Edna Ahgeak was born in Utqiaġvik, Alaska (known as Barrow prior to 2016).
[citation needed] Beginning in 1963, she worked for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, teaching Iñupiaq and developing their first degree programs in Eskimo languages.
[7] In the 2000s, she spent two years working on a Rosetta Stone software program in the North Slope dialect of Iñupiaq.
MacLean received the Citizen of the Year Award from the Alaska Federation of Natives in 2005.
[10] In 2006, she won the Distinguished Service to the Humanities Award from the Governor of Alaska.