Vision Task Force to convene at UAF

Submitted by Carla Browning
Phone: (907) 474-7778
02/28/07

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairbanks, Alaska--A group of 55 visionaries will assemble at the University of Alaska Fairbanks next week. Their task is to chart a course for the university’s future.

In keeping with the historical significance of the 1955 Alaska Constitutional Convention and its 55 delegates, UAF Chancellor Steve Jones has invited 55 state, national and university leaders to meet on campus March 6-7 as the UAF Vision Task Force 2017. The group will review UAF’s strategic plan and make recommendations on how to implement it. As a result of these efforts, the task force will help define the direction UAF should go during the next ten years.

"2007 marks UAF’s 90th anniversary. Our 100th lies just ten years out, close enough to contemplate a Year 2017 vision for our university,"? Jones said in a memo to the campus community. "I envision UAF being more than America’s arctic university, emerging confidently as one of the world’s premier arctic research and teaching universities."?

Jo Heckman, president and CEO of Denali State Bank, and Kevin Hostler, president and CEO of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., will lead the group. Task force members will be divided into six groups, each focusing on an important aspect of the university: student success, enrollment and retention, research, outreach and community engagement, staff and faculty development, and philanthropic efforts.

The task force will convene at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 6 for a two-day meeting. The meetings will take place in the Wood Center Carol Brown Ballroom and are open to the public. The task force is expected to forward suggestions by June, followed by a report in September. The task force members and their recommendations will be posted on the task force website at www.uaf.edu/vision2017 for public review and comment.

CONTACT: Carla Browning, UAF media relations manager, at (907) 474-7778 or via e-mail at carla.browning@uaf.edu. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at (907) 474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu.