UAS Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell Wins Emmy Award

Dr. X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Series at the 2025 Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards on March 15 in Los Angeles.

Date of Press Release: March 18, 2025

Dr. Twitchell and series head writer, Raye Lankford, were recognized for writing the episode “Not a Mascot” for the animated PBS Kids program Molly of Denali. The program is the first nationally distributed children’s show in the United States to feature a lead character who is Alaska Native.

Dr. Twitchell attended the award ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of the show. In his acceptance speech, Twitchell remarked, "Aatlein gunalchéesh (many thanks) to GBH, PBS, Atomic Cartoons, to Raye Lankford for all of your work, for Dorothea Gillam for having this dream, for the entire team of Molly of Denali, which includes elders and culture bearers, Indigenous language speakers, who made this their vision. To all you writers out there, all you Native writers, all you Native babies, who might be wondering: can I tell my stories through film and television ... Mahsi'choo, letʼs go!”

X’unei Lance Twitchell, PhD, is a Professor of Alaska Native Languages, one pathway offered through UAS Indigenous Studies. A more comprehensive biography can be found here.