UAS Celebrates 2024 Faculty Honors

The University of Alaska Southeast is proud to announce our Faculty Award Recipients and promotions for 2024 and 2025. At the end of spring semester 2024, UAS honored faculty at a reception held at the Egan Wing.

Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Alaska

Date of Press Release: August 21, 2024

The University of Alaska Southeast is proud to announce our Faculty Award Recipients and promotions for 2024 and 2025.

At the end of spring semester 2024, UAS honored faculty at a reception held at the Egan Wing. Faculty Excellence Awards were presented, and Professor Priscilla Schulte was bestowed the designation of Faculty Emerita. Promotions and sabbaticals granted for the 2024-25 academic year were also announced.

Please join UAS as we congratulate our faculty.

Faculty Excellence Awards

• Faculty Advising: Dr. David Tallmon, Professor of Biology
• Open Educational Practices: Jonas Lamb, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science
• Research & Creative Activity: Dr. Heidi Pearson, Professor of Marine Biology
• Service: Forest Wagner, Associate Professor of Outdoor Studies
• Teaching: Dr. Nguyet Nguyen, Assistant Professor of History
• Adjunct Instruction: Dave Clarke, Welding Lab Assistant
• Adjunct Instruction: Gabe Wechter, Math/Testing Specialist

These awards recognize exemplary faculty who have gone above and beyond in teaching, scholarly activities, and meeting students' needs. Recipients are nominated by UAS faculty, staff, students, and research colleagues within the University of Alaska System.

Emeritus Faculty Awards

This year the emerita distinction was bestowed on Dr. Priscilla Schulte, Professor of Anthropology. After 43 years of dedicated service to the University of Alaska Southeast, Dr. Priscilla Schulte retired after the 2023 fall semester. Schulte served as the Ketchikan Campus Director since 2013. One supporter noted, “During her tenure, she taught a vast number of courses that include an amazing breadth and depth of subject matter. She has been a pioneer, leader, and innovator in distance education for the University of Alaska and received numerous teaching awards. She has also built a legacy at UAS by being a teacher of teachers and a mentor to many professors who have gone on to make contributions to the University.”

Appointment as Professor Emeritus or Emerita is an honor conferred by the Chancellor on retiring professors who have demonstrated excellence in their academic careers, following the recommendations of the faculty.

Promotion from Term Assistant Professor to Term Associate Professor:

• Kristy Smith, D.M., Management (Juneau)
• Rosemarie Alexander-Isett, Ph.D., Communication (Juneau)

Sabbatical Leave Awards for Academic Year 2025

• Dr. Carolyn Bergstrom: “The evolution and ecology of polymorphism in marine flatfishes” & “Recruitment of students to the Biology program cluster from Arizona and California.”
• Dr. Heidi Pearson: “Innovative Strategies for Cetacean Conservation.”
• Dr. Sanjay Pyare: “Developing new higher education pathways for transitional students from historically underserved Native and rural communities” & “Developing technical skills, curriculum, and pedagogy to teach/train a broad range of students and professionals on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV; “drones”)."

Sabbatical Leaves are awarded competitively to faculty based on the strength and impact of their proposed activities. Faculty must show the importance of the leave to their professional development and strength of contribution to future student learning.