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Chancellor's Office

Chancellor Karen Carey

Since the last report Chancellor Carey:

Celebrated Earth Day (sustainability)

Met with Hecla Greens Mine Executives (access, collaboration, stewardship)

Attended the “Summit” event (excellence, access, diversity)

Welcomed Megan Riebe as Interim Director of Development and Alumni Relations and attended retirement event for Lynne Johnson (stewardship)

Attended Honorary Degree reception (access, excellence, diversity)

Attended Commencements in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Juneau (access, excellence)

Attended Native Graduation (access, excellence, diversity)

Attended Faculty Excellence Awards (excellence)

Met with the Business Advisory Council (access, excellence)

Attended the Faculty Luncheon hosted by the Development office (stewardship)

Attended the end of year celebration with the Enrollment Management and Student Affairs staff (access, excellence, collaboration)

Attended Whale Watching and Staff Development Day (collaboration)

Gave a tour to our Government Relations staff (access, excellence, collaboration)

Attended meetings with Executive Council; Executive Cabinet; President Pitney; Vice Chancellor Michael Ciri; Provost Maren Haavig; Vice Chancellor Lori Klein; Associate Vice Chancellor Ronalda Cadiente Brown;, Keni Campbell, Chancellor’s Assistant and Public Information Officer; Staff Council; Louisa Cryan, Senior HR Specialist; Lynne Johnson, Director of Development; Ryan Sand, Director of Emergency Management and Risk Services; Ryan Wark, Director of Equity and Compliance; Juneau Campus Advisory Council; and Juneau Economic Development Council. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, and stewardship) 

Traveled to Ketchikan and Sitka to say thank you and goodbye to faculty and staff (collaboration)

Met with the Emeriti Chancellors and Provosts (access)

Monday morning radio on KINY (access, collaboration)

Development & Alumni Relations 

Megan Riebe, Interim Director

I want to thank the UAS community for a warm welcome - it has been fun meeting staff and faculty and I am really enjoying working with the Development & Alumni Relations team. 

Our office is focused on assessment and planning during this time of transition. We are working on creating an annual plan of work. This process includes outreach to academic and administrative leads to discuss how Development & Alumni Relations can best serve you and what your priorities are in the coming year(s). So, don’t be surprised if you hear from one of us and we look forward to learning more about your areas. (collaboration/excellence)

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the Faculty & Staff Appreciation Luncheon - we are grateful for all of your contributions to UAS! (stewardship)

We are working on major gift proposals that will be due in the coming weeks including Hecla Greens Creek Mine and First National Bank Alaska. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, and stewardship) 

New Process for Accessing Funds Held at the UA Foundation

The UA Foundation is pleased to announce that gaining access to funds held at the UA Foundation will be easier than ever before. This new process was developed in collaboration with fiscal managers from each university with a goal to allow for a simplified and standardized process of spending foundation funds, making it easier for the university to put these donor dollars to work.

The new process will bypass direct reimbursements and the grant set up through sponsored programs offices at the university level.  Instead, the UA Foundation will transfer funds directly to the benefiting university using permanent expense accounts.

After a successful testing process in BANQ, the pilot phase began in BANP and is now nearing completion. The UA Foundation will no longer be approving new grant requests or budget increases and, instead, will be migrating new requests to this new UA Foundation Fund Distribution Process (FFDP).

Training on the fund request process will begin May 23 and run periodically through June 27. You can sign up for these sessions here:https://bit.ly/UA_Foundation_Training

Additional training sessions on the Foundation Fund Expenditure Accounts (FFEA), which is the Banner side of the process, will be announced very soon.

For more information, please visit:https://www.uaf.edu/finserv/finance-accounting/resources/FFEA.phpor contact Tlisa Northcutt or Carrie Santoro at the UA Foundation.

Equity & Compliance

Ryan Wark, Director

No report this month.  

Emergency / Risk Management & Safety 

Ryan Sand, Director

Housing fire drills are being conducted this month in accordance with International Fire Code that extends well into the Spring & Summer semesters. For those of us involved with organizing visitors at UAS residences, please provide a friendly reminder that all occupants need to immediately evacuate the building upon activation of a fire alarm. Emergency evacuation assembly areas on main campus are in the northeast segment of the parking lot along the sidewalk area. The upper housing assembly area is at the lodge.

