Short Takes: People and programs at UAF

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
03/07/07

UAF’s midterm accreditation reaffirmed
The Northwest Commission on College and Universities reaffirmed accreditation for the University of Alaska Fairbanks at its January 2007 meeting. No special reports, interim visits or recommendations need to be addressed. The next step for UAF’s accreditation will be a ten-year comprehensive accreditation review in 2011. UAF has been continuously accredited since 1934. UAF has specialized accreditation in more than a dozen programs including journalism, music, education and computer science.

Student research receives support from Claiborne Foundation
A $250,000 donation from the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation will provide annual grants for graduate-level conservation research in UAF’s Resilience and Adaptation Graduate Program. The gift will allow the RAP program to award a yearly grant of $25,000 to one international graduate student each year for ten years. Students will focus their advanced education on conservation research, including the links between effects of global change on wildlife and wetlands and the sustainability of human communities.

Students in the RAP program pursue doctoral or master’s degrees at UAF in biology and wildlife, anthropology, natural resource management, geosciences or economics, depending on their specific professional goals. Faculty members in UAF’s Institute of Arctic Biology will assist in the selection of students to receive the annual grant. IAB is internationally renowned for its scientific studies on wildlife conservation in northern latitudes and offers a wide range of research opportunities at the graduate and undergraduate level.

UAF graduate student featured on wind ensemble CD
University of Alaska Fairbanks student Brandon Newbould will be the featured trombone soloist with trumpeter William Stowman on the compact disc "Progressions"? by the Messiah College Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds. The CD is scheduled for release this spring. Newbould performed the "Fandango"? for trumpet, trombone and wind ensemble by Joseph Turrin. The CD was released on the Mark Masters label. Newbould is a graduate student studying with associate professor James Bicigo,

Rasmuson grant fuels expansion of fisheries program
A six-year, $5 million grant from the Rasmuson Foundation will allow the University of Alaska Fairbanks to develop a new undergraduate curriculum and expand opportunities for fisheries students. The grant will fund seven new faculty members in the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and will support the development of a bachelor of arts degree in fisheries and a new fisheries minor. SFOS leaders also plan to use the grant to expand efforts to recruit Alaska Native and rural Alaska students, develop enhanced teaching facilities and increase the availability of distance-delivered courses.

The UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences conducts world-class marine and fisheries research, education and outreach across Alaska, the Arctic and Antarctic. More than 50 faculty scientists and 150 graduate students are engaged in building knowledge about Alaska and the world’s coastal and marine ecosystems. The school currently offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in fisheries. Read more about the program expansion at www.sfos.uaf.edu/news/story/?ni=188