Published Jun 23, 2023 by Staff report

Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed a Fairbanks businessman to the University of Alaska Board of Regents Thursday, according to a news release.

Seth Church, 36, will begin his role effective immediately, the governor’s office said.

The news release referenced Church is an entrepreneur with experience in real estate and commercial, industrial and oilfield construction.

In a prepared statement, Dunleavy said Church’s business background reflects a different perspective on the board of regents.

Published Jun 23, 2023

The second entity on display, Stories for Climate Justice, came from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in conjuction with Native Movement, a non-profit focusing on grassroots mobilization rooted in decolonization. Produced during the inaugural Alaska Native Filmmakers Intensive, Stories for Climate Justice presented a selection of films by Indigenous filmmakers examining how they witness and respond to the impacts of climate change on their homelands and communities. Each filmmaker examined the interconnection between their own personal histories, issues impacting their communities, and generational connections to place as they reflected on their relationship with the lands and waters of Alaska.

Indigenous filmmakers practice narrative sovereignty when they tell their own stories rooted in cultural knowledge, and often directly to their own communities. By centering Indigenous voices and concerns, more-than-human kinship, and intergenerational knowledge shared through oral history, these films present an alternative to dominant narratives of climate change typically shown in mainstream media.

It is essential that young people in the Arctic, especially in Indigenous communities, have platforms to share the impacts of climate change on their cultures, communities, and lands. These cinematic presentations are reflections of the efforts across the Arctic to recenter our understanding of - and fight against - the climate crisis through narrative stories of love of place and connection to the land.

Published Jun 22, 2023

NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Alaska, for the continued development and operation of the Synthetic Aperture Radar Distributed Active Archive Center for NASAs Earth Observing System Data and Information System.

The total value of this cost-no-fee completion contract is approximately $70 million. The period of performance is for five years beginning Saturday, July 1. The work will be performed primarily in Fairbanks.

The University of Alaska will continue to develop and maintain the capabilities to perform systems engineering, operations and maintenance, development, user services, product generation, data and information management, data archival and distributing a wide variety of space-borne and airborne radar data, including synthetic aperture radar data. In carrying out these responsibilities, the center will communicate regularly with Earth research science and instrument teams, as well as lead efforts in the SAR community on data formats, strategic data services, data interoperability, data usability, and data capabilities.

Published Jun 22, 2023 by Rod Boyce

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is offering free public family-friendly tours through Labor Day. Tours began on Memorial Day.

Two different guided tours are available. One consists of a visit to several science groups in the Geophysical Institute home base in the Elvey Building on UAF’s Troth Yeddha’ Campus. The other is a visit to Poker Flat Research Range at Mile 30 Steese Highway.

On a guided tour in the Elvey Building, visitors can learn about the institute, its giant satellite antennas and how researchers study everything from the center of Earth to the surface of the sun and beyond. Visitors will also meet graduate student researchers and have the opportunity to ask questions.

The tour takes about 90 minutes and is offered Wednesdays through Aug. 30. Tours begin at 1 p.m. in the Elvey Building entrance lobby on UAF’s West Ridge. No registration is required. 

Guided tours of Poker Flat Research Range are offered the first and third Thursdays through August. Participants will learn about the science that happens at the range and see some of the facilities, including the blockhouse complex and the launch pads. 

Poker Flat walking tours start at the Range Administration Center at 2 p.m. on scheduled Thursdays and last about two hours. The gate at Mile 30 Steese Highway opens about 1:30 p.m. Remaining dates include July 6 and 20, and Aug. 3 and 17. 

Published Jun 22, 2023 by Keni Campbell

The University of Alaska Southeast congratulated faculty Dr. X’unei Lance Twitchell and Shu Guyna Donna May Roberts for their recent awards presented at the Sealaska Heritage Institute 2023 Culturally Responsive Education Conference.

Dr. X’unei Lance Twitchell of Juneau, UAS professor of Alaska Native Languages was recognized with the Distinguished Leadership Award for his tireless work “to revitalize the Tlingit language. He also has been instrumental in teaching the language and in developing materials to learn Lingít.” The SHI press release notes that the Distinguished Leadership Award “recognizes outstanding leadership at a school, district or community level that exemplifies collaboration, and co-creation of environments that are safe, yet challenging, where success is defined through learning and meaningful mentorship.”

UAS professor of Tsimshian language Shu Guyna Donna Roberts was one of seven Distinguished Educator Awardees, recognized for her “promotion and teaching of the Tsimshian language, having produced dictionaries and other resources,” according to the SHI press release. The Distinguished Educator Award “recognizes educators who intentionally weave cultural knowledge throughout their lessons and classroom and use approaches that reflect Native students’ identity and values through place-based and culturally relevant practices, while reinforcing students’ capabilities of extraordinary academic achievements.”