UAS in the News
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Draft plan calls for more locally produced food, less waste in Fairbanks
10-15-18 | Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - An 11-page Sustainability Plan proposes goals for boosting food security, reducing energy consumption and minimizing waste. The draft plan, by the Sustainability Commission, is open for public comment through 5 p.m. Wednesday and is available on the Fairbanks North Star Borough website at the bit.ly/2PGxceo. Some of the goals in the plan include increasing local food production; promoting the use of solar panels; and diverting 25 percent of waste from the landfill by 2025. The plans does not detail how the goals will be met. Expert help came from Dr. Jim Powell, of the University of Alaska Southeast, and Dr. Robert Orttung, of George Washington University. ...More
Ketchikan celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day
10-9-18 | KTOO - Monday marks the second year for Alaskans to commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day rather than the federal Columbus Day holiday. In Ketchikan, the local UAS Campus Library hosted a celebration of indigenous culture. ...More
Unveiling celebrates UAS Ketchikan’s Maritime Training Center
9-27-18 | KRBD - On September 12th, a ceremony was held at the UAS Maritime Training Center on the lower UAS Ketchikan campus. Students, faculty and Southeast Conference attendees packed the facility’s engine repair shop. UAS Ketchikan Campus Director Priscilla Schulte says renovation of the building began over four years ago. She says classes in the welding and diesel labs have been open for several months, and the final phase was completion of the maritime bridge simulator. Schulte says the Maritime Training Center focuses on trades associated with the maritime industry. “Which includes vessel construction, marine engineering and the maritime deck operations.” ...More
$20,000 Donation Creates More Opportunities For Hands-On Undergraduate Work
9-3-18 | SitNews - University of Alaska SE senior Mollie Dwyer spent her summer hiking up mountains with a backpack of test tubes to collect water samples from different stream sources. Last year she had her hands full of kelp assisting with research on their reproductive process. ...More
New Alaska College of Education prepares to step up teacher recruitment and retention
8-27-18 | KTOO - Fall classes began Monday at University of Alaska campuses, including the Alaska College of Education in Juneau. While students can still earn a teaching degree at any of the university’s three main campuses, the education college’s administration is based at the University of Alaska Southeast. ...More
Master carver to share his craft with students at University of Alaska Southeast
8-27-18 | KTOO - Haines resident and master carver Wayne Price will teach his craft this fall to University of Alaska Southeast students. Classes start Aug 27. Alaska Native languages associate professor Lance Twitchell first approached Price, who will be working with the university as a professor for the first time. “We thought that having a chance to merge language with the art and the culture would maybe be a real good fit,” Price said. Price, who will teach design and drawing of Pacific Northwest Coast Native art, said UAS has been very supportive throughout the whole process. In a short period of time, he has set up shop in Juneau and organized classes for the coming term. ...More
Tribe Signs Memorandum of Agreement with University of Alaska Southeast
8-8-18 | SitNews - Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) and the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) Juneau Campus formalized their commitment to expand communication, collaboration, and mutually beneficial partnerships through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). The MOA was signed on August 6, 2018 by Tlingit & Haida President Richard (Chalyee Éesh) Peterson and UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield during a regularly scheduled UAS Juneau Campus Advisory Council meeting in Juneau, Alaska. ...More
New UA College of Education ready for first year
8-7-18 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast starts classes on Aug. 27, and this will be the first year of a new Alaska College of Education. For Steve Atwater, dean of the new college, the job isn’t like a pilot preparing for takeoff. It’s more like a pilot boarding a plane that’s already flying. “Your airplane doesn’t stop flying and so we have to keep rolling out what we’re doing,” he said during a Friday interview with the Empire. ...More
Sustainable Alaska: Earth Overshoot Day
8-04-2018 | Juneau Empire - Today as I write this article (on Aug. 1), I reflect on the significance of it being Earth Overshoot Day. That is, we humans have used up the annual allotment of natural resources that the Earth can sustainably provide. This coming fall semester, which begins Aug. 27, UAS will be offering courses through the Environmental Science and Geography, Humanities, Business and Public Administration, and Anthropology programs. These, and others, will provide a diverse mix of perspectives, approaches, and methods of understanding and integrating our knowledge of how we manage (and mismanage) our natural resources, evaluate how we relate to our natural surroundings, and provide important tools for safeguarding and improving ecological and human sustainability into the future. ...More
Student designs UAS disc golf course
7-9-18 | Juneau Empire - Morgan Johnson stood next to a small red flag behind the University of Alaska Southeast’s freshman dormitory on Friday. The UAS senior pointed out the various flags that mark the future tee and hole locations for a disc golf course. Peering down the tree line, several hundred feet down a small slope, three more red flags poke up out of the ground, marking the future site of a hole (or disc catcher), the spot individuals will throw their Frisbees to. ...More
Auke Bay lab set to be demolished this fall
7-13-18 | Juneau Empire - The Auke Bay lab formerly owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is set to be demolished this fall, making room for a new, more modern lab to be used by the University of Alaska Southeast. According to a posting on the State of Alaska website, the state is now accepting bids for the demolition of the old lab. Bids will be open until 2 p.m. Aug. 9, the posting states, and the demolition process could begin by Sept. 15. ...More
Curious by Nature: What is glacial flour?
6-29-18 | Juneau Empire - University of Alaska Southeast professor Eran Hood studies watershed-scale biogeochemistry, snow and alpine hydrology — to put it simply, Hood knows a lot about water in all its states. Glaciers are frozen rivers and they grind down the rock underneath them, Hood explained. The massive weight of the glacier creates tiny bits of rock called glacial flour, also known as rock flour or glacial silt. ...More
‘Really, really impressive’ glacier calving prompted flood watch for Mendenhall Valley
6-26-18 | Juneau Empire - The National Weather Service office in Juneau has canceled a flood watch for the Mendenhall River after the Mendenhall Glacier calved ice into Suicide Basin. Eran Hood, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska Southeast, said it was quite spectacular. Hood was among a group of scientists who were at the spot when the glacier calved into the basin. Hood estimates a chunk of ice a fifth of a mile wide splashed into the basin with a cacophanous roar. ...More
KMC grant will fund CNA tuition for high school students
6-28-18 | The Caregiver - When you look at lists like “Ten Best Jobs for the Future” or “Fastest Growing Careers” you’ll find healthcare occupations often dominate the list. That’s because a career in healthcare is one of opportunity and job satisfaction. Now, through an agreement with the University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan (UAS), Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, and Ketchikan Medical Center (KMC), students will have an amazing opportunity to become Certified Nurse Aides (CNA) while still in high school. ...More
Tléixʼ Yaakw — One Canoe
5-30-18 | Juneau Empire - A new conference launches this week at the University of Alaska Southeast, bringing together Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives to share on indigenous ways of knowing: “Tléix’ Yaakw — One Canoe.” “We wanted to make this event unlike a traditional conference,” organizer Frank Coenraad said. “It’s going to be a gathering around our wisdom.” This five day event hopes to draw participants from all ages and backgrounds and open a conversation on the importance of indigenous people’s knowledge in the 21st century and its everyday role in people’s lives. ...More
Kake resident Louise Kadake awarded $12,000 Teach for Alaska Scholarship
5-29-18 | SitNews - The University of Alaska announced Thursday that Louise Kadake is the recipient of its 2018 Teach for Alaska Scholarship award for aspiring Alaska teachers. Kadake, a lifelong resident of Kake, will receive a $12,000 scholarship to study teacher education at the University of Alaska Southeast. She was informed of her award by a Friday phone call from UA President Jim Johnsen. ...More
New PBS show ‘Molly of Denali’ to feature Alaska Native in title role
5-9-18 | KTOO - A new animated children’s series debuting on PBS KIDS next summer will feature an Alaska Native character in the title role. “Molly of Denali” is the first nationally distributed children’s series to feature an Alaska Native character in a leading role. PBS announced the new series Wednesday at its annual meeting. Juneau resident and University of Alaska Southeast Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell is a language adviser for the program. ...More
UAS names Oxford scholar as new dean of Arts and Sciences
5-9-18 | KTOO - The University of Alaska Southeast Wednesday named Thomas Thornton as the new dean of its School of Arts and Sciences and vice provost for research and sponsored programs. Thornton is a renowned researcher who currently teaches at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He previously lived in Juneau and taught at UAS. ...More
‘Alaskans’ preparing for the future
5-7-18 | Juneau Empire - Sea cucumbers and kelp may not be the usual topics brought up at a college commence ceremony, but when graduation is in Alaska, that all changes. Both of those Alaska products were part of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s, R-Alaska, “cool stuff” portion of her speech given to the University of Alaska Southeast 2018 graduating class at the UAS Recreation Center Sunday afternoon. ...More
UAS Class of 2018 includes 400+ part-timers, full-timers and in-betweeners
5-7-18 | KTOO - More than 400 students received academic certificates and degrees from the University of Alaska Southeast on Sunday. Speaking before the family and friends gathered in the UAS Recreation Center, Chancellor Rick Caulfield spoke about the unique features of Southeast students. “Many of whom are nontraditional students, raising a family, working a job or two,” he said. “The average age is 29. Two-thirds of our graduates and our students are female. More than 30 percent of them are taking classes online — some are taking them completely online. And many are in Southeast Alaska but many others are across the entire state.” ...More
Meet the two students speaking at Sunday’s UAS graduation
5-4-18 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast’s 2018 Juneau graduating class will be hearing cheers from excited family members, peers and the public during the commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Student Recreation Center. UAS expects to award 410 associate, bachelor, and master’s degrees, 128 certificates and professional licensures, and 174 occupational endorsements across the campuses of Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. Two of those students, Erin Ohlson and Blake Fletcher, were chosen by UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield to speak at the ceremony. ...More
Sustainable Alaska: How can we reduce fish ‘shrink’?
5-4-18 | Juneau Empire - The seafood industry continually confronts major opportunities and challenges due to its diversity and complexity. [As] overall demand continues to increase, the seafood industry faces significant challenges including transboundary issues, poor resource management (e.g., IUU — illegal, unreported, unmanaged), environmental impacts (e.g. overfishing, habitat degradation), high product waste, food safety issues, inconsistent product quality, and product mislabeling and fraud that occur at many nodes along the supply chain. ...More
Physics of a glacial 'slushy' reveal granular forces on a massive scale
4-30-18 | Emory - The laws for how granular materials flow apply even at the giant, geophysical scale of icebergs piling up in the ocean at the outlet of a glacier, scientists have shown. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the findings, describing the dynamics of the clog of icebergs — known as an ice mélange — in front of Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier. The fast-moving glacier is considered a bellwether for the effects of climate change. ...More
Gordon named new UAS Sitka campus director
4-30-18 | Raven Radio - University of Alaska Southeast- Sitka campus is finally getting a new campus director. Leslie Gordon will begin working in her new role this May. Gordon is the health information management program director. And she graduated from the program she’s now running. “I came back to Sitka in 1993 and started taking classes at the university, graduated from the program and then worked at Sitka Community Hospital and then at SEARHC for almost 15 years,” Gordon says. “When I was going through the program my kids and I would do our homework together on the kitchen table after dinner, and many of our students are that way.” ...More
UAS Ketchikan commencement to celebrate 32 graduates
4-25-18 | KRBD - University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan campus will honor this year’s graduates on May 5. The commencement ceremony is set for 2 p.m. that day at the Ted Ferry Civic Center.The keynote speaker will be Dave Kiffer, Ketchikan City Council Member and former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor. Len Laurance will receive a Meritorious Service Award. ...More
UAS Associate Professor Sanjay Pyare, Ph.D. Awarded Fulbright Scholar Award
4-11-18 | Alaska Journal of Commerce - University of Alaska Southeast Associate Professor of Environmental Science Sanjay Pyare, Ph.D., has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar award by the American-Indonesian Exchange Foundation to expand his research on seabird migration patterns. Pyare joins colleague Dr. Heidi Pearson, who was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholar award for her work finding inventive strategies for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. ...More
UA celebrates 2018 legislative interns
4-12-18 | Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Officials from the University of Alaska and the Alaska State Legislature recognized the eight-member class of the Ted Stevens Legislative Internship program Tuesday in the State Capitol. University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield noted the successes of the program in opening remarks. “It’s an important opportunity for our students to have a high-impact learning opportunity,” Caulfield said. “I myself was an intern, actually in D.C. not here in the Capitol, but I can tell you from first hand experience how meaningful that was for me.” ...More
Private donations boost funds for legislative internship program
4-11-18 | The Cordova Times - Peak Trust Co., a wealth management firm with offices in Alaska and Nevada, has joined Chugach Alaska Corp. to match a $10,500 gift challenge by the Ted Stevens Foundation for its legislative internship program, with its own $10,500 donation. ...More
UAS names new education college dean tasked with ambitious in-state teacher hiring goals
03-27-18 | KTOO - By 2025, the University of Alaska says it wants nine out of 10 teachers hired in the state to be one of its graduates. According to the university, two-thirds of Alaska’s teachers currently come from out of state. It’s an ambitious goal, one that will require more coordination among the teacher training programs at the university’s three main campuses. To oversee that, the University of Alaska Southeast Tuesday named Steve Atwater as the executive dean of the new Alaska College of Education. ...More
Juneau World Affairs Forum returns with annual lecture series focusing on Europe
03-18-18 | JuneauEmpire - The forum will take place in the Egan Lecture Hall at the University of Alaska Southeast. All events are free and open to the public. The forum opens at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, with its first speaker, Kurt Huebner, who will give a talk entitled “Changes in the World Order – From ‘Embedded Liberalism’ to ‘Hyper Globalization’ to ‘Economic Nationalism’.” ...More
Market Squid Extend Their Reach Northward
03-14-18 | undark.org - Jim Schramek, a retired GIS analyst and hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service, has been fishing recreationally outside the small Alaskan town of Petersburg for 40 years, but in the last few, things have taken a turn for the worst. Populations of valuable species like king salmon and Pacific grey cod, Schramek says, have fallen to as little as one-tenth of even their 2015 levels. However, market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens), are showing up in these waters, which were previously considered too cold for them, according to UAS Assistant Professor of Marine Fisheries Michael Navarro ...More
Getting lit in the environment
03-09-18 | JuneauEmpire - Last weekend, Kevin Maier’s University of Alaska Southeast Literature and the Environment class hiked out to Camping Cove cabin to continue building on class discussions, and to take the talk into the Tongass. The trail starts at 35 mile on the Glacier Highway, on the coast of Point Bridget State Park. ...More
Public testifies, asking Alaska legislature to support declaring Alaska Native Language emergency
03-07-18 | KDLG - The Alaska House Community and Regional Affairs committee heard public testimony this week about House Concurrent Resolution 19, a resolution to urge Governor Walker to issue an administrative order recognizing a linguistic emergency for Alaska Native languages. ...More
Sustainable Alaska: Linking land and sea
03-02-18 | JuneauEmpire - On a recent winter day in Juneau, two of my colleagues headed out to Montana Creek to collect some stream water samples. The cold weather had formed a thick layer of ice over the creek, with pockets of open water here and there along the streambed. Being careful not to slip, Jason Fellman, a University of Alaska Southeast faculty scientist, and his assistant for the day, Emily Whitney, quickly dropped an instrument called a sonde into the chilly stream to collect data on temperature and water quality, and then collected several samples in bottles to be analyzed in the lab later. ...More
UA Regents meet to discuss budget, centralized education college
03-02-18 | Daily News-Miner - FAIRBANKS — The University of Alaska Board of Regents met Thursday in Fairbanks to discuss progress in the creation of the new centralized Alaska College of Education, which will be based in Juneau at the University of Alaska Southeast. University President Jim Johnsen announced the structure for the new college of education with the flagship school in Juneau and subsequent smaller schools remaining at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Anchorage. ...More
For university legislative interns, Juneau is a hands-on lesson in civic engagement
02-15-16 | ADN - A little more than a year ago, University of Alaska Anchorage student Alliana Salanguit thought she knew what her future looked like. She was going to complete her economics degree, leave the state, and never look back. That was before she spent a session as an intern in the Alaska State Legislature. Today, Salanguit is a staffer in the office of Rep. David Guttenberg. She postponed her college graduation until December so she can work in Juneau this legislative session. "I've been very lucky," Salanguit said. "I'm only 21, and being able to do this at such a young age, during my undergraduate (years), has been such a phenomenal experience. I'm doing pretty cool things." ...More
Art of Place: Spirit through form(line)
02-15-18 | JuneauEmpire - Northwest Coast Art is an easily distinguished and recognizable art form, and formline is its foundation, seen on cultural objects from blankets to screens. So what is formline and how does it work? Professor of Alaska Native Languages and Tlingit formline artist Xh’unei Lance Twitchell answered these questions at the Art of Place series on Friday, Feb. 9 at the University of Alaska Southeast. Twitchell led a small workshop on formline, alternating between discussing the basics of the art form to having participants practice. ...More
Scientists discover rare 'alpine tsunami' occurred after massive 2016 rockfall near Juneau
02-12-18 | JuneauEmpire - Scientists with the National Forest Service have proven that a massive rockslide near Cowee Creek, north of Juneau, caused a rare “alpine tsunami” in late 2016, sending a 30-foot tall wave of water, ice and rock cascading down a channel, knocking down trees and remapping the creek. The find took more than a year of research and collaboration with partnering scientific agencies. It all culminated in a public lecture at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on Friday. ...More
