Hopkins, Knapp honored with UAF alumni awards

December 23, 2020

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alumni Association has named its 2021 award recipients.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kyle Hopkins has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Russ Knapp, a longtime supporter of the Alaska Nanooks, has received the William R. Cashen Service Award. UAF will honor Hopkins and Knapp at the upcoming Blue and Gold Celebration on Feb. 27 in a virtual event.

Photo courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News. Kyle Hopkins is the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award are selected based on meritorious service on behalf of UAF, distinguished accomplishments in business and professional life, or distinguished human service in community affairs.

As an investigative reporter and special projects editor for the Anchorage Daily News, Hopkins has traveled to dozens of Alaska villages to cover crime, politics and rural affairs. He recently worked with the news nonprofit ProPublica on a two-year investigation into sexual violence and the Alaska criminal justice system, a project that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Born in Sitka, Hopkins grew up in Kake, Juneau and Skagway, with some time in California as well. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2000. Hopkins previously worked for NBC affiliate KTUU-Channel 2 in Anchorage, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Vallejo (California) Times-Herald and the St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times. He lives in Anchorage with his wife, UAF alumna Rebecca Palsha '04, and their two daughters.

Recipients of the William R. Cashen Service Award are selected for outstanding service to the university and its alumni association.

Photo by Paul McCarthy. Russ Knapp is the recipient of the 2021 William R. Cashen Service Award.

When Knapp graduated from the University of Alaska in 1969 with a wildlife management degree, his best memories were of playing hockey on the outdoor ice