In 1988 Dorough was honored with a Reebok Human Rights Award, and in 1989 she received the Bill Edmunds Award from the Inuit Circumpolar Council, recognizing her efforts for the promotion of Inuit rights and interests.[11] She was the recipient of a Patricia Roberts Harris Public Affairs Fellowship in 1989 and 1990.[12] She was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship during the 1995-1996 academic year.[1]
Dorough was one of the ten "Women of the Century" selected to represent Alaska's most influential women as part of a project sponsored by USA Today in 2020.[1]
