Born in Lumberton, North Carolina,[1] she was Assistant Director for Public Programs at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian.
Before her work with the Smithsonian Institution, Scheirbeck was the national director for Head Start programs serving American Indian and Alaskan Natives.
She has served as a human resources administrator for Save the Children Federation, chairwoman of the U.S. Department of Education Indian Education Task Force, and as a staffer in the U.S. Senate where she helped develop the American Indian Civil Rights Act.
In 1980, she earned a Doctorate in Educational Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
[1] Scheirbeck began her professional career as an intern for the National Congress of American Indians, assisting in the founding of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which lobbies for tribal colleges and universities on the federal level.