Joyce Conseen Dugan was born in Western North Carolina to a Cherokee mother, who worked as a maid, and a white father from Tennessee. She said she was called "the white Indian" when growing up but was reared in Cherokee culture and enrolled as a member in the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She attended local public schools. She studied at
Western Carolina University, earning her BS (1974) and MS (1981) in Education. After first working as a teacher's aide, Dugan started her teaching career in the Cherokee Central Schools after earning her undergraduate degree. After Dugan built a strong record as an educator, in 1990, the EBCI appointed her as superintendent of the
Cherokee Central Schools. With B. Lynne Harlan, Dugan wrote a book,
The Cherokee (2002), which describes the history and cultural practices of her tribe. It was published by the EBCI. In 2009 Dugan returned to the tribe's education system when she was appointed again as superintendent of the Cherokee Central Schools. She served until 2011. Dugan has been active in other community groups, serving on "the Cherokee Indian Hospital Governing Board, the Development Foundation Board of Directors, the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Board of Directors for Mainspring [Conservation] (formerly Land Trust for the Little Tennessee)." The latter group has been working with the EBCI to develop the Nikwasi Trail, to acquire sacred sites of tribal mounds and towns along the Little Tennessee River. The EBCI intends to develop a trail and related resources to link and interpret these sacred Cherokee sites. In 2020 Mainspring Conservation Trust acquired land holding the Watauga Mound and part of the ancient town; it will preserve it for the EBCI. ==Legacy and honors==