August 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome back!

The 2009-2010 academic year is off to a great start with a very successful Freshman Convocation and related activities last weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped make those events so wonderful for students, parents, faculty and staff.

I hope you will take time in the few weeks to visit the brand new ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building. This truly remarkable state-of-the-art science building -- built on time and on budget -- is quite inspiring and much needed. Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to take UAA to the next level in science education. The CPISB will help our students prepare for high demand jobs in the sciences, including health and engineering.

Special thanks to the following legislators who visited UAA on August 20th for a "Sneak Peek" of our new ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building: Rep. Sharon Cissna, Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom, Sen. Bettye Davis, Sen. Johnny Ellis, Rep. Anna Fairclough, Rep. Lindsey Holmes, Rep. Bob Lynn, Sen. Kevin Meyer and Rep. Chris Tuck.

It is impossible to list all of the wonderful accomplishments of the past year but here are a few. Philanthropically: we received $7 million, the largest gift ever from a private donor; our alumni, industry partners and the Rasmuson Foundation teamed up to endow our second chair and first in engineering, the Herbert P. Schroeder Chair in ANSEP. Scholastically: we had our first Marshall Scholar and our fourth Truman Scholar in a row, along with many other students achievements. Our faculty also had great success with research grants of more than $17 million. Athletically: our women's basketball team once again made it to the semi-finals of the Elite Eight with the help of our winningest player ever, Rebecca Kielpinski. Our other athletic teams also had great years both athletically and academically. Our skiers placed 4th in national competition and our runners were phenomenal, breaking records. Gymnastics earned its first ever conference title and 14 of our hockey players made the academic all-confrence team with a GPA above 3.2. I could go on.

We are especially proud of new accreditation in UAA's School of Engineering. ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, accredited our Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Systems Engineering programs and re-affirmed our accreditations for our Civil Engineering and Geomatics programs. Congratulations.

All three levels of our nursing programs received continuing accreditation by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) -- a great achievement showing that we are maintaining our high standards even as we are doubling the number of nursing graduates. Our College of Business and Public Policy also won international recognition for its programs and maintained accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. For more of our successes and a look at our progress download the Progress at UAA one pager on the Chancellor Office's homepage at www.uaa.alaska.edu/chancellor.

Looking to the future:

Accreditation: UAA is scheduled for full-scale accreditation evaluation in 2010 and has volunteered, along with three other institutions in the region, to serve as a pilot in the development of a new accreditation process. The UAA team is working very hard to do our best and stay on schedule.

Student Success: DegreeWorks, the powerful new set of auditing tools, is helping us improve student advising.

Sustainability: We are launching a sustainability campaign which will help us build a future for UAA and the Great Land through environmentally wise, economically sound, and socially responsible actions. Please contact our Director of Sustainability Paula Williams if you'd like to become involved.

Service: We have designated 2009-2010 as a Year of Service and we encourage you to continue to look for ways to use your talents and abilities to serve our community!

Sports Arena: We have begun the planning and design work with legislative funding and will work with our community partners to construct a new sports arena.

Engineering: We will continue to seek funding to meet the needs of dramatically increasing enrollment in our engineering programs, including funding for a new Engineering Building.

Health Sciences Building: We are beginning work on Phase 1 of our Health Sciences Building with legislative funding and will work to secure funding for design and planning of Phase 2.

Q: Who received the Chancellor's Awards for Excellence this year?
A: We had many nominations this year and the choice was difficult, but here are the winners:

Small Team Collaboration (under 25 people)

• Procurement Services Staff (tied)
• Staff in the offices of the Alaska WWAMI Biomedical Program and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship for their work in organizing the Alaska PreMed Summit
  

Large Team Collaboration (over 25 people)

• Faculty and staff from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, Kodiak College and Kenai Peninsula College for their work in development and distance delivery of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies program.

Congratulations to the winners and all those nominated!

Q: What award did UAA receive last week?
A: We are ranked in the top 15 percent of all colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide by G.I. Jobs magazine. Because of our excellence in recruiting, retaining and supporting our military students UAA has been designated a Military Friendly School for 2010.

Q: What surprise did the Institute of Social and Economic Research's Marcia Trudgeon receive recently?
A: The Society of Research Administrators International (SRA) awarded Marcia the Hartfod Nicholsen award for outstanding service to the Society. As ISER Interim Director Steve Colt remarked in a recent email: "An award like this comes as no surprise to anyone who has benefited from [Marcia's] deep expertise, always packaged in gentle, helpful suggestions." I couldn't agree more. Congratulations!

Q: What were Administrative Services employees and their families doing at Kincaid Park this month?
A: Having a division-wide picnic and recognizing members of their staff for their service. Those who received awards included Wayne Morrison, who received the Bill Rose Award in honor of the late Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services. Special recognition was given to Procurement Services staff including Barbara Charbonneau, Sabine Kaufmann, Bob Kizer, Christine Mattingley, Victoria Radonich, Sandra Snethen, Roger Wakelam and Gary Yee who have done an enormous amount of work with all of our new construction.

Q: What's a good way to get some exercise and provide a service to our community?
A: Join Team UAA in the Heart Walk on September 12. Once again UAA has joined forces with the American Heart Association for their annual Start! Heart Walk. We encourage our faculty, staff and students to help raise funds for research and education for the number one killer of Americans: cardiovascular disease. The 3-mile Heart Walk will take place on Saturday, September 12. It opens at 9 a.m. for check-in and the walk will start promptly at 10 a.m. from the west end of the Delaney Park strip.

Join us in our efforts to make this year's walk an even bigger success that last year! We invite you to sign on as part of TEAM UAA or start your own UAA team. Click here to register for TEAM UAA or to create your own team.

Did you know?
The teams joining UAA women's and men's basketball teams in the 32nd Great Alaska Shootout this year, November 24-28 are:

On the women's side, host and three-time defending champion Alaska Anchorage will be joined by first timers in the Shootout:

• Cincinnati
• Coastal Carolina
• Western Carolina

On the men's side:

• Houston
• Nicholls State
• Oklahoma
• San Diego
• Washington State

With six teams instead of the traditional eight, the men's Shootout will undergo a format change for the first time ever, instituting Olympic-style pool play for 2009.

2009-2010 is going to be a great year!

Thank you for all you do to make UAA a great University!

Sincerely,