Published Apr 3, 2023 by https://fm.kuac.org/people/robyne

A group of University of Alaska graduate student workers trying to form a union marched on the UAF campus Friday. They’re following a nationwide trend of student workers organizing.

The Alaska Labor Relations Agency received a petition from the Alaska Graduate Workers Association February 22. The group proposes to represent 530 UA system graduate student workers who are paid a stipend or teaching assistant wage, making them part of the unit that is organizing.

Derek Arnold is on the Association’s steering committee member Derek Arnold says they recently sent cards to all prospective union members to gauge their interest.

“We recently got our card count, so that was the first step was to get our card count, a showing of interest. We got the showing of interest done. It's been certified by the ALRA, the Alaska Labor Relations Agency, and the university has now notified everyone who is in that unit, which was anyone who's both a graduate student and a university employee.”

Published Apr 3, 2023

The 6th annual Traditional Games took place Saturday and Sunday at Thunder Mountain High School.

"The traditional games draw their origins from various Alaska native cultures, but also they're played more broadly across the circumpolar north in northern Canada, in Greenland, and even in some places in Russia," he said. "They were traditionally played by the hunters as a way to train necessary skills for survival. So, the games were about training strength or endurance, agility, balance, and coordination."

"We have a new award for a college team. We have four college teams participating: University of Alaska Southeast, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Pacific University. This new award is the all-around college team award and it's the first time we've done it. I think we're the first event that really highlights college teams and it's kind of a new frontier for traditional games to expand into the collegiate level as a sport," he explained. "We're used to seeing the sport done K through 12. Who says it should stop after high school? A lot of athletes want to continue the sport and college is a great place to keep the sport going."

Published Apr 3, 2023 by Jasmine Grant

Model United Nations at UAA was held on Feb. 23, 24, and 25. It was the first in-person conference at UAA since February of 2020. 

Almost every high school in ASD is involved along with some out-of-town high schools, said Model UN faculty advisor Kimberly Pace. In addition, Marian University from Indianapolis also participated. 

Model UN is a simulation of the United Nations and has been offered by the UA system since 1982. The theme this year was “The Future of Freedom: Ethnic Tensions, New Media, and the Democratization of Information.” 

Themes are chosen by teachers, said Pace. Committees are chosen by Pace, the Secretary General, and the President of the General Assembly, she said.

Published Apr 2, 2023

The University of Alaska’s Troth Yeddha Campus has prepared a unique work of performance art that is scheduled to run March 31 to April 2 at the Salisbury Lab Theatre.

The production, titled Tumyaraq-qaa, is billed as a science fiction Indigenous comedy. It tells the story of a spaceship and its unlikely crew uncoupling from the earth.

Kavelina Torres explained, “They’ve been tasked by the elders to take circumpolar north Indigenous peoples, Canada, Greenland, Siberia, to another planet, to go in search of another house.”

For one weekend, audiences are able to attend a live filming of half the production. According to Torres, “We pre-recorded a lot of stuff last semester, so since August we’ve been filming, and now we’re doing the component that the audience sees, that’s on the soundstage.”

The show incorporates words and phrases from a variety of Indigenous languages. “I think this play is written for indigenous people to remind them that we have the capacity to do all the things that everyone else is doing, and we have been doing those things. We are scientists. We are explorers,” said Nickoli, who plays Captain Ellalluk.

Published Apr 2, 2023 by Gary Black/News-Miner

A large audience filled Schaible Auditorium at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Thursday night to hear a roundtable discussion on the Interior Alaska mining industry.

The roundtable was hosted by the League of Women Voters in partnership with the News-Miner and KUAC FM 89.9.

The roundtable included representatives from the Alaska Miners Association, an economist, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Save Our Domes and the Advocates for Safe Alaska Highways.

Topics ranged from the local nature and economic impacts that mining presents, and permitting and environmental concerns. The borough currently has one hard rock mining operation at Kinross Fort Knox northeast of Fairbanks, 56 placer mines and 11 hard rock exploratory efforts in various stages.

Published Apr 2, 2023 by David James

‘I came into this program being very anti-abstraction,” abstract artist Kyle Agustines said about his arrival in the art department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he is presently enrolled.

He held what he now considers stereotyped views about the style, believing it required little skill. Agustines, whose work will be on display at Hoarfrost Distilling throughout April, recalled a fellow student showing him images of another student’s abstracts and changing his mind. “It was impressive. I didn’t know that there were people here who could learn to do that and make impressive abstract work. That was really inspiring.”

It was in a class with David Mollett that Agustines was given his first pure abstract assignment. “The process of it was amazing,” he said. “I made it and there were all these questions. How do I know if this means anything? How do I know what it means to other people? How do I know when it’s done?”

He’s been exploring possible answers to those questions ever since.

Published Apr 2, 2023

Fairbanks Arts is delighted to welcome third-year graduate students from the UAF MFA program who will share their works of fiction, non-fiction, screenplays, and poetry in the April literary reading taking place in the Bear Gallery.

This free event will start at 7:00 p.m. in the Bear Gallery on Saturday, April 22, 2023.

Published Apr 1, 2023

Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s 16th annual VEX Robotics World Championship will be back in Dallas to showcase the talent of student competitors from Apr. 25 to May 4.

Students from around the globe compete year-round to qualify for this event with the goal of being crowned world champions. This year University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) students are the only team in Alaska who will be attending. It's also UAA's first time attending a world championship.

