The family moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1952, and Golla attended high school in Oakland.
In 1988, he was invited to join the faculty of Humboldt State University, in Arcata, California, as professor of Native American Studies and director of the Center for Indian Community Development.
He also served as a linguistic consultant to the Hoopa Valley Tribe, where he was responsible for creating the Hupa Practical Alphabet and a number of pedagogical and reference materials, including an English-Hupa bilingual dictionary (1996a).
In selecting Golla, the society cited his "influential research on Native American linguistics and ethnography" and his "outstanding service to the profession.
"[4] Golla died at his home in Trinidad, California, in April 2021 of advanced Parkinson's disease and a stroke.