July 2011

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

The breadth and quality of the accomplishments of our students, faculty and staff is truly inspiring. This summer I've been so impressed by how UAA opens its classrooms and facilities to elementary, middle and high school students from around the state. UAA program staff and faculty provide college coursework experience to high school students who will be the first in their family to go to college through the Trio Upward Bound Program. Our Della Keats/UDOC program offers a six-week residential program incorporating college and pre-med/pre-nursing classwork for talented and motivated junior and high school students who are from underrepresented groups interested in health sciences. (photo above)

Senator Mark Begich spent more than an hour with middle school students from around the state as they completed a summer program motivating them to enter science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

UAA's Health Sciences Building is opening on time and on schedule August 1. The grand opening is scheduled for October 7. Save the date!

New student orientations continue throughout the summer as do visits by young students to UAA's planetarium. Inspiring and preparing students to go to college is important to their success once they enter UAA. These are just a small sample of the programs and activities at UAA geared to help K-12 students be college-ready.

Notable:

• Two new recruits for UAA's women's basketball team are playing in the World Games this summer. Gritt Rider, recruited as a point guard, is playing for Denmark. Miriam Seale, recruited as center, is playing for Trinidad & Tobago. Go (future) Seawolves!
• Mike Driscoll, who has served at UAA's Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs since 2006, has been promoted to Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. This title change reflects Mike's increased level of responsibility and leadership at UAA.
• Alaska Native leader Willie Hensley joins UAA's College of Business and Public Policy as Visiting Distinguished Professor for the 2011–2012 academic year.
• Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) in the College of Business and Public Policy was approved by President Gamble as a Center. CAEPR's Diane Hirshberg and Lexi Hill will provide background briefs on the Anchorage School District in support of Mayor Sullivan's upcoming Education Summit in November.

Note to Welcome to UAA

Elijah Andre' Thorn will join UAA this fall as Multicultural Center director. The UAA Multicultural Center is home to AHAINA (African American, Hispanic, Asian, International and Native American) Student Programs and Trio's Upward Bound Program. The focus of the center is the successful transition, retention and celebration of students. Mr. Thorn currently serves as an Institutional Research Analyst at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Please welcome Cynthia Rogers as the new Chugiak-Eagle River Campus (CERC) Director. Cynthia comes to UAA from the School of Management at UAS.

Alan P. Fugleberg  is the new Assistant Director for Academic Affairs and Assistant Professor at Kodiak College/UAA College of Business and Public Policy. Professor Fugleberg comes to Kodiak from the University of Montana-Missoula where he served  as Associate Dean, College of Technology and Chair of the Department of Industrial Technology.

Student Achievement Notes

Languages major Amber Vanderpool and International Studies major Cortney Corbet have been awarded the UAA Kibrik and Bergelson Study or Research in Russia Scholarship. Amber will study Russian language and culture in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the full academic year. Cortney will spend fall semester in St. Petersburg. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jeurgen (Luke) Klotz, a UAA languages major and recipient of the 2011 Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) scholarship, for a year of study in Japan. Thank you to Luke's mentor, Dr. Hiroko Harada.

Program Notes

The College of Education has been invited by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to join the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate. The intent of the project is to redesign the Ed.D. to make it a stronger and more relevant degree.

The National Endowment for the Arts featured Alaska Quarterly Review and Ron Spatz, Dean of the UAA Honors College, on ART WORKS — the official blog of the National Endowment for the Arts. Read the article here.

Prince William Sound Community College (PWSCC)-Copper Basin Campus staff  presented Distant Delivery in Rural Alaska at EduLearn11 in Barcelona, Spain, an international conference on education and new technologies.

Safety Notes

UAA logged a total of three injuries during the month of June, one of which is an OSHA recordable injury. The recordable back injury occurred from excessive lifting related to setting up a conference.

Safety Tip.  Build safety into the budget. If your department is planning an activity that requires movement of substantial amounts of materials, chairs, tables, and booklets, use Conference Services to eliminate the potential for back injuries and other muscle strains. Contractors, General Support Services (GSS)  or facility staff may also contacted for heavy lifting.

Safety FYI:  Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) is available for small group instruction. Send your request to anmgh1@uaa.alaska.edu.

Publication Notes

Mapping Alaska Indigenous Languages. Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and UAF Alaska Native Language Center worked with Alaska Native groups and geographic information system (GIS) technology to produce a new edition of the groundbreaking map showing the traditional indigenous language regions of Alaska. An interactive map will be available online by August 1 at www.alaskool.org, the website maintained by ISER, and one of the largest online collections of materials on Alaska Native peoples, languages and history.

Alaska Justice Forum's spring issue includes articles on "Internet crime in the U.S. and Alaska" and "Anchorage Residents Perceptions of Police," among others. Access the issue here. Justice Center publications will soon be available on EBSCO criminal justice database — the leading search platform for full-text online research databases in institutions worldwide.

Grants/Awards/Contract Notes

UAA closed FY11 with 324 awards totaling slightly more than $52M. This final number includes externally funded awards and contracts in the areas of research, public service, instruction, scholarship/fellowship, student services, institutional support, and academic support. In addition, during the first three weeks of FY12, UAA received 12 awards totaling $704K in the areas of research, public service and instruction. Last year UAA received 308 awards and contracts totaling $55M.

The German Program in the Department of Languages received a grant from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C., and was selected to partner with German departments at more than 40 universities and colleges across the United States to organize "do Deutsch" German Campus Weeks in fall 2011.

Kodiak College is partnering with Kodiak Maritime Museum in a $300K state-funded grant to refurbish a vintage fishing trawler on the College campus. The project coincides with construction this summer of the “Kodiak Room” in the Kodiak College Library. The room will house documents, art, and historical artifacts related to fishing, seafood processing, and oral histories by island residents.

PWSCC received a $1,500 donation from the Copper Valley Electric Association Community Foundation.  The money will support a student's scholarships to individuals at the PWSCC Glennallen Campus who completed their GED through the Adult Basic Education Department.

Research Notes

Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Professor Gunnar Knapp and Research Associate Toby Schwoerer, along with Dan Rinella, Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) Research Associate, are completing an analysis of the economic significance of the Bristol Bay commercial fisheries for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The total award to UAA researchers is $167K.

Faculty Notes

Dr. Natasa Masanovic, associate professor of German, who has mentored numerous recipients of the prestigious Congress-Bundestag scholarship, received the American Association for Teachers of German (AATG/Alaska Chapter) 2011 Duden Award for her work in German instruction.

Dr. Bruno Kappes presented at ePIC2011 conference on 3Porfolios in London. His paper was entitled, "Designing eLearning Environments Conducive to ePortfolio Identity Skill Development."

Development Note: Scholarships

More than $500K was raised for student scholarships this year and 470 awards were made to 339 students. Twenty-one new scholarships were created. In five years, there have been 6810 separate gifts to scholarships. Of those gifts, 2,310 were made by alumni.

Public Square Notes

Members of the UAA community volunteered at the 9th annual Anchorage Project Homeless Connect  held at the Egan Center on Tuesday, July 19, 2011.

 

Prof. Deb Periman, Justice Center faculty, worked with Jeff Mittman, ACLU of Alaska executive director, to plan and present a program for the public on July 14, "Disparate Opportunity in America: The Ongoing Struggle for Equal Rights," featuring speaker Anthony Romero, ACLU national executive director.

 

 

 

 

I am honored to serve UAA and to continue the culture of collaboration and service to our students, our community and our state. Thank you for all you do to make UAA a great university!

Best,

 

Tom Case