Occupation: Dean, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas El Paso (UTEP)
Lineage: Grandmother, Mary Louise Sorokina, and great-grandmother, Evdokiia Aleksandrovna Semenova, on his father’s side are from Unalaska.
Almost a year into his new position as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), Denis O’Hearn is truly enjoying himself. “I had no designs on being in college administration when I started my academic career,” the Doctor of Sociology says, chuckling. “I’m probably a community activist first and a scholar second, and being at UTEP, I get to tap into both of those passions.” O’Hearn’s Aunt Mary, who was born in Unalaska, and his father were Aleut shareholders since incorporation in 1972. His grandmother, Mary Louise Sorokina, and great-grandmother Evdokiia Aleksandrovna Semenova, were also from Unalaska. While he hasn’t been able to visit Alaska yet, Dr. O’Hearn says doing so is a goal of his. “Oh, we would love to visit, and really get the chance to share in the culture and what Aleut life is like,” he said enthusiastically. “When we were children, we always knew we were Alaska Native on my father’s mother’s side. When ANCSA was enacted in 1972, my father and Aunt Mary registered as shareholders, and from then on, we were much more aware and interested.”
Early years
Dr. O’Hearn was originally born in Carlsbad, New Mexico – just a few hour drive from UTEP – to parents of Irish and Aleut descent. His father James worked in the potash mines, and later, in radio and for the local newspaper. “My father didn’t graduate from high school, but he was the most widely-read person I knew,” O’Hearn recalls. “He was a voracious reader, and tremendously knowledgeable. He really gave my brothers and I a love for learning and reading, which became a big part of our lives.”
The doctor and his two brothers are first-generation college graduates, and he says the inspiration and push from their father was a big part in their success through higher education. In reality, it was almost a forgone conclusion that the boys would attend college: they were very well aware of the impacts of college graduation on social mobility and opportunity – and had parents who were invested in and supportive of their ultimate success.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of New Mexico in 1975, Dr. O’Hearn went on to earn Master’s Degrees in Economics, Russian & Eastern Eurpoean Studies, and Sociology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned his doctorate in sociology also from UMich in 1988.
Finding his passion
O’Hearn’s work and life experiences have taken him across the globe. He spent nearly 20 years in Belfast, Ireland as a professor, lecturer, and community activist, a time period of intense experiences. During the 1970s and 1980s, complicated political and historical issues culminated in a series of prisoner hunger strikes that resulted in 10 deaths.
“Living through those strikes in the early 80s was an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking experience,” Dr. O’Hearn recalls. “While some of my later research focused on prisons and the communities they contain, I wasn’t able to work on that during that time. I returned to UMich to get my Sociology Doctorate, and then, once the peace process happened, went back to Ireland and started in on the prison research that I had found so fascinating.” Since then, he’s done significant research into the impacts of extended solitary confinement on incarcerated individuals.
Arriving at UTEP
Dr. O’Hearn has an incredible resume and personal history: he’s a Fulbright Scholar and held academic positions at Binghamton University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Notre Dame, as well as institutions in Japan, Portugal, Ireland, and Turkey. He’s proud of his Aleut and Irish heritage, and dedicated to working for what he calls a “model” public university.
“UTEP leads the country in admissions of low-income and first-generation students,” he explains. “When they graduate, those students are able to access social mobility and improve their lives. That’s something I find very exciting because it helps develop communities and make them stronger. The university is dedicated to that mission, and that’s frankly what brought me back here.”
In their spare time, Dr. O’Hearn and his wife Bilge, who holds a doctorate in anthropology from Binghamton, love to travel. “One of the big advantages of being in academia is the ability to travel and do research all over the world,” Dr. O’Hearn said. “While we don’t get to travel as much now, El Paso and Juarez [Mexico] are just incredibly diverse and interesting places. There’s a new streetcar here that’s modeled after one that used to exist years ago, and you can take it from El Paso to the bridge on the border, and just walk into Juarez.” They also do a lot of DIY home improvement projects, and hope to soon build a structure in the lot by their house where they can enjoy watching the sun set on the U.S.-Mexico border.