Museum name change reflects northern location

Submitted by Kerynn Fisher
Phone: (907) 474-6941
04/13/04

Big changes are in store at Alaska’s only research and teaching museum. With construction on its new wing well underway, it’s clear that the expanded museum will make a striking addition to the Fairbanks skyline. Starting today, a new name - the University of Alaska Museum of the North - will accompany the new building taking shape.

Museum Director Aldona Jonaitis will announce the new name and unveil the new logo at today’s Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce general membership luncheon at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel.

The name enhancement follows a recommendation made by a team of community business leaders in the museum’s 2000-2009 business plan to "examine the merits of a name that more adequately reflects that exciting place of adventure and discovery." The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved the name enhancement last spring following a request by the Museum Advisory Council.

"It’s an international name for an international museum," says Mike Cook, chair of the Museum Advisory Council. "And will help position the museum as one of Alaska’s premier visitor destinations as well as a cutting-edge research and education center."

Museum staff decided to coordinate the transition to the new name with efforts to market the expanded museum, which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2005.

CONTACT: Kerynn Fisher, Communications Coordinator, University of Alaska Museum of the North, at (907)474-6941 or (907)378-2559.