CRCD academic dean presentations
April 26, 2021
The UAF College of Rural and Community Development invites the public to watch and give feedback on presentations by the finalists for the position of academic dean.
The finalists will give a 45-minute presentation via Zoom as part of the selection process.
A 15-minute question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. Audience members will be asked to complete an online feedback form for each candidate.
Deborah Howe
April 28, 3:30 p.m.
Zoom presentation
Deborah Howe is a professional planner and community development practitioner with over three decades of higher education experience. As a practice-focused professor at Portland State University, she was deeply committed to experiential learning as reflected in her guidance of 80 student-initiated planning projects with nearly two dozen winning awards for addressing complex societal challenges. She taught in the Tribal Administration Program and led national and tribal workshops on land use planning. Her nationally recognized academic and professional leadership was the basis of PSU’s selection to host the editorial offices of the Journal of the American Planning Association. During her tenure as a Temple University department chair, she coordinated faculty, students, and staff on four campuses instituting video conferencing to enhance program quality and access and to reduce costs. She secured the nation’s first accreditation of a planning program using this form of delivery.
As Oregon College of Oriental Medicine president, Howe brought an academic focus to a small, nonprofit school. This work included a complete curricular overhaul leading to revised and new programs and a deep dive into enrollment management resulting in admissions team reorganization, digital marketing investment, and expansion of student support services. She worked with faculty to improve teaching methods, led discussions with community leaders on extending Chinese medicine to underserved communities, and oversaw the expansion of fundraising. Howe is currently developing a foundation for and completing the restoration of a Victorian house on the Oregon coast.
Bryan Uher
April 29, 2 p.m.
Zoom presentation
Bryan Uher is the director for the Interior Alaska Campus and the current acting dean for the College of Rural and Community Development at UAF. Bryan graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a bachelor of arts in rural development and received a master of public administration: rural development from the University of Alaska Southeast. Born in Anchorage and raised in Trapper Creek, Alaska, Uher enjoys outdoor activities along with traveling to rural locations across the state.
You may provide feedback on the candidates through May 6. For more information, email Lisa Yancey at llyancey@alaska.edu.