Photo blog: Skinning Mount Troy
02-09-18 | JuneauEmpire - On a recent Wednesday, University of Alaska Southeast’s spring semester Outdoor Studies Leadership group went up Mount Troy. Everyone in the group, including me, will continue to work on our outdoor skills until our final capstone in May. Every Wednesday we go on an adventure to practice outdoor skills and stay in shape for the season. ...More
Education advocates gather at capitol to show support for University of Alaska System
02-04-18 | JuneauEmpire - Supporters ask legislators to consider budget increase for university system Students, faculty and other supporters of the University of Alaska system had to hold tightly to their signs during a rally Friday on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol.About 80 people stood in the cold, whipping wind in a display of support for the UA system, expressing the importance of education and research that the universities provide. ...More
Sister City students receive in-state tuition
01-30-18 | JuneauEmpire - On Dec. 28, Juneau was visited by Michael Keays, the Consul General from Vladivostok, Russia. Vladivostok is one Juneau’s three active Sister Cities. Keays came to Juneau to meet with our Sister Cities Committee, the Assembly and members of the Juneau community to discuss exchange and economic opportunities between the Russian Far East and Alaska. He also presented to the Juneau World Affairs Council where many of those who visited Vladivostok in the 1990s were in attendance. ...More
Cowritten, bilingual, Tlingit and English poem celebrates the miracle of birth
01-24-18 | Capital City Weekly - I was afraid. I sat down in the small chair, my knees bent upward. I set a few stuffed animals, a set of color cards, and a cheat sheet on the round table in front of me. I cleared my throat. Four kindergarteners stared at me, waiting. I didn’t realize it then but I was embarking on a life-changing journey. It was my last year of undergraduate school at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) and I needed a full year of language to fulfill my requirements. ...More
UAS program trains students for mining careers
1-22-2018 | KRBD - Employment opportunities mining was one of several topics discussed during Wednesday’s Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Graham Neale is chapter chair of the Alaska Miners Association. He is also director of the University of Alaska Southeast’s Center for Mine Training in Juneau. Neale says mining is an important industry. ...More
Cowritten, bilingual, Tlingit and English poem celebrates the miracle of birth
01-17-18 | Capital City Weekly - Juneau-based poet Emily Wall has been working on a book of birth poems for six years. She collected birth stories from as many different people as she could, asking participants to recall specific details, and then she shaped the intimate moments into a poem. The stories were diverse, from a woman whose child died during birth, to a lesbian couple, to a doula who had many babies herself, and even the “birth” of a foster child into a family. There was a perspective missing: that of a father’s. Wall, who is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Alaska Southeast where she teaches creative writing, reached out to faculty member, poet, and friend X‘unei Lance Twitchell, who is the Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages. ...More
Program helps southeast Alaska kids take flight with books
12-24-2017 | JuneauEmpire - Both airplanes and books have the ability to take people on journeys. Now with the help of Read On the Fly, children can take flights of fancy while ascending into the clouds to cruise at thousands of feet. On Wednesday, Nov. 15, a group made up of representatives from the Association for the Education of Young Children, Southeast Alaska (AEYC), Friends of the Juneau Public Libraries, United Way of Southeast Alaska, Alaska Litho, and Rainforest Custom gathered at Juneau International Airport's charter plane wing to shelve boxes of books for one of their new Read On the Fly shelves. ...More
Klawock High School to offer expanded Native art classes
12-26-2017 | KRBD - Klawock High School students will have improved opportunities to learn Northwest Coast art in 2018. A new three-year program is the result of a cooperative effort between the Klawock City School District and Sealaska Heritage Institute. The program will offer a two-year associate’s degree in NWC art at UAS. It will offer scholarships for qualified applicants. ...More
Local athletes hope to represent Juneau at Native Youth Olympics
12-17-2017 | KTOO - Every year, hundreds of students from around the state gather in Anchorage for the Native Youth Olympics. But Juneau hasn’t sent a team in more than 30 years. Recently, athletes gathered in a gym on the University of Alaska Southeast campus to test their skills. For the Alaskan high kick, one of the main events in the Native Youth Olympics, athletes position themselves one by one beneath a small, furry ball hanging from a pole about 5 feet off the ground, squatting on one foot while holding the other with their hand. ...More
Science at the Border Between Ice and Ocean
12-11-2017 | EOS - A suite of instruments, including drones, remotely operated boats, and multibeam sonar, is helping scientists understand a little-studied area at the front of a calving glacier. A team of researchers from the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and the University of Alaska Southeast is studying how an underwater plume of glacial meltwater affects the stability of the glacier itself. ...More
In wake of Charlottesville, University of Alaska leaders call for tolerance and inclusion
8-20-2017 | Alaska Dispatch News - In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, University of Alaska leaders sent emails to students, faculty and staff calling for inclusion and tolerance, as well as the rejection of hatred. "Now, more than ever, we must all rally around these ideals: UAF welcomes all, including those of different nationalities, religions, races and genders," said the email Thursday from University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Daniel White. ...More
Mique’l Dangeli Puts Indigenous Art on Center Stage
2-15-2017 | Diverse - When she isn’t on campus at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) in Juneau, Dr. Mique’l Dangeli may sometimes be seen at various venues around the country performing with Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield), an internationally renowned Northwest Coast First Nations mask-dancing group. ...More
Hecla: Reinvigorating Local Economies Through Education and Training
12-5-2017 | National Mining Association - Hecla Mining Company is hard at work training the next generation of job seekers in Alaska. The company, which owns and operates Greens Creek mine in southeast part of the state, has partnered with the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) to embark on an educational program that trains local high school students for technically focused mining careers. ...More
UAS student first in U.S. to receive Tsimshian language credential
12-6-2017 | KTOO - A University of Alaska Southeast student will be the first ever to receive credentials in Tsimshian language studies. Victoria McKoy presented her capstone project Nov. 30 at the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library. Victoria McKoy’s mother is Haida-Tsimshian, and her father is Haida. “My Tsimshian name is Ggoadm ˈDeebn. It translates to ‘heart of a sea lion.’ When I was given the name, my brothers and sisters said that I appear shy, but I go straight for my target.” And one target for McKoy has been learning her Native languages. ...More
Educational partnership mixes math with Native design
11-30-2017 | KTOO - A program mixing Alaska Native art with high school math is part of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s latest efforts to promote culture and foster the next generation of Native artists. The partnership seeks to encourage the next generation of artists in the Northwest Coast art traditions of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. Sealaska Heritage Institute, the University of Alaska Southeast and several Southeast school districts have signed on. ...More
Visiting Puerto Rican college students support Hurricane Maria victims from Juneau
11-17-2017 | KTOO - Three Puerto Rican students came to study at the University of Alaska Southeast this fall in search of an adventure. But their semester abroad turned into a stressful ordeal after Hurricane Maria left them cut off from their families. What do you do when disaster strikes at home, but you’re more than 4,000 miles away? That’s the question three visiting students to UAS faced this fall. ...More
See a Rescue Effort to Save 10 Stranded Whales
11-14-2017 | National Geographic - Saving one 40-ton sperm whale is a huge feat—so when 10 live sperm whales washed ashore off the coast of Aceh in northeastern Indonesia, it required a small army of wildlife volunteers. Successfully moving whales back into the ocean requires trained professionals with the right equipment, and some luck. A whale stranded on a beach can usually only survive a day or two before succumbing to exposure, said Heidi Pearson, a professor at the University of Alaska Southeast. Pearson has assisted with saving stranded whales in Alaska. ...More
‘Social justice warriors’: UAS event takes deeper look at roles of power and privilege in education, society
