Published Apr 14, 2023

Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and nonprofit partner The Conservation Fund announced the addition of 309 acres to the Alaska State Parks system within the Kasilof River estuary on Wednesday April 12th.

Known as the Dinosaur Parcel for its unique shape, the site has long been prioritized for conservation.

In cooperation with DNR, The Conservation Fund secured federal and private funding to purchase the Dinosaur Parcel from the University of Alaska. In April 2023, The Conservation Fund transferred the land to DNR to be managed by the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. Funding for the effort was provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS)’s National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program (NCWCG), a competitive grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation Program, Conoco Phillips, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, the Alaska Conservation Foundation, and anonymous private individuals.



Published Apr 14, 2023 by Ashley Mowreader

Melanie Hulbert, vice provost for student success and dean of the Honors College at the University of Alaska at Anchorage works to create an equitable and supportive student experience for all types of learners.

Hulbert spoke to Inside Higher Ed about her first year at UAA as vice provost for student success, her perspective on student experience management and new student-facing programs launching this fall.

Q: What is student success to you, and what factors contribute to student success?

A: Student success, for me, is defined as really three goals.

That first goal is every student will know that they belong in higher ed. When we have so many first-generation students and students who are commuters and working parents, working folks, student success first has to say, “Our job is to make sure every student knows that they belong,” because a lot of messages have come their way that they don’t belong, or they’re not cut out for it.

Secondly, student success relies on every student making at least one significant and meaningful connection with another person on this campus. Student success cannot just happen randomly. We have to have that Disneyland kind of approach. When you walk onto [a Disney] park, everything is perfect and the only reason it is, is because there’s a whole cast and crew of people behind the scenes that are making it happen.

I want every student to have made at least one meaningful connection, because it’s [first] hearing that you belong and then finding someone who also is willing to walk through it is important.

Then, student success is about us in these roles, showing up every day knowing that our job is to help students find a plan to stay on track to finish the race. I mean, that’s our job … Our job is to make sure that you’re finding the right path, you’re going to stay on track and you’re going to finish that race.

Published Apr 13, 2023

University of Alaska Southeast Social Science faculty Forest Haven was awarded her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California Irvine on Dec. 2, 2022. Her dissertation committee chair was Dr. Kris Peterson, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Haven’s dissertation, “Alaska Native People, Traditional Foods, and the Settler State: ‘Subsistence’ and the Narrative of Settler Belonging” takes an in-depth look at the history of the subsistence in Alaska, tracing the legal, political, and social construction of this unique user group category.

The subsistence category was created in the 1970s to regulate the taking of fish and wildlife resources for personal or family consumption.

However, the initial intent for developing this use category was to codify the protection of Alaska Native peoples’ hunting and fishing rights after they were dissolved in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

In the decades following ANCSA, several attempts were made at the state and federal level to codify protection for Native traditional food practices, yet each was met with strong resistance by state legislators, national and local sport hunting and fishing organizations, and a vocal settler population.

Through the mobilization of equal rights rhetoric, subsistence went from being a collective Alaska Native rights issue to a liberal settler rights issue, giving all Alaska residents the right to practice subsistence.

This dissertation thus analyzes the historic development and contemporary manifestations of the subsistence use category in Alaska and within the context of U.S. settler colonial state-making processes.

Published Apr 13, 2023

Alaska Airlines canceled about two dozen flights in its namesake state Thursday because of an ash cloud from a volcano in Russia, the Seattle-based airline said in a statement.

The ash cloud is from Shiveluch Volcano, the airline said. About 23 flights to, from and within Alaska were canceled as of early Thursday.

Shiveluch, one of Kamchatka Peninsula’s most active volcanoes, started erupting early Tuesday, spewing ash more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) northwest. Several Russian villages were covered in grey volcanic dust in the largest fallout in nearly 60 years.

On Wednesday, the eruption sent an ash cloud more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) into the air. The volcano is located about 1,772 miles (2,772 kilometers) east of Anchorage.

Published Apr 13, 2023 by alaskabusiness

The operator of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System has a new boss. The major North Slope producers that own TAPS conducted an executive search and selected John Kurz as the next President and CEO of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Kurz most recently worked as COO for Santos and Oil Search in Papua New Guinea, but he has deeper roots in Alaska. He served as Senior Operations Manager for Greater Prudhoe Bay during his three decades in the oil industry. Career highlights include overseeing operations in oil and gas fields, terminals, and pipelines.

Kurz met his spouse in Anchorage, and he earned a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Alaska.

“We have strong connections here,” says Kurz. “It is an incredible opportunity to return home and serve as Alyeska President and CEO.”

Published Apr 13, 2023 by Gabriela Gabrielaa

While we wait for Mother Nature to sort out her schedule (it can’t be winter forever, can it?), we’ll have to generate our own energy and heat this weekend with two jazz concerts by the Emmet Cohen Trio.

The first concert, on Saturday, showcases the trio along with jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée and appearances by three Fairbanks student musicians. The concert is 7:30 p.m. at Davis Concert Hall at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It’s the second in the three-part Bill Stroecker Jazz Festival, presented by the Fairbanks Concert Association. The final installment will be with Pink Martini featuring China Forbes on May 14.

Emmet Cohen is an American jazz pianist and composer who, though relatively young, has compiled an impressive resume. He won the 2019 American Pianists Award, the 2014 American Jazz Pianists Competition and the 2011 Phillips Piano Competition at the University of West Florida, and was a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. He’s performed at some of the most prestigious venues, including Birdland and the Lincoln Center, and in more than 30 countries.