Photo courtesy of Xochitl Muñoz.
Xochitl Muñoz visits a scenic spot in Denali National Park.
By Megan Bean
Xochitl Muñoz has been busy at UAF. Just in the past year, the junior from California has worked in the UA Museum of the North paleontology lab, presented a poster on fossilized mammal jaws at a conference in Ohio and helped research the Bering Sea Land Bridge from the deck of the research vessel Sikuliaq.
All those experiences, Muñoz said, have a common root source: "Thanks to the generosity of scholarships, I've had incredible opportunities at UAF.”
Xochitl Muñoz records seafloor coring data during a cruise to the Bering Sea on the research vessel Sikuliaq in 2023.
Xochitl Muñoz presents her poster on fossilized mammal jaws at the the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 2023 annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio.
As just one example, Muñoz received the Bob and David Luchini Memorial Scholarship in 2023. With less pressure to find work to pay for college, Muñoz, a geoscience major, could focus on their research interests. That led to the poster presentation at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Carson Myren visits Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge in Fairbanks in March 2024.
UAF awarded more than $2.5 million in such privately funded scholarships in 2023-2024, up more than $700,000 from the year before.
That directly helped over 700 students like Muñoz.
One of the newest scholarship donations came from John Mancuso, a retired engineer and UAF alumnus who has served the men’s basketball team as a statistician and volunteer assistant coach. In May, he established the John and Rhoda Mancuso Basketball Endowed Scholarship Fund. This fall, the fund will award its first scholarship.
Another donor driving the increase in awards is the Bill Stroecker Foundation, which supports nine scholarships for students in multiple disciplines, including music, journalism and business. Stroecker, who died in 2010, was a banker, musician and lifelong Fairbanksan.
Two Stroecker scholarships are full rides, meaning they pay the entire cost of tuition for four years.
In 2023, Carson Myren, a student from Anchorage, received the inaugural Bill Stroecker Petroleum Engineering Scholarship, one of those full-ride awards.
The “scholarship has profoundly changed my college journey,” Myren said. “Combined with my personal savings, this funding ensures I will graduate debt-free, a tremendous relief that will positively impact my future for years to come."
Andrea Rodriguez, an English major from Seward, Alaska, expressed similar gratitude for the help she received from the College Rotary Scholarship.
“This funding has alleviated financial stress and boosted my confidence in achieving my academic goals,” she said. “Every bit of support is deeply appreciated, and I am incredibly grateful."
That support for UAF students is about to grow, thanks to donations like that made by Glenn Potts and Pamela Flory. They recently gave their third significant contribution to the Rotary scholarship fund.
Andrea Rodriguez visits a shoreline on Kodiak Island in summer 2023.
Andrea Rodriguez takes a selfie on a Guardian Flight aircraft during the 2022 Employee Appreciation Day at the Seward Community Health Center.
The fund has provided UAF students with more than $115,000 since 1998. The awards had been limited to $1,500 per year, but donations from Potts, Flory and others allowed the College Rotary board to increase that to $2,000.
“College Rotarians are happy to make a difference for the UAF students who receive our scholarships,” said Jane Lanford, the club’s scholarship representative. “We look forward to helping more students achieve their academic and life goals in the future!”