11-08-2017 | Juneau Empire - When she heard about the first Power &Privilege Symposium at the University of Alaska Southeast in 2016, Dr. Barb Amarok was elated. The University of Fairbanks adjunct faculty member thought the issues on hand at the event, such as equity throughout Alaska’s education system, were vitally important. When she had a chance to come speak at this year’s event, Amarok didn’t hesitate at all to make the 1,000-mile journey from Nome. “I was so excited,” Amarok said. “I thought it was so exciting to have these conversations out in public and for people and organizations to be talking about how we can improve our educational system.” The event, which kicked off Tuesday at UAS, included more than 20 presentations and discussions that addressed issues inside and outside of the world of education. Topics ranged from Confederate memorials to Islamophobia in America to violence against women to colonialism and various subjects in between. ...More
UAS offers new undergraduate fisheries degree
11-5-2017 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast and the University of Alaska Fairbanks have received approval for a new undergraduate fisheries degree. On Oct. 31, UAS announced that the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities has approved a joint Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, with a concentration in Fisheries Science. According to the university, the new degree is intended to increase the number of opportunities for Alaskans interested in pursuing a career in the fishing industry. Students will be able to complete the degree at UAS, taking classes on the UAS campus and at the Lena Point university campus, which is technically part of UAF. ...More
University's legislative internship program gets a boost
11-02-2017 | Webcenter11.com - The University of Alaska's legislative internship program has received a substantial investment from the Ted Stevens Foundation, which has pledged $157,500 over the next five years to expand the initiative. The foundation has pledged $31,500 annually during each of the next five years to support the program. In addition, the foundation has agreed to match up to an additional $10,500 per year in private contributions to the program from other donors. The program, which will be renamed the 'Senator Ted Stevens Legislative Internship Program', is nearly 30 years old and has hosted 300 interns during legislative sessions since its inception. Managed by the University of Alaska Southeast, this non-partisan program affords university students an opportunity to work in state legislative offices during the annual legislative session in Juneau, while earning college credits in an Alaska focused public policy seminar. ...More
Climate Scientist Finds Buried Treasure In Alaska Glacier
10-30-2017 | WBUR - Brian Buma retraced the journey of his idol, the late William S. Cooper — known as the godfather of modern ecology — to find the location of some of the oldest ecology records in the world. ...More
UA takes public comment on proposal to change mine training program
10-30-2017 | Juneau Empire - If you have thoughts about the future of mine training at the University of Alaska Southeast, the University of Alaska Board of Regents wants to hear from you. From 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, the Board of Regents will take public testimony on topics that will come up during its November budget meeting. Among those topics is the future of University of Alaska’s mine training program. The board is the university system’s governing body and must approve any changes suggested by the university president. ...More
Kodiak will play a key role in innovating ways to produce biofuels from seaweeds
10-16-2017 | ADN - Kodiak is at the center of a national push to produce biofuels from seaweeds. Agents from the U.S. Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy recently traveled to the island to meet with a team of academics, scientists, businesses and local growers to plan the first steps of a bicoastal pilot project to modernize methods to grow sugar kelp as a fuel source. "The vision is to have a demonstration on the east and west coasts showing that we can grow large fields of seaweed in a way that is efficient and cost effective with petroleum and other energy enterprises," said Alaska project leader Mike Stekoll, a biochemistry professor at University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. ...More
Could migrating squid help Alaska predict climate change?
10-16-2017 | Juneau Empire - Attracted to warming ocean temperatures, small, iridescent squid have been moving into Southeast Alaska waters. They could be a cipher to understanding how sea life reacts to climate change, said University of Alaska Southeast associate professor Dr. Michael Navarro at an Evening at Egan talk Friday at UAS. ...More
UAS first Alaskan college to host Coast Guard's College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative
10-14-2017 | SitNews - On behalf of the Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zunkuft, Rear Adm. Michael McAllister, Seventeenth Coast Guard District commander, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Alaska Southeast, establishing the university as a member of the Coast Guard’s Minority-Serving Institution partnership program. The purpose of the program is for the Coast Guard to recruit, retain and sustain a ready, diverse and highly skilled workforce. ...More
First official Indigenous Peoples Day proves satisfying, hopeful
10-9-2017 | Juneau Empire - Richard Peterson walked to the microphone at Monday night’s Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, clearly emotional. Peterson, the president of Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, immediately told the crowd of more than 300 people to bear with him as he shared his frank, straightforward thoughts on the first officially recognized Indigenous Peoples Day in Alaska. There were events throughout the day Monday, mostly at the University of Alaska Southeast, in honor of the day. ...More
University of Alaska system wants help from businesses to see future employment needs
10-6-2017 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska is looking to almost double the amount of Alaskans who attend college in the next decade, but has to do so with a dwindling budget. Speaking to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield said that between 30 and 40 percent of people in Alaska have had some kind of post-secondary education. The University of Alaska chancellors want that number to be 65 percent by 2025. ...More
UAS campuses celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day
10-8-2017 | KTOO - Indigenous People’s Day is Monday, and the University of Alaska Southeast will mark the occasion with academic discussions and deer stew. In June, Gov. Bill Walker signed legislation officially recognizing the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Alaska. Alaska is the second state to replace Columbus Day by refocusing the day on Native culture. Kolene James is the coordinator for the UAS Native and Rural Student Center. “We have faculty and staff at all three campuses putting together the programs, ” James said earlier this week on A Juneau Afternoon. “We are working with our local tribes, so come and join us for some good conversations about decolonization and the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” ...More
UAS, Coast Guard establish training and scholarship program for students
10-3-2017 | KTOO - By next fall, the first batch of University of Alaska Southeast undergraduates are expected to begin a first-of-its-kind scholarship program for Alaska. Students that are accepted to the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative, or CSPI, become active-duty enlisted members of the Coast Guard, receive full salary and benefits and start a track to become fully commissioned officers upon graduation. ...More
Native scholar, writer laureate Nora Dauenhauer dies at 90
9-25-2017 | Juneau Empire - Former Alaska writer laureate and influential Tlingit scholar Nora Keixwnéi Dauenhauer died Monday at the age of 90. Dauenhauer, of the Haines-Yakutat Lukaaxádi (sockeye) clan, was a giant of Tlingit language scholarship and literature. She is preceded in death by husband Richard Dauenhauer, a former Alaska poet laureate who died in 2014. University of Alaska Southeast Native language professor Lance Twitchell said Nora Dauenhauer recognized early the literary value of Tlingit stories. Dauenhauer produced a series of over 500 taped interviews with Tlingit elders, which formed the backbone of her scholarship. ...More
Alaska ferry to host long-distance ocean acidification study
9-15-2017 | KRBD - The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Columbia will be part of an international science experiment starting this fall when it resumes its weekly run between Bellingham, Wash., and Southeast Alaska. Equipment has been installed to continuously measure the ocean’s acidity along the ferry’s nearly 2,000-mile route. The goal is to better understand how acidification affects regional fisheries Wiley Evans is a researcher with the Canadian Hakai Institute, and is the technical lead in the program. Tucked under some stairs in a corner of the Columbia’s car deck, he shows me the newly installed equipment. Evans said getting to this point took about three years. Researcher Wiley Evans checks progress on the “wet box,” where ocean water is filtered and mixed with air to gather carbon dioxide for testing. “Allison Bidlack from Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center and I started talking about this in 2014,” he said. “In 2015, we did a similar installation on another passenger vessel. That was a glacier tour vessel that operated out of Whittier.” ...More