It’s that time of year for construction on campus. Please avoid and detour around any construction zones. As always, call EHS or Facilities Services with any questions or concerns.  

Public Information Office

Keni Campbell, Public Information Officer

Commencement 

Big thanks to everyone who helped with Commencement in all three communities this year.  We got a lot of compliments.  It was quite an honor to have President Pitney at all of our ceremonies.  We were so lucky to have the sunshine!  Check out thedetails for each ceremonyhere.Watch the Juneau Ceremonyon the UASoutheast Youtube channel. (collaboration/excellence)

Chancellor Karen Carey gifted with Tlingit name, adopted into Raven clan

At the Native Graduation Celebration held the morning of May 7 before the Juneau Commencement Ceremony, Professor X’unei Lance Twitchell invited Chancellor Karen Carey to the stage, “We are honored and invite you to stand with us.”, and following traditional protocol  adopted her into the L’ukaax.adi Sockeye/RAVEN clan and gifted her a Tlingit name:Héide Shuwataaní, which means “the one who opens doors.”  

“This action and name captures her vigilance and intentional actions to support the development of Indigenous Studies and languages course and degree development during her tenure at UAS.This well deserved honor connects Chancellor Carey to the Tlingit people now and forever. ” said Ronalda Cadiente Brown, Associate Vice Chancellor of Alaska Native Programs and PITAAS Director.  

Radio 

I can help you connect with the radio stations to be a guest on one of their programs if you would like to promote something you are working on.  (collaboration/excellence)

Recent UAS representation: KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon forMay 2: Dean Carin Silkaitis and Dr. Nguyet Nguyen- “A look at the new UAS course: Study Away in Vietnam, happening in Fall 2023” (first guests)

Press releases  

Help us tell your story! Send ideas and materials for press releases through our internal formhere.  (collaboration/excellence)

Most recent press releases:

UAS Names Dr. Carlee Simon as Interim Dean of the School of Education

UAS Faculty Excellence Awards and Promotions Announced for 2023

UAS Biologist Beth Mathews debuts new book Deep Waters, events planned for May 2023

UAS to Honor Anna Ehlers with Honorary Doctorate

University of Alaska Southeast Commencement 2023

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Provost's Office

Dr. Maren Haavig, Provost & Dean of Research & Sponsored Programs

I had the opportunity to participate in commencement ceremonies on the Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau campuses.  It was wonderful to visit faculty and staff while celebrating student success! (excellence, diversity, access)

UAS welcomed Dr. Carlee Simon on May 8, 2023.  Dr. Simon will serve as the Interim Dean of our School of Education.  (sustainability, stewardship)

The Strategic Enrollment Task Force met several times to develop a report on FY23 activities and prepare recommendations for FY24 Recruitment and Enrollment strategies (diversity, access, stewardship)

Continued participation in the A&S Strategic Planning process.  I met with faculty from Sitka and Ketchikan to work on the Campus Cohesion Focus area.  (collaboration, excellence, sustainability)

Attended the annual WICHE Forum in Tucson, AZ.  I gave a presentation about our No Holding Back project.  (excellence, access, diversity) 

Met with Outer Coast and NWCCU to discuss our ongoing partnership with OC.  (collaboration, access, diversity)

Amanda Triplett joined the Provost Office team on May 8 as the Dual Enrollment Coordinator.  (access, diversity, excellence)

Research & Sponsored Programs 

Dr. Maren Haavig, Dean

Attended the UA Arctic Advisory Committee meeting (sustainability, stewardship)

Met with UA Internal Audit to complete the UAS COI in Research Questionnaire

Institutional Effectiveness

Kristen Handley, Director

Fall Weekly Enrollment dashboards are now available on the IE website. (access, stewardship)

Fall Weekly Enrollment|Fall Weekly Enrollment by Program 

Summer Weekly Enrollment dashboards are also available on the IE website. (access,stewardship)

Summer Weekly Enrollment|Summer Weekly Enrollment by Program 

Results from the first Student Experience Survey will be available soon. 

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School of Career & Technical Education

Carin Silkaitis, Interim Dean

Dean Silkaitis is visiting with their children - who are in Alaska for the first time! They are on annual leave. 

