Eileen M. Lally currently serves as the Director of the Family & Youth Services Training Academy and has been in that role since it began in 1998. She earned an Ed.D. at the University of the Pacific and a MSW at Indiana University. She has practiced social work for over 30 years, including work in family and child protective services. She taught social work at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) for ten years, and was one of the forces to begin the quest for the MSW program at UAA in the early 90's.

She was the Academic Department Head of the Social Work Department at New Mexico State University. Dr. Lally was Alaska's Deputy Commissioner of Health and Social Services in 1990-91. Her direct practice work with families and policy work at the statewide level led to an interest in child welfare services.