Libraries, museums prepare for reading program kickoff
9-10-2017 | Juneau Empire - The next few weeks are shaping up to be eventful for the University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau Public Libraries and the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. In preparation for the Big Read Kickoff — which signals the start of the libraries’ fall reading program made possible by a National Endowment for the Arts grant — the three entities will combine for a few events. The Juneau Public Libraries will have a booth at the Safety & Preparedness Expo at Centennial Hall on Sept. 15 and 16. The next day, the City Museum is having a Family Day. The following Friday, Sept. 22, UAS will start its fall lecture series with Dr. Micaela Martinez speaking on Epidemics, Health and Disease. ...More
As glaciers melt, scientists try to figure out how fish will respond
9-8-2017 | Juneau Empire - Glaciers in Southeast and around the world are melting. This much scientists know. About half of the water in the Gulf of Alaska comes from glacial melt, current estimates hold. In Southeast, about 30 percent of all the water flowing from land to sea is glacier melt water. That percentage is expected to increase due to climate change. But scientists don’t yet know how all that melt water might affect the animals swimming through it. With the help of a net and a small crew, that’s a problem ecologists Anne Beaudreau and Carolyn Bergstrom have been trying to solve by continuing five years of research this summer. The professors — Bergstrom from the University of Alaska Southeast and Beaudreau from the University of Alaska Fairbanks — have been studying marine biodiversity at the mouths of the Mendenhall, Cowee and Eagle rivers. ...More
Hecla donates $300K to UAS vocational program
9-1-2017 | KTOO - Hecla Mining company, owner of Greens Creek mine on Admiralty Island, donated $300,000 to the University of Alaska Southeast on Thursday at a Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The donation will provide scholarships to UAS’s Pathways to Mining Careers program, which trains students in the latest mining technologies. ...More
One man’s quest to find Glacier Bay’s ecological Holy Grail
9-5-2017 | KTOO - Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is home to some of the oldest ecology records in the world. But until fairly recently, nobody knew where to find the metal nails that marked the research plots. They were left by scientists over 100 years ago and buried beneath a carpet of soil and shrubs. When William S. Cooper arrived in Glacier Bay in 1916, he did so in a large, comfortable research vessel. But Brian Buma’s transportation around the inlet was a little more modest. Buma led three scientists along the coastline this summer in kayaks. ...More
AMSEA offers survival training for educators
8-31-2017 | Cordova Times - A 14-week online course in the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association’s Cold-Water Safety & Survival Training for Educators begins on Sept. 18, via the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka campus. Upon completion students may earn 593 continuing education credits. The course teaches the content youth educators need to teach children and young adults to play and work safely around cold water. Topics include cold-water safety and survival, hypothermia, personal flotation devices, ice safety and rescue, and risk assessment. ...More
UAS offers low cost Alaska Native language, arts courses
8-25-2017 | KTOO - This fall, the University of Alaska Southeast is opening up some of its Alaska Native language and Northwest Coast arts classes to the community at-large at reduced rates. UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield said with few fluent speakers left, there’s an urgent need to create language learning opportunities. “As a University I think we have an obligation certainly to provide the academic pathway for those who want to study the language and help create critical mass of more people who are speakers of the language or at least conversant in the language,” Caulfield said. Regular students will study alongside community members taking advantage of the non-credit option. ...More
Agreement reached over former Auke Bay Marine Station
8-21-2017 | KTOO - NOAA’s federal property on Auke Bay will be split between the University of Alaska Southeast and City and Borough of Juneau. The deal to subdivide the waterfront acreage was announced Monday. “This agreement between UAS and CBJ to partition the Auke Bay Marine Station property is good for Juneau because it both supports marine education and research at UAS, and allows for future harbor expansion,” University Chancellor Rick Caulfield said in a joint press release with the city and university. “This is a ‘win-win’ for all involved.” ...More
UAS Chancellor reacts to college town ranking for Juneau
8-17-2017 | KINY - Juneau has been named the seventh-best college town out of 170 communities across the U.S, according to Schools.com’s latest study. Schools.com developed a data-driven approach that presents an unbiased ranking of the best college towns. The data covered more than just books and tuition while in college, but looked at the overall 4-year experience. University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfied says they are thrilled with the recognition. "I think the secret is out," he says. "Juneau is a great place to live and to learn." ...More
Back to school! Enrollment for UAS fall semester begins
8-3-2017 | KCAW - Academic Advisor Amelia Budd and Fisheries Technology professor Joel Markis of the University of Alaska Southeast are discussing what’s coming up this Fall on the Sitka Campus. The fall admissions deadline is August 15th and classes start August 28th. ...More
UAS Invites Teachers and Artists to Unique Experience
7-20-2017 | Alaska Native News - The University of Alaska Southeast invites teachers and artists to “UAS 2017 Summer in the Rainforest: Teachers as Artists; Artists as Teachers,” a place-based learning experience exploring the creative core of both teaching and the arts. ...More
Koliganek School draws local teachers
7-17-2017 | KDLG - One of Koliganek’s own will be taking on a lead teaching role this fall. Karen Kapatak has been working toward becoming a certified teacher since 2008. This school year she will teach kindergarten and first grade. ...More
Farming Alaska’s seas
7-10-2017 | ADN - Developing an Alaska kelp industry has complications as well as promise. For one, farmers need seeds. The state of Alaska requires that seeds be propagated from wild samples within a 50-kilometer radius of the farm. A lab at the University of Alaska Southeast is growing seeds with the support of Blue Evolution, a San Francisco-based company investing in Alaska kelp farming as an opportunity to grow their kelp pasta and seasoning business. ...More
“Fresh or Frozen”? Here’s how to choose sustainable seafood
7-7-2017 | Juneau Empire - At the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), signs of our changing environment surround us as glaciers melt, yellow cedars die off and tropical sea creatures find their way to our waters. (Borgs? Really?!) One goal of UAS’s Sustainability Committee is to promote practices that reduce carbon emissions, ocean acidification and climate change. This month, we discuss environmentally-friendly choices consumers can make when considering seafood options. ...More
Flags at half-staff for former Alaska attorney general
6-12-2017 | KTOO - Flags are at half-staff in honor of former Alaska attorney general and lifelong University of Alaska advocate, Grace Schaible of Fairbanks. Schaible died Saturday at the age of 91. Schaible grew up in Juneau, graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, George Washington University and Yale Law School. Returning to Alaska, she practiced law in Fairbanks, and in 1987 became Alaska’s first woman attorney general under former Governor Steve Cowper. ...More
A brand new 'hidden species' of flying squirrel discovered in part by University of Alaska researchers
6-1-2017 | KTUU - A brand new species of flying squirrel has been discovered in the Pacific Northwest, researchers said in a research study published on Wednesday. Prior to this discovery, scientists had only believed that two species of flying squirrel inhabited North America. Now, scientists say, that number is three. In a statement made by an ecologist with the University of Alaska Southeast, they say six scientists contributed to the research, and that the discovery of the new squirrel was aided by the help of Alaska data. According to Allison Bidlack with UAS, the new squirrel is native to the Pacific Coast, from southern British Columbia all the way down to California. While not native to Alaska, the Humbolt flying squirrel’s territory does overlap with another flying squirrel breed that does inhabit Alaska – the northern flying squirrel. ...More
Sm’algyax conference works to save Tsimshian language
5-22-2017 | Juneau Empire - There are only six fluent speakers of the Tsimshian language, Sm’algyax, left in Alaska. Interest in the language is on the rise, however. “I try not to dwell on those numbers because I feel like, just within this class we have 20 people, most of whom are from our state who are dedicating their lives to Sm’algyax,” said Mique’l Dangeli, who carries the Tsimshian name Sm Łoodm ‘Nüüsm. “It’s not just about how many fluent speakers we have left but it’s about how many newer people are dedicating their lives to our language.” Dangeli, an assistant professor in Alaska Native studies at University of Alaska Southeast, worked in conjunction with the campus to organize a five-day Sm’algyax grammar and language workshop in Juneau with fluent speaker Velna Nelson and linguist Margaret Anderson, from British Columbia, to help educate learners of the Tsimshian language. ...More
Century-Long Glacier Study May Help Us Crack Climate Change
5-19-2017 | National Geographic - It's not often an ecologist gets to play sleuth in so adventurous a fashion—picking through musty papers in the Midwest for 100-year-old hand-drawn maps that lead through dense Alaskan underbrush populated by wolves and brown bears. But that's how scientist [and UAS Assistant Professor] Brian Buma tracked down the work of a legend—a godfather of modern ecology so prominent in his field that the Ecological Society of America has an award named after him. ...More
From gangs to a grad: A former inmate celebrates finishing college
5-17-2017 | KTOO - This month, 30-year-old Marcos Galindo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social science [from UAS] with a concentration in political science. Now, he’s working on a master’s of public administration and wants a Ph.D. in Chicano studies – a choice weighted by his early life on the streets and in the prisons of California. ...More
UAS announces Faculty of Excellence
5-14-2017 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast has announced its Faculty of Excellence for 2017. Five professors and instructors were awarded, four from the Sitka campus and one from Juneau. Dr. Brian Buma, Assistant Professor of Forest Ecosystem Ecology with the School of Arts and Sciences, was the lone Juneau campus honoree this year. Buma was awarded the Research Award. ...More
UAS Ketchikan celebrates 2017 spring graduates
5-8-2017 | KRBD - University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan Campus celebrated its spring graduates this past weekend. Faculty, staff and the graduates’ friends and families packed the audience at the Ted Ferry Civic Center on Saturday. ...More
Delores Churchill honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
5-5-2017 | KRBD - The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska held its 82nd annual meeting last month in Juneau. At the welcoming banquet, Haida master weaver Delores Churchill of Ketchikan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from council president Richard Peterson. Churchill [also] received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska Southeast, is a Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist, and received many other honors. Peterson also declared April 19, 2017, as Delores Churchill Day. ...More
Meet five UAS graduates: ‘A step to Parnassus’
5-3-2017 | Capital City Weekly - Graduating from college is a momentous occasion filled with silly hats and cards of congratulations, but as a graduating student, I can say that there is much more to this life event than that. Dictionary.com says that the word “graduation” comes from the Latin word “gradus” meaning grade or simply, a step. The first recorded use of this word is found in reference to “Gradus ad Parnassum” or “a step to Parnassus.” Parnassus is an 8,061 foot mountain in Greece. ...More
University of Alaska Southeast adds value to state’s workforce
5-1-2017 | Juneau Empire - Cuts to the University of Alaska budget are in the headlines just as we are about to celebrate the graduation of 650 new UAS graduates — students entering the workforce who know full well the value of a college education. Celebrating student success reminds us that support for UA is not simply a line on a budget spreadsheet; it is a critical investment in Alaska’s future. ...More
Plan would boost Alaska’s Northwest Coast art
5-1-2017 | Juneau Empire - A major Southeast cultural organization plans to create a Native arts market and park in Juneau. That, and an advanced education initiative, are part of an effort to boost the region’s traditional arts economy. Sealaska Heritage Institute Senior Research Fellow Rick Harris said [the education initiative] starts with a two-year program at the University of Alaska Southeast, which already offers formline design courses. ...More
Git Hayetsk uses dance to revise indigenous history
4-4-2017 | KTOO - If you’re a longtime resident of Southeast Alaska, you may have heard the story of the founding of Metlakatla, a community in the Annette Islands Reserve, Alaska’s only reservation. It’s usually told like this: in the wake of a growing rift with the Anglican Church, missionary William Duncan led more than 800 Tsimshian people on a canoe voyage from British Columbia to establish their own devout community in Alaska. University of Alaska assistant professor Mique’l Dangeli tells a very different version of that history. ...More
Mongolian delegation shares the wisdom of the steppes
3-30-2017 | Juneau Empire - For five newly-elected parliamentarians from the country’s State Great Khural, that journey started with a U.S. Congress-sponsored trip to Juneau early this week. During their trip, the five parliamentarians visited the University of Alaska Southeast, the Alaska State Capitol and the Mendenhall Glacier, accompanied by translator Chimgee Erdenechimeg and a representative from the U.S. embassy in Ulaanbaatar. ...More
Coeur Alaska Inc. donates $40,000 to UAS Scholarship Fund
3-26-2017 | Juneau Empire - Coeur Alaska Inc. has donated $40,000 to the UAS Coeur Alaska-Kensington Gold Mine Environmental Science Award this academic year. This brings Coeur’s total donation of $126,500 to the University of Alaska Southeast since 2010 with $100,000 going to awards for students studying environmental science. ...More
Education comes aboard with iPad classes
3-23-2017 | Kodiak Daily Mirror - The University of Alaska Southeast is offering new pathways for nontraditional students to earn college credits through technology and high school programming. A pilot program at Kodiak High School allows high school students to earn both high school and college credits in fisheries courses. Another program offers fisheries courses already uploaded onto iPads, giving fishermen and other students without access to reliable broadband the opportunity to complete college coursework. ...More
Art of Place: Tlingit elders discuss metal carving and weaving
2-23-2017 | Juneau Empire - Tlingit elders came together to share their cultural knowledge with the public in the first event of the Art of Place series on Feb. 17 at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. “Our theme this year is teaching and learning,” said event organizer and assistant professor of English Ernestine Hayes. ...More
Cutting-edge cameras reveal the secret life of dolphins
2-21-2017 | University of Sydney - A world-first study testing new underwater cameras on wild dolphins has given researchers the best view yet into their hidden marine world. A research team including experts from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and the University of Alaska Southeast trialled the custom-made non-invasive cameras to capture and analyse more than 535 minutes of such rarely-seen activities as mother-calf interaction, playing with kelp, and intimate social behaviours such as flipper-rubbing. The results are published in the latest Marine Biology. ...More
University of Alaska to update protocol for sexual assault, harassment cases
2-20-2017 | APRN - The University of Alaska has entered into an agreement with the federal Office of Civil Rights to address problems with its handling of sexual assault and harassment cases. UA was one of dozens of universities around the country singled out by the OCR for a compliance review in 2014. ...More
UAS presents “Art of Place – Learning from our Elders”
2-15-2017 | Capital City Weekly - Juneau – A special event featuring renowned Alaska Native artists has been organized by University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) faculty Ernestine Hayes. “Art of Place – Learning from our Elders” will be held Friday, Feb. 17 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Glacier View Room on the second floor of the Egan Classroom Wing on the UAS Auke Lake campus. A potluck follows. The event features elders Della Cheney and Ed Kunz. Cheney will share her knowledge of basketry. Kunz will be teaching carving. Future Art of Place events are planned for spring. The Art of Place series is funded by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation. ...More
Juneau Docks and Harbors, UAS to restart talks over Auke Bay lab
2-7-2017 | KTOO - The Juneau Assembly has given clear direction to city staff to try and mend fences with the University of Alaska Southeast over a prime piece of federal property up-for-grabs on Auke Bay. Both the city’s Docks and Harbors division and the university have competing applications with the federal government to take possession of the former NOAA Fisheries Auke Bay Marine Station next to the city’s Statter Harbor. ...More
Scrambling to save a dying language in Metlakatla
2-5-2017 | ADN - Standing in a crowd outside David A. Boxley's childhood home, young Audrey Hudson didn't know what to expect on this 1982 summer day. All the 9-year-old girl knew was a totem pole carved by Boxley would soon stand upright in the southernmost town of Alaska's Panhandle. ...More