Construction Technology

Robin Gilcrist, Coordinator

The House Build program, a collaboration between JDHS, the Juneau Housing Trust, and UAS is about to complete another house. This project has been a great learning experience for our Construction Technology students completing Exterior Finish Carpentry and Residential Building Science. There have been six high school boys, and their teacher Andy Bullick, working four afternoons each week since the fall to help complete this project. The house will be finished by mid June and sold to a low income family.  (excellence, collaboration, stewardship) 

We also had tremendous help from two amazing volunteers. Ashley Morehouse worked on the house most afternoons and we would not have gotten as far as we did without Marquam George, former Associate Professor of CT helping guide the work and by providing quality assurance. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

Our new full-time faculty Robbie Jensen has been instrumental in helping to keep the house project going by preparing students to complete exterior finish projects on the house. Students in his course were out in the field in some pretty awful weather but still got a lot accomplished. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

The completion of the house would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of Justin Fantasia who we lost to cancer last June. In following his lead for teaching and learning on a job site with real consequences we strived to honor his work by setting high standards for the student’s work and tasks completed. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

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School of Education

Dr. Carlee Simon, Interim Dean

Dr. Carlee Simon has been named as the Interim Dean of the School of Education (SOE), and started with UAS on May 8. In her two-year appointment, Dr. Simon will lead the SOE in its mission to work cooperatively with PreK–12 schools and the community, as well as the faculty to identify, prepare, and strengthen effective teachers and administrators for sustained contributions to the education profession in rural and urban settings in Alaska and the nation. She will promote interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, inter-college, and internal collaboration, cooperation, and research across the UA System and with external partners.

An important part of her appointment will be to lead the School through their accreditation process with theCouncil for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). All education programs through the School of Education at University of Alaska Southeast are accredited by the CAEP. This accreditation signifies that the SOE has met the rigorous standards set forth for educator preparation.

Congratulations to Michelle Nakamura on receiving the 2023 UAS Staff Excellence Award

Beth Hartley was promoted and tenured to Term Associate Professor

Heather Batchelder was promoted to Full Professor

Project SHINE Faculty Initiative Award provided funds for faculty in special education and early childhood across the UA system to create and pilot a Culturally Responsive Early Literacy course and scholarships for approximately 15 students to take ED 493 summer 2023.

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School of Arts & Sciences

Carin Silkaitis, Dean

Dean Silkaitis is visiting with their children - who are in Alaska for the first time! They are on annual leave. 

Natural Sciences

Carolyn Bergstrom and collaborator Matt Rogers (NOAA) were awarded a $147k grant  from the North Pacific Research Board titled “Flatfish trophic niche overlap and resource partitioning in estuarine nursery habitats in Alaska”. (excellence, collaboration)

Eran Hood presented a talk entitled “Impacts of glacier loss on riverine biogeochemistry and ecology” at the Institute of Thermal Biology Seminar Series at Montana State University. (excellence, collaboration)

Jason Fellman (ACRC) and Eran Hood co-authored a paper with collaborators from UAA entitled “Hydroclimate drives seasonal riverine export across a gradient of glacierized high-latitude coastal catchments” that was published in the journal Water Resources Research. (excellence, collaboration)

Eran Hood co-authored a paper entitled “A tropical cocktail of organic matter sources: variability in supraglacial and glacier outflow dissolved organic matter composition and age across the Ecuadorian Andes” that was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences. (excellence, collaboration)

Heidi Pearson published a paper with her former CFOS grad student, Nicole LaRoche, and former UAS undergraduate, Sydney King. LaRoche N,King SL,Eckert GL, Fergusson E, Pearson HC. Macronutrient composition of sea otter diet with respect to recolonization, life history, and season in southern Southeast Alaska. Ecology and Evolution13: e10042. (excellence, collaboration)

Heidi Pearson held a workshop, “Biology of Southeast Alaska’s Marine Mammals”, on campus on April 29 for 50 Juneau marine naturalists (excellence, collaboration, access).

David Tallmon co-taught a graduate course “Conservation and Population Genomics” at the University of Helsinki with post-doc Dr. JP Verta. (excellence, collaboration)

David Tallmon gave a talk “Insights into Coho Salmon life histories, effective size, and supplementation from genetic monitoring.” in the Genetic Variation in Natural Populations symposium at Stockholm University. (excellence, collaboration)

Research Assistant Professor Jim Powel (ACRC), presented his research team's published findings about COVID 19 impacts to Juneau at the "Beyond COVID: Pandemic Preparedness in the Circumpolar North" conference (April 27 & 28th in Sitka).(excellence, collaboration) 

Heidi Pearson co-authored a paper entitled, “Wild LA, Riley HE, Pearson HC, Gabriele CM, Neilson JL, Szabo A, Moran JR, Straley JM, DeLand S. Biologically Important Areas II for cetaceans in US Waters – Gulf of Alaska region.Frontiers in Marine Science 10:11340.(excellence, collaboration)

Andrzej Piotrowski has been invited to a week-long "Research Experience for Undergraduate Faculty" program follow-up meeting at the American Institute of Mathematics this summer. (excellence, collaboration)

Jason Amundson presented naturalist trainings for Above and Beyond Alaska (ABAK) on April 27 and for the Juneau Marine Naturalist Symposium on April 30. (excellence, collaboration, access)

Environmental Science major Ellie Bretscher received the Best-in-Show award for her poster presentation at the Alaska Spacegrant Symposium, which took place at UAA on April 7.(excellence)

Michael Navarro co-authored a paper as part of a multi agency collaboration titled, “Impact of the 2014-16 marine heatwave on North American West Coast fisheries: surprises and lessons from key case studies.Fish and Fisheries. Agencies included NOAA, The Nature Conservancy, UCSC, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and UAS. (excellence, collaboration)

UAS Marine Biology students Charlotte Springer, Emma Roloff, and Hunter Kaufman won several research awards over the summer to continue their research on Alaskan squid in Michael Navarro’s Lab.  Charlotte Springer earned a URAD award from INBRE to study the stomach contents of squid at the NOAA Genetics lab using molecular genetic techniques. Emma Roloff earned an NASA AK SpaceGrant award to artificially fertilize an armhook squid as part of a study to understand the hydrographic limits for early life stages of squid. Hunter Kaufman earned a NOAA Hollings PPP award to continue work on an aging and demographics study of squid. These students also presented two posters with their original research on armhook squid at the American Fisheries Society Conference last March in Fairbanks. (excellence)

Business & Public Administration

BPA celebrated our graduates in a wonderful ceremony. We had four sisters walk the stage this year. (excellence)

Dr. Kristy Smith has been appointed to service on the ACBSP Board of Directors for the upcoming year (July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024). The appointment will be made officially at the Annual Conference in June. (excellence)

Dr. Paulette Schirmer will be lead presenter on Forging a Growth Mindset in Accounting  during the annual Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges event on May 19, 2023 and a paper on the topic is being submitted for publication with her co-author. Paulette will be attending several seminars during the 3 day event. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

Dr. Paulette Schirmer will also be attending several seminars during the 4 day Governmental Finance Officers’ Association annual conference in May. (excellence)

Dr. Paulette will also be facilitating sessions with Kids2College event on May 11, 2023 where 72-75 local 5th graders will be coming to campus to learn about going to college. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

Social Sciences

No updates at this time

Humanities

Emily Wall was invited to be faculty at the North Words Writer’s Symposium in Skagway this summer.  (excellence, stewardship, collaboration) 

X̱’unei Lance Twitchell  is on the organizing faculty and will be there supporting young writers as well. (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

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Ketchikan Campus

Dr. Priscilla Schulte, Campus Director

Commencement was held at the Ted Ferry Civic Center with former student and CEO of the Tongass Federal Credit Union, Helen Mickel as the Commencement speaker and Rochelle King as the student speaker and 30 students graduating. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

Summer classes are underway with a strong enrollment.

The Maritime Training Center is adding a summer Basic Training to meet the training needs of the Alaska Marine Highway. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

The Staff development day activities were well attended. Staff went on the Aleutian Ballard and learned about crab fishing etc. and attended Zoom sessions on Friday while undertaking team building activities. (collaboration,diversity)

Brenda Hurley received the Staff Excellence Award at the Staff Development Day activities. (excellence, access, collaboration)

Dan Kistner, Angie Goffredi, Jessica Driscoll and Priscilla Schulte traveled to Prince of Wales to attend the Job Fair and Economic Recovery Summit  at the POW Voctech Center. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

The Ketchikan Campus hosted AVTEC  Division Director, Cathy LeCompte and Assoc. Vice President Teri Cothren for Maritime Training Needs meetings. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

The Maritime Training Center hosted a Maritime Stakeholders meeting on May1st to assess local and regional maritime training needs.(excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

The Ketchikan Campus Library is open for library instruction for summer classes. Also, films being shown in the library this month focus on growing food in backyard, urban, and other small gardens. The Library is also expecting a pallet of books to arrive in mid-June; these are a part of the effort to replace titles lost in the broken pipe incident in Feb 2021. (excellence, diversity, access, sustainability, stewardship)

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Sitka Campus

Dr. Paul Kraft, Campus Director

The campus hosted three nature related community discussions with attendance ranging from 70-100.

Seaweed: Wanted Dead or Alive. Presentation of recent research on impact of seaweed on intertidal wildlife. (Excellence, Access)

Update on Mt. Edgecume.  Discussed the recent activity of our ‘local’ volcano and the implications for the future. (Access, Collaboration)

Hosted a screening and discussion of a National Geographic documentary “Fire of Love”-a film about the lives and careers of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. (Access, Collaboration)

Commencement was held at Centennial Hall with 42 students walking in the ceremony. Former UAS employee/current City Assembly member gave the keynote address with HIM student, Brianna Forbis delivering the student reflection. (Excellence, Diversity, Accessibility, Collaboration)

Student government sponsored a Graduation Wildlife Viewing Cruise for the morning after commencement with excellent attendance by graduates and their families.  The wildlife cooperated with multiple whales, sea lions and seals making a showing. (Collaboration)

A Maritime Workforce Development luncheon was held on campus with participants from the local Sitka maritime industry discussing their needs with UAS Sitka faculty, AVTEC Director Cathy LeCompte and UA Associate President Teri Cothren.  (Collaboration, Sustainability, Stewardship)

Staff Recognition and Development Day was enjoyed by the Sitka staff as longevity pins were given, Courtney MacArthur received the Staff Excellence Award and all enjoyed the form line art practice that was available.  (Collaboration, Excellence)

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Egan Library

Elise Tomlinson, Dean

Library

Egan Library is open for summer hours: Monday-Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday 9am-5pm, closed Saturdays, Sunday 1pm-7pm. Please see Egan Library’s hours of operation page for details on holiday closures, etc.https://uas.alaska.edu/library/hours.html 

Writing Center

The UAS Juneau Campus Writing Center is closed for the summer. Please ask your professor if you are in need of a writing tutor for your summer classes. Also, online writing support is available through Live Homework Help:https://lam.alaska.gov/sled/homework 

Learning / Testing Center

Due to a vacancy in the Testing Supervisor position, the UAS Testing Center will only be open select days and times. See their hours of operation page for more details:https://uas.alaska.edu/testing-services/index.html

CELT

New Instructional Designer Ramona Broussard

Although faculty liaisons who work with CELT are off for the summer, we are happy to announce the hire of a new Instructional Designer for the Juneau Campus, Ramona Broussard, who will begin on Monday, May 22. Ramona specializes in digital literacy and interaction design. She has successfully planned, implemented, and executed curriculum in online and in-person classroom settings. Ramona is dedicated to developing user-centered experiences that foster meaningful interactions and drive student success.

She has a Master of Science in Information Studies and teaching experience from the University of Texas, Austin. Please welcome Ramona to UAS!

CELT is facilitating ANDORE training

On August 22nd and 23rd (before classes begin), First Alaskans Institute will be offering ANDORE (Alaska Native Dialogues on Racial Equity) training specifically for UAS faculty and staff from all three campuses. This program will take place from 9am-2:30pm each day over Zoom. 

From theFirst Alaskans Institute website: “ANDORE is a statewide project that aims to initiate, foster, and grow racial healing by meaningfully engaging in conversations in communities across Alaska on race, racism and racial equity; in order to move people into a place of understanding, healing and growth.”

If you would like to reserve a spot, please let us know bysubmitting this Google Form. Space is limited to 35 people, and priority will be given to faculty and staff who work directly with students. We will be setting aside some spaces for new faculty and staff who are beginning in August, so if you have an incoming faculty or staff member in your department, please let CELT know. If you attended ANDORE training in the past and would like to attend again, please go ahead and submit the form. Preference will be given to those who have not attended the training before, but if there is space, repeat attendees are welcome.

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Alaska Native Programs / PITAAS

Ronalda Cadiente Brown, Associate Vice Chancellor

Committees included the UAS Strategic Enrollment and Retention Task Force; Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Alaska Native Education (CACANE), initial meeting of the Arctic Leadership Initiative (collaboration and stewardship); Alaska College of Education Consortium (ACEC); Alaska Native Studies Council (collaboration). 

PITAAS joined in the Native Graduation celebration prior to the commencement celebration and recognized 12 PITAAS graduates, including graduate, bachelor’s, and certificate degrees and certificates. (excellence)

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Administrative Services

Michael Ciri, Vice Chancellor

Grants, Contracts & Budget 

Julie Vigil, Director

In partnership with the UA Foundation, the University of Alaska has redesigned the process for accessing UA Foundation funds.  The new process will still see restricted funds being set up using the grant module so that the funds can cross fiscal years but they will not be treated as a grant or processed via the Grants and Contracts Office.  The Budget Office will now manage the funds, which for UAS is a very slight distinction.  The funds will be referred to as Foundation Fund Expense Accounts or FFEA.

Here are a few of the significant changes.

There will be a one to one correlation between the foundation fund and the university FFEA.  The new Banner grant codes will begin with FDN followed by the foundation fund number.  There cannot be more than one FFEA grant per foundation number but you will be able to have multiple funds under that grant if need be.

The UAF Office of Finance & Accounting (OFA) will set up the initial FDN grant and one fund that will act as the default fund for the FFEA.  This default fund is where all budget requests will end up.  All budgets will be loaded into 3001 unless it is for student aid and then it will go into 6001.  You can request a budget revision to reallocate the budget to different account codes.  That request should be sent to the UAS Budget Office as well as any requests for additional funds numbers.

Budget requests from the Foundation will be submitted via an electronic maintenance form.

The UA Foundation expects signature authorities to provide periodic donor impact reports.  Departments should plan to provide this report on an annual basis.

Next steps:

UAF OFA is currently working on setting up a grant and default fund for each open award at the foundation.  Once they get through the initial setup for all open awards, we will begin migrating over to the new system.  Now would be a good time to look at your open Foundation grants and see if there are any encumbrances that can be closed.

Training sessions on the new process are being developed and will be made available to anyone who is interested in attending.  In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions. (excellence)

Business Services

Jon Lasinski, Director

Fiscal Year End is quickly approaching:Important Deadlines(sustainability, stewardship)

The initial Associate Bursar recruitment ended in a failed search.  Working with HR to repost the position.

Human Resources 

Louisa Cryan, UA Senior Business Partner for UAS

Archiving Performance Evaluations & Finding Position Descriptions 

During the Performance Evaluation Training over the last couple months, the Labor and Employee Relations (LER) team received feedback that employees found it difficult to find position descriptions, or to delete/archive old unfinished evaluations in MyUA. LER put together two short guides that can be foundhere in MyUAcalled, “Archiving Performance Evaluations” and “Finding Position Descriptions (PD's)”. We hope these guides are helpful. If you have any additional questions please reach out to the Labor and Employee Relations Team atua-ler@alaska.edu.  (excellence, access, collaboration)

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Enrollment Management & Student Affairs

Lori Klein, Vice Chancellor

Admissions, Recruiting, & Exchanges/Study Abroad

Lori Klein, Interim Director of Admissions

Dash Hillgartner has left UAS. We will be posting for the Director of Admissions position soon. In the meantime, Lori Klein is serving as the Director of Admissions.

The Admissions office is focused on the Fall 2023 funnel - moving students to enroll for the fall semester. This summer the recruiting team will be hosting lots of tours. 

Amanda Triplett has taken a new position at UAS and will be serving as our new Dual Enrollment Coordinator under the Provost. Amanda’s office will still be in the Student Resource Center. 

The Student Resource Center no longer does general advising for students. Non-degree seeking students should be referred to Adam Holbrook in the School of Arts & Sciences. Student Resource Center advising is focused on Military and Veterans (Deb Rydman), Exchange Students (Miranda Barril) and Bachelor intended (undecided/undeclared) students (Aimee Richards).

Academic Exchange & Study Aborad - We have a healthy batch of incoming exchange students! There are four international students (Austria x2, UK and the Netherlands) through the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), and 10 through the National Student Exchange (NSE) program; two of these students are also enrolled in our Aquaculture program in Sitka. We have seven students from UAS that are outbound to Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Finland, Croatia and Montana. There is growing interest in spring exchange and as of right now, expect around 5 students to go out this spring. 

Military & Veteran Services 

Deb Rydman, Military & Veteran Advisor

Attended a UAS Academic Advisors Regional Advising Group meeting last month to review common complexities with VA policies and procedures that could impact academic advising. (collaboration, access)

Representatives from the VA will be presentingtwo Town Hallson-campus May 23rd  for our students and alumni, UAS staff, as  well as interested community members. The Veterans Readiness & Employment (VRE) Regional Director will be hosting a morning event (10-11am - Egan 223) for our students and alumni, and the Alaska VA Healthcare System Director will be the presenter for the evening event (6-7:30pm) in the Lecture Hall. Both events will have virtual access to attendees outside of Juneau. (diversity, collaboration, excellence, access)

We have several new incoming VA students joining us this summer and fall, all who are very excited to get started at UAS! We are honored that they have chosen to attend UAS and look forward to welcoming them to our campus communities. (diversity, collaboration, access, excellence)

Career Services

Aimée Richards, Career Services Manager

Co-taught four classes in Comm S111 - topics included job/internship search approaches, online presence/social media, networking, cover letters, résumés, and interviewing. Thank you Rosemarie Alexander for this collaboration! (collaboration, access, excellence)

Participated in the Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition cross-sector learning cohort imagining steps toward equity and inclusivity for our campus and services (diversity, access, collaboration, stewardship)

Met with incoming freshmen at Thunder Mountain and Juneau Douglas high schools enrolment days (access, collaboration, stewardship). 

Represented UAS at the STEPS partner gathering focused on developing a vision for regional career and technical education (excellence, access, collaboration, sustainability, stewardship)

Financial Aid

Janelle Cook, Financial Aid Director

Organized and held our annual Kids2College event (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

Disbursed summer aid for classes that started on May 15th. As a reminder, we cannot disburse federal aid until at least 10 days before a students' class start date. (excellence, access, stewardship)

Ran Satisfactory Academic Progress (excellence, access, stewardship)

Will be a doing training over the summer of all the FAFSA changes for the 2425 year (excellence, access, collaboration, stewardship)

Attended JDHS scholarship night and will be attending TMHS scholarship night later in the month (excellence, collaboration, access, stewardship)

Reviewing applications for both our Financial Aid Advisor and Financial Aid Technician position. (stewardship, excellence)

Registrar's Office

Trisha Lee, Registrar

We are currently awarding Spring degrees.  Diplomas will be mailed out by the beginning of June. (excellence, stewardship)

2023-2024 academic catalog production is in-progress with a goal to have it published by June 1st. (excellence, access, collaboration, sustainability, stewardship)

Creative Agency

Alison Krein, Creative Manager

Commencement promotion, including all related events and outstanding student features on social media (excellence, collaboration)

Completion of the longevity pins project for staff (excellence, collaboration, stewardship)

Covid-19 information blocks have been suppressed across the UAS website (stewardship, access)

Students and Campus Life

Residence Life, Housing, and Dining

Sean McCarthy, Director of Residence Life

UAS Housing has completed our transition into the Summer Conferencing season and welcomed our first guests of the season last week. While we do have room for some short term stays, our student housing, faculty housing, and full unit buyouts are completely full! (excellence)

As a reminder - Lakeside Grill and Cafe will be open for lunch 11am - 2pm Monday through Friday through the summer. There will be a few closures for maintenance, training, and Fall 2023 prep, but we will make sure to provide ample notice. (access)

