News briefs: People and programs at UAF

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: 907-474-7902
12/16/09

CLA receives over $2.8 million in research grants this fall
The College of Liberal Arts this fall received more than $2.8 million in federal grants for several projects within the college. The U.S. Department of Education awarded $1,703,015 to the linguistics department for a three-year project that supports Yup’ik language instruction, immersion and language development programs. Assistant professor Sabine Siekmann will lead the project, in partnership with the Lower Kuskokwim and Lower Yukon school districts. The National Science Foundation also awarded grants to three projects: nearly $400,000 to associate professor Gary Holton for a study of the linguistic prehistory of the Alor-Pantar archipelago in eastern Indonesia; $211,000 to professor emeritus Michael Krauss for the continuation of the project "IPY (International Polar Year): Documenting Alaska and Neighboring Languages;" and $491,000 for the Alaska Native Language and Oral History Digital Audio Resources project. The two-year project, led by Gary Holton and Krauss, will create a digital audio archive providing access to two world-renowned collections of recordings documenting Alaska Native languages and oral history.

Bristol Bay area resident serving as regional Marine Advisory Program agent
The University of Alaska Fairbanks this fall hired Bristol Bay-area resident Izetta Chambers as the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program agent for the Bristol Bay, Eastern Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula regions. Chambers is based in Dillingham at the UAF Bristol Bay campus. As a MAP agent, Chambers’ job is to help fishermen, seafood processors and marketers, and other marine resource users. She is a longtime resident of the community of Naknek, an important fishing and seafood processing town on the east side of Bristol Bay, Chambers recently returned with a law degree from the University of Arizona. For more information on the MAP program, visit http://seagrant.uaf.edu/map/index.html.

Museum staff members recognized by American Ornithological Union
Two University of Alaska Museum of the North staff members have been recognized for contributions in their field. Bird curator Kevin Winker and research associate Dan Gibson were elected fellows of the American Ornithological Union. AOU fellows are chosen by their peers for exceptional and sustained contributions to the field of ornithology and/or service to AOU. This fall, 23 inductees were recognized at the organization’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. AOU has approximately 340 fellows. Winker and Gibson are among four Alaska fellows. The other two are Brina Kessel of Fairbanks and Mary Willson of Juneau.

Donations support UAF students and programs
Five recent donations will support scholarships and programs at UAF. Local business owner Kyong Hollen made a $10,000 donation to the UAF School of Management. The donation will fund the Kyong Hollen Business Scholarship, which award $5,000 scholarships to two students beginning with the 2010 fall semester. John and Fran Zarling made the first gift of $17,000 to the Zarling Family Hockey Scholarship. They plan to endow the scholarship by contributing annually until it reaches $100,000. The Hecla Charitable Foundation made an $18,000 donation to the Hecla Greens Creek Company recruiting scholarship created to engage students interested in the mining industry. Summit Consulting Services Inc. made a gift of $15,000 in support of the Alaska Native Science Engineering Program. Alumnus and longtime UAF supporter Bill Stroecker made a gift of $25,000 to the Helen Van Campen journalism scholarship.

Music faculty members recognized for work in Borealis Brass
The Borealis Brass CD "Roman Holidays," released in February 2009, was recognized in the October 2009 edition of the peer-reviewed International Trombone Association Journal. Borealis Brass members include James Bicigo, Karen Gustafson and Jane Aspnes, all of whom are faculty members in the UAF music department. The CD features music that was composed for Borealis Brass to perform in Rome as part of a concert series sponsored by the Foundation Adkins-Chiti: Donne in Musica. CD’s are available in Fairbanks at Gulliver’s Bookstore, the UAF Bookstore and the UA Museum of the North store.

CONTACT: Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@alaska.edu.

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