There are a total of 20 students on the team, and they will be sending 5 down to compete in person; Mya Schroder, Micah Sheldon, Antonio Pennell, Anthony Van Weel, and Jet (John) Lastimoso.

While the full competition runs from Apr. 25 to May 4, UAA will be competing from Apr. 27 through 29.

Published Apr 1, 2023 by Jonson Kuhn

The sixth annual Traditional Games officially got underway at Thunder Mountain High School on Saturday and continued on into Sunday starting at 9 a.m. and wrapping up at 4:30 p.m.

Saturday’s evening events started off with a performance from the Yees Ku Oo Dancers led by Nancy Barnes. After the dance performance was the opening ceremony and parade of athletes, followed by nalukataq (blanket toss) and the one-foot high kick finals and one-foot high kick awards. Lastly, the evening closed out with the Wrist Carry Finals (high school)/Airplane (open) and the awards for both games, as well.

The Traditional Games and Juneau’s NYO team are a community collaboration made possible by Sealaska Heritage, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Sealaska, University of Alaska Southeast, Select Physical Therapy, Juneau School District and Trickster Co.

Published Apr 1, 2023 by Ben Hohenstatt

While archery was this year’s lone new event, it was far from the only distinguishing characteristic of the sixth annual Traditional Games.

An overall college team award is debuting this year, which Worl said is exciting since collegiate teams aren’t always included in similar games.

Additionally, this year set a new high in the number of college teams competing, Worl said, with Alaska Pacific University, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Southeast all sending teams.

Worl said it’s important that athletes continue their sport into adulthood, so he’s glad that the Traditional Games are able to feature college-age and older competitors.

In addition to setting a new high in college teams, this year’s games set a new record for overall participation, Worl said, with over 200 athletes set to compete.

Published Apr 1, 2023

The U.S. Forest Service and Sitka Conservation Society are jointly hosting a community workshop in Wrangell this weekend (Sunday, April 2) to help residents learn to navigate the federal fish & wildlife management process.

Heather Bauscher works for the Sitka Conservation Society. 

“I just think it’s inspiring to know that we have the ability to have that impact on how we manage our resources,” says Heather Bauscher, a community engagement specialist with the Sitka Conservation Society. Bauscher says the goal of the workshop is to have people leave with an understanding of what the board is, what it manages, and how to navigate the process and start building proposals. 

She says there are a lot of opportunities to get engaged – anybody in the state can submit a proposal to change how fish & wildlife resources are managed. It just takes know-how. 

“If we could be getting more local people to participate, get involved at various levels of the decision-making ladder, if there was more local input and local people representing those seats, that we’d end up with decisions that reflect the needs of local people,” Bauscher explains. “And that’s the point of how it’s all supposed to work. But all of that only works if we have public participation.”

Bauscher says the workshop is part of a brand new series – they’ve already held workshops in Sitka, Petersburg and Kake. It started out as a class offered by the University of Alaska Southeast in partnership with the Forest Service and Sitka Conservation Society. 

“We took what is normally taught in four weeks and turned it into four hours,” Bauscher says, “And additionally, tried to design it so that if you can only come for an hour – because we know everybody has busy lives – that very first hour after we share food with everybody will be the real foundation of subsistence, or the federal subsistence board 101.”

Published Mar 31, 2023 by Nihal Krishan

One of the top Federal Aviation Administration-approved drone research program directors said Thursday that despite recent agency approval to test large commercial drones and a big boost in private sector investment in drone startups, the industry is being hampered by a lack of permission for drone testing. 

The US has fallen behind other nations in Asia and Australia when it comes to drone research and testing which has resulted in greater human risk for flying in dangerous conditions, Dr. Catherine Cahill, Director of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) told FedScoop.

In particular, Cahill noted that a delay in granting permissions to test the technology has stymied progress. After a decade-long effort, her research division at the University of Alaska was last month given special FAA waiver permits to determine the reliability of all drones under 300 pounds that commercial companies and research organizations seek to use in trial flights. 

Cahill said: “The delay in giving us [testing] permissions was a major roadblock in the commercial use of drones and its development. It was a tremendous gap, something we should have had permission for years ago.”

Published Mar 31, 2023 by Robyne, KUAC - Fairbanks

A new alphabet book for Gwich’in has been published and is available as a free download to language learners. It is part of a long-term community-led project of language revitalization.

A work session last weekend with first-language speakers recorded new pieces for a permanent database.

The work session spanned four days and involved 20 people. One of the organizers, Evon Peter of the Gwich’in Social & Cultural Institute of Alaska, said participants documented speech samples and context of Gwich’in.

“Over this weekend, we will have recorded likely over 700 words and added them to our documentation in the Gwich’in database,” he said.

Published Mar 31, 2023 by Lex Yelverton

Transgender Day of Visibility is a chosen day to honor and celebrate transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people.

On Thursday evening, Alaskans gathered at the Pride Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus to celebrate those individuals and recognize their achievements and resilience, standing in support and solidarity with the transgender community here in Alaska and around the world.

“We are uplifting people of the trans identity and nonbinary identity,” Jessi Saiki said. “We want people to be in community and to feel together, to be visible and feel seen by people who totally understand them.”

Transgender Day of Visibility was officially recognized  in 2023 by the White House on the last day of March.