We are Hiring! Housing still has a need for summer GSA’s and Fall RA’s. If you know of any students looking for work this summer or fall, please be sure to send them our way. (excellence, collaboration)

Native & Rural Student Center 

Kolene James, Student Equity and Multicultural Services Manager

It’s harvest time for Kolene!  This means she’ll be working with summer high school/middle school student camps.  The NRSC will be open but Kolene might be away from campus working with students. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Also, please be on the lookout for some wonderful updates on the Moananuiākea World tour launch expected to happen mostly at Auke Recreation beach starting June 10 with a Welcoming Ceremony, and then June 15 the Global Launch.  Still waiting to confirm June 14, here at campus with University Exchange, most likely to happen around dinner time.  One this date is confirmed, I will reach out to folks to start the preparations to host our Hawaiian Relatives.(excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Gunalcheesh for your time and attention, have a wonderful summer!

Student Engagement & Leadership

Mallory Nash, Student Engagement Manager

More than 2,000 participants and nearly 30 events throughout the 2023 FY. Key partners included Alaska Airlines, SEAGLA, Juneau Jazz & Classics, American Red Cross, Juneau Public Libraries,  and Aak’w Rock Festival.  (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Nearly 2,000 subscribers to The Weekly Spike with a 50% open rate. (excellence, access, collaboration, sustainability)

Mallory will be leaving UAS on May 19, 2023. Thank you for a wonderful 2 years at UAS. I look forward to seeing SE&L continue to grow with the next Student Engagement Manager. 

SGUAS-JC: Students elected Almeria Alcantra as the incoming President for SGUAS-JC starting Fall 2024. (excellence)

Registered Student Organizations: We have a new club! Active Minds. Learn morehere. (excellence, diversity, access) 

Whalesong: Whalesong will be transitioning to digital and audio only this upcoming semester. Learn morehere. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability)

Disability Services, Health Clinic & Counseling

Carrie Kline, Lead Counselor

Disability Services

Disability Services has begun sending faculty notification letters for the summer semester. So far, 16 students have registered for summer accommodations in 35 courses. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Spring semester has wrapped up and DS had 85 students registered, 159 courses with accommodations, 269 of total accommodations requested.  (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Counseling

Preliminary data from the semester (Additional information will be provided at a later date in order to inform mental health trends, plan for future support, and recommendations for future planning and support - excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship):

287 appointments (Fall semester comparison: 237 appointments)

69 individual students seen, 26 new, 42 returning (Fall semester comparison: 79 individual students, 44 new, 34 returning)

Highest number of appointments in one month: 93 in April. (Fall semester comparison: 78 in November)

39 appointments for Drop-in Counseling (Fall semester comparison: 26)

Partnership with Bartlett Regional Hospital being explored with the Dean of Students Office. (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

Health Clinic

Health Clinic has closed for the semester and Amanda Arra is off contract until Fall semester. (stewardship)

Recreation Center

Dave Klein, Associate Director of Campus Recreation

The REC Center was the location for this year’s Staff Development Day. (access, collaboration)

Campus recreation has cleaned up the dock area and has added the popular red Adirondack chairs for all to enjoy. Lake craft rentals are now available from the REC Service Desk. (access, stewardship)

The REC center had 5,006 members sign into our ID system using their Whale Cards from 1/1/23 to 5/31/23. Several hundred guests of members signed in using paper sign-ins. (access, sustainability, stewardship).

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Facilities Services

Nathan Leigh, Director

No new changes since our last edition of our Facilities Services newsletter “The Level” (excellence, collaboration, sustainability, and stewardship)

We are still looking for people to work on our grounds crew. They can be part-time, temporary, students, full time etc.. If you know of anyone who may be interested send them to careers.alaska.edu.

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Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Cultural Safety (DEICS)

Dr. Math Trafton and Courtney MacArthur, co-Chairs

Published theAY23 Annual Report  (excellence, diversity, access, collaboration)

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Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Alaska Native Education (CACANE)

Mischa Jackson and Janelle Cook, co-Chairs

Held our last meeting of the 2022-2023 school year (excellence, diversity, collaboration)

Met with Chancellor Carey (excellence, diversity, collaboration)

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