09-14-20 From the Chancellor

Hello UAS Faculty and Staff:

It’s hard to believe we are starting our fourth week of the semester!  Thank goodness it has been beautiful and really feels like fall!  Things are looking for UAS as well.  Our enrollments are down a bit but much better that we anticipated and we are working on plans to enhance our recruiting and retention efforts.

The Board of Regents met last week and most of their discussions were around athletics at UAA and the budget.  We are beginning work on our FY 22 budget and will keep you updated as we move forward.   As you may know the new BoR resolution called for an exploration of how there can be greater collaboration in Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and I will be meeting with President Pitney this week regarding our Fisheries and Marine Biology programs. I will also be meeting with Brad Moran, Dean of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at UAF.   UAS has many great collaborations with UAF and I hope we can continue those partnerships.

I attended the UA Foundation Board meeting, met with members of SERRC, and attended the One Campus One Book event with James Hamblin which was excellent! I attended meetings of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee, the Facilities Committee, and the Audit Committee of the BoR.  I was interviewed by the Whalesong, the Juneau Empire, KINY, and KTOO. I have also set up biweekly calls with former chancellors Marshall Lind, John Pugh, Rick Caulfield, and former provost Robbie Stell to keep them updated on campus happenings.   I attended our first Evening at Egan for the semester with Heather Lende which was a wonderful event.  This week we will have Derek Sikes, curator of insects and Professor of Entomology at UAF, speaking on “Climate Change Impacts on Insects in Alaska and Globally.”  I hope you can join us.

I also recently met with Dean Gallini from Willamette College of Law, and Rosita Worl from Sealaska and Richard Peterson from Central Council-Tlingit & Haida about some very positive potential partnerships.  I am hoping we can expand our partnerships with other businesses and economic drivers in the region.

Some of you have asked when we will start searching for a new Chancellor and I too have asked about this. President Pitney has indicated she is not ready to move forward on a search yet and will probably wait until she can demonstrate to the BoR that we have stability across UA.  UAS is well positioned to demonstrate stability across all areas of our operations.

I want to thank all of you again for everything you have done to make this a successful semester under very trying times.  The spring semester will look very much like this fall with most of our classes online and most of us working from home. Remember if you do go to campus be sure to notify your supervisor.

Keep up the great work and don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions, concerns, or just want to chat.