UAS makes pitch for NOAA lab on Auke Bay
2-2-2017 | KTOO - The federal government is offloading some prime real estate on Auke Bay and both the city of Juneau and University of Alaska Southeast are making strong cases to receive it. The former NOAA Fisheries Auke Bay Marine Station is currently occupied by the Coast Guard, though that arrangement expires this spring. Now both UAS and the Juneau Docks and Harbors have put in competing proposals to take it over. ...More
UAS fish tech faculty receives lifetime achievement award
1-29-2017 | Juneau Empire - Jim Seeland, Assistant Professor of Fisheries Technology at the University of Alaska Southeast, received a Lifetime Achievement Award on Jan. 24 at the 2017 Alaska Fish Culture Conference at the Sitka Sound Science Center. ...More
Ernestine Saankalaxt’ Hayes to be named 17th Alaska State Writer Laureate
1-27-2017 | KTOO - The 17th Alaska State Writer Laureate will be officially announced tonight at the Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities in Juneau. In addition to the evening’s awards presentation and live arts performances, Juneau-based Ernestine Saankalaxt’ Hayes will be officially honored as the Alaska State Writer Laureate. Hayes is a University of Alaska Southeast, where she teaches writing. ...More
After Trump inauguration, UAS climate researchers discuss national uncertainty
1-22-2017 | Juneau Empire - President Donald Trump took down the whitehouse.gov webpage on climate change after taking office Friday, but scientists and academics at the University of Alaska Southeast will continue to confront the issue despite federal policy uncertainty and fears for research funding. ...More
As Glaciers Melt, Endangered Salmon Could Vanish
1-13-2017 | Yale Climate Connections - Glaciers are disappearing as the climate warms. And as they melt away, endangered salmon might follow. Salmon thrive in cool water. When the water gets too warm, it stresses fish, reduces their growth, affects reproduction, and increases disease. Professor Eran Hood of the University of Alaska Southeast: “For salmon, glaciers can be important because during periods of the summer where you have warm air temperatures and it’s dry, if you have a glacier, the stream temperature is going to stay cool because the glacier can release melt water into the stream.” ...More
New UAS welcome sign gives nod to cultural significance of campus location
1-11-2017 | Juneau Empire - Returning University of Alaska Southeast students for the spring semester may note that the entrance sign has been replaced with a larger one with a key difference to the sign before: the inclusion of the Tlingit language. ...More
Study documents yellow cedar decline
1-7-2017 | Juneau Empire - A type of tree that thrives in soggy soil from Alaska to Northern California and is valued for its commercial and cultural uses could become a noticeable casualty of climate warming over the next 50 years, an independent study has concluded. It cited snow-cover loss that led to colder soil. “Lack of snow is only going to become more and more prevalent,” said lead author Brian Buma, a University of Alaska Southeast assistant professor of forest ecosystem ecology. ...More
Annual picks and pans from the year that was in Alaska fisheries
1-3-2017 | Alaska Journal of Commerce - The start of 2017 marks the 26th year for this weekly column that targets news for and about Alaska’s seafood industry. The goal is to make all readers more aware of the economic and cultural importance of our state’s first and oldest industry. ...More
University of Alaska regents approve move to a single College of Education at UAS
12-23-2016 | Juneau Empire - As Chancellor at the University of Alaska Southeast, I’d like to thank the citizens of Juneau and individuals all across our state for supporting UAS recognition as the state’s leader for teacher education. ...More
Ernestine Hayes named 2017 State Writer Laureate
12-23-2016 | ADN - Ernestine Hayes, assistant professor of English at the University of Alaska Southeast, has been selected as the next Alaska State Writer Laureate. She will be introduced at the Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities presentations on Jan. 26 and will serve through 2018. ...More
University of Alaska regents approve move to a single College of Education at UAS
12-15-2016 | ADN - The University of Alaska Board of Regents voted Wednesday to consolidate the university system's three schools of education into a single College of Education headquartered in Juneau, in an effort to increase the number of teacher graduates and streamline the administration. ...More
Local government engagement, decentralized policies can help reduce deforestation
12-12-2016 | University of Colorado Boulder - Empowering local governments with forestry decisions can help combat deforestation, but is most effective when local users are actively engaging with their representatives, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder-led study. Co-authors of the new study include Tom Evans of Indiana University; Clark Gibson of the University of California at San Diego; and Glenn Wright of the University of Alaska, Southeast. ...More
UAS Scientists ask: Where does the soot come from that peppers Juneau Icefield?
12-09-2016 | KTOO - Scientists this year started sampling the snow and ice above Southeast Alaska’s glaciers for the particles left from over from forest fires, diesel engines, and industrial activity. The particles of black carbon can accelerate warming of glaciers and the atmosphere. The big question is: where does this carbon come from? “That’s a core sample right here,” Jason Fellman said as he opened an upright freezer in a University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) research facility located off campus in Juneau. ...More
UAS Chancellor disusses issues and opportunities in Ketchikan
12-12-2016 | KTOO - University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Richard Caulfield was in Ketchikan this week, visiting with staff, faculty and students. Caulfield and UAS Ketchikan Campus Director Priscilla Schulte spoke about financial issues facing the university system, and opportunities for the Ketchikan campus. ...More
Dr. Teri Rofkar, innovative Tlingit weaver, dies at 60
12-02-2016 | KCAW - Tlingit weaver Dr. Teri Rofkar died today (12-02-16). The Sitka resident was internationally renowned for her baskets and textiles, made from cedar, spruce tree roots, and mountain goat wool collected along Sitka’s shores. She was 60 years old. UAS presented Rofkar with an honorary doctorate during the Spring 2015 commencement ceremony. ...More
SHI, IAIA, UAS to advance Northwest Coast art
11-23-2016 | Capital City Weekly - Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has entered into a three-way partnership with the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), and the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) to provide enhanced and expanded Northwest Coast (NWC) art programs and opportunities for Alaska students. ...More
New mapping shows extent of yellow-cedar die-off in Alaska
11-27-2016 | Alaska Dispatch News - Yellow cedars, iconic temperate rainforest trees that can live 1,000 years, are dying over vast swaths of warming Alaska and British Columbia. "It had never been mapped before, so we really didn't know how big the decline was," said Brian Buma of the University of Alaska Southeast, the lead author. ...More
More and more jobs beckon for Alaskans with fisheries science degrees
11-19-2016 | Alaska Dispatch News - Alaska's university system is ramping up programs to train the next generations of fishery and ocean specialists for jobs that await. Since 1987, the College of Fisheries and Ocean Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has offered undergraduate and graduate degrees in fisheries science, complete with paid internships for most students in one of the state's largest industries. Starting next fall, the College of Fisheries and Ocean Science plans to offer degree programs in partnership with the University of Alaska Southeast, and eventually the Anchorage campus and other regions. ...More
Kake Oyster Farmer Creates $375,000 Scholarship Endowment for UAS Students
11-21-2016 | SitNews - The family of Robert E Henderson has donated $220,000 and just over 30,500 shares of stock from his estate to create the University of Alaska Southeast Robert Henderson Memorial Award for Mariculture & Fisheries. The endowment will provide scholarships and research experiences for UAS students studying in the fields of mariculture and/or fisheries. ...More
UAS expands partnerships to increase campus safety
11-13-2016 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast is expanding partnerships to increase resources and support for students and employees under Title IX and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), federal laws designed to protect against discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking. ...More
Investors bet on farmed kelp being Alaska's next seafood export
11-14-2016 | Alaska Dispatch News - In the remote waters of Larsen Bay, off the coast of Kodiak Island, an experiment is underway. Two types of kelp are strung on lines in the ocean waters, and researchers, investors and commercial fishermen are all watching to see if they grow. Alaska's first two seaweed hatcheries just received their permits last year, according to Michelle Morris, commercial fisheries permit coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Michael Stekoll, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Alaska Southeast, is a researcher at one of those hatcheries. ...More
Climate change research underway in Héen Latinee
11-06-2016 | Juneau Empire - On a Saturday morning, University of Alaska Southeast biology student Alannah Johnson loaded up her pickup with science equipment, drove out to Echo Cove and located a few randomly-selected points on her GPS. On weekends, Johnson counts mushrooms. “The forest would be pretty stinky without them,” she said while setting up a 1-by-2 meter plot around her GPS waypoint. “They break everything down.” ...More
Symposium ties manic disorders to money
11-09-2016 | Juneau Empire - The seats were packed at the first keynote speaker’s lecture on manic depression in America at the University of Alaska Southeast’s Power & Privilege Symposium on Wednesday morning. Andrew James Archer, a licensed clinical social worker and trained psychotherapist, talked to the audience about bipolar disorder, otherwise known as manic depression, and its relationship with biology, industry and culture. ...More
Climate change research underway in Héen Latinee
11-06-2016 | Juneau Empire - On a Saturday morning, University of Alaska Southeast biology student Alannah Johnson loaded up her pickup with science equipment, drove out to Echo Cove and located a few randomly-selected points on her GPS. On weekends, Johnson counts mushrooms. “The forest would be pretty stinky without them,” she said while setting up a 1-by-2 meter plot around her GPS waypoint. “They break everything down.” ...More
"The Tao of Raven:" Hayes' new book explores the wisdom of traditional stories
11-02-2016 | Juneau Empire - Ernestine Hayes used to tell people she didn’t understand the story of Raven and the box of daylight until she had grandchildren. But when one of her grandchildren stole from her, she began thinking about the story in a new way — that of the grandfather and mother “left behind in the dark.” Hayes, a Juneau writer and University of Alaska Southeast assistant professor of English, began to see even more lessons on how to live, how to share and how to persevere. ...More
A foot in each culture: UAF professor recalls balancing Western and Native values
10-21-2016 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast kicked off Native American Heritage Month a couple days early with its most recent Evening at Egan lecture Friday night. Theresa Arevgaq John, a professor of cross-cultural studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, spoke, sung and danced during her lecture in Egan Library. Dressed in traditional Yup’ik garb, she painted the picture of a life spent straddling two cultures, one Native and the other Western. ...More
SHI to hold lecture on Yup’ik ways of dancing
10-26-2016 | Capital City Weekly - The Sealaska Heritage Institute will hold a lecture by a professor from University of Alaska Fairbanks on Yup’ik ways of dancing at noon on Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Living History Center at the Walter Soboleff Building. The talk by Dr. Theresa Arevgaq John, an associate professor of Indigenous studies at UAF, is titled “Yuraryaraput Kangiit-llu: Our Ways of Dance and Their Meanings.” ...More
SSSC to host Salmon Culture Lab
10-21-2016 | KCAW - Angie Bowers will be teaching a Salmon Culture Lab October 26th – 28th at the Sitka Sound Science Center. The class is offered through the University of Alaska Southeast’s Fisheries Technology Program. Bowers is SSSC’s Aquaculture Director. ...More
UAS to hold Power & Privelege Symposium on Nov. 9
10-19-2016 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast will hold its first annual Power & Privilege Symposium from 8:15 a.m.-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at its Juneau campus.The symposium will include three keynote speakers, six breakout sessions, and a spoken word poetry performance. ...More
Study finds local fidelity key to ocean-wide recovery of humpback whales
10-17-2016 | EurekAlert! - Humpback whales can migrate thousands of miles to reach feeding grounds each year, but a new study concludes that their fidelity to certain local habitats - as passed on through the generations - and the protection of these habitats are key to understanding the ultimate recovery of this endangered species. Using a large database maintained by Glacier Bay National Park and the University of Alaska Southeast, the records of the founding population were then compared to records of the "contemporary population" returning to Glacier Bay, more than 30 years after Jurasz's initial studies. The results were striking. ...More
Seaweed farming begins in Southeast
10-12-2016 | Juneau Empire - A year ago, Trevor Sande wasn’t thinking much about seaweed. Early this November, however, he and the employees at Hump Island Oyster Company in Ketchikan, which Sande founded and owns, will plant five acres of bull kelp and ribbon kelp, all originating from local seaweed. Seaweed isn’t yet a big part of commercial mariculture in Alaska — but researchers at the University of Alaska Southeast and seaweed product company Blue Evolution are working to change that. ...More
Evenings at Egan kick off
10-5-2016 | Capital City Weekly - The annual fall lecture series Evening at Egan kicked off on Sept. 16 at the University of Alaska Southeast Auke Lake campus. Oct. 7 is “Aquaculture in Alaska? The opportunity of the century!” with Kake oyster farm owner Tom Henderson, followed Oct. 14 by Dr. Nina Chordas sharing information from her research in Russia, “Reading What Couldn’t Be Written: Literary Scholarship in the Soviet Union, or How Socialist Realism Hijacked the Renaissance.” ...More
SHI program trains educators to see Thru the Cultural Lens
9-27-2016 | KTOO - Juneau teachers and administrators were the students on Saturday at a Sealaska Heritage Institute seminar intended to help them see the world from their pupils’ perspectives. Angie Lunda is an assistant professor of education for the University of Alaska Southeast. She is Tlingit from the Kaagwaantaan clan and she is teaching today’s session. ...More
Scientists look at dynamics of melting at Southeast Alaska glacier
9-14-2016 | KFSK - Scientists have discovered huge underwater ice caves in glaciers that flow into the ocean, depositing plumes of fresh rain and melt water into glacial fjords. A multi-year study of one glacier near Petersburg is focusing on that interaction between the ice, fresh water and ocean water and what that may reveal about melting glaciers around the globe. Roman Motyka is a research professor emeritus with the University of Alaska’s Geophysical Institute. He is based in Juneau and is also affiliated with University of Alaska Southeast. ...More
Language program receives funding
9-15-2016 | Alaska Dispatch News - The Sealaska Heritage Institute has received a grant of $927,000 from the federal Administration for Native Americans to help pay for mentor-apprentice teams to study Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian languages over the next three years. The program will connect two students with one mentor to immerse themselves in the languages, transcribe tapes of speakers in the possession of the Institute and participate in orthography and linguistics programs at the University of Alaska Southeast. ...More
Tlingit linguist Lance Twitchell receives Judson L. Brown award
9-9-2016 | Alaska Dispatch News - The Sealaska Heritage Institute has selected Lance Twitchell as the recipient of the annual Judson L. Brown Leadership Award. Twitchell, whose Tlingit name is X'unei, is an associate professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast. ...More
UAS Juneau campus to get shuttle service
9-7-2016 | Juneau Empire - A new Juneau campus shuttle program has launched this semester, providing services between the Auke Lake campus, Anderson Building, Student Housing and Recreation Center. The shuttle service is designed to improve safety for students, while also improving the ability to move between classes and gain access to campus services. ...More
UAS program encourages adults to get their college degrees
9-7-2016 | Juneau Empire - This summer the University of Alaska Southeast’s Finish College Alaska program launched, and with it, the plan to increase the number of degree-toting adults. ...More
Cooperative Extension Service to keep doors open in Sitka
9-1-2016 | KTOO - Leadership for Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Alaska Fairbanks announced Aug. 31 a plan to keep two offices open that it planned to close this fall due to state budget cuts –- one in Anchorage and the other in Sitka. The Sitka office now will be funded largely through grants, some with 4-H and the National Park Service. The program assistant Jasmine Shaw, based at the University of Alaska Southeast, will continue her work offering programs to the community. ...More
UAS has three new arts and sciences faculty
8-21-2016 | Juneau Empire - The University of Alaska Southeast welcomes three new arts and science faculty members: Dr. Keith Cox, Dr. Mique’l Dangeli and Dr. Michael Navarro. ...More
UAS students donate Polar Plunge proceeds to AWARE
8-21-2016 | Juneau Empire - This spring, the University of Alaska Southeast Student Activities Board voted unanimously to donate their annual Polar Plunge funds to AWARE (Aiding Women in Abuse and Rape Emergencies). The students raised over $2,000 for us, which funded AWARE’s Clothesline Project that you may have seen on display during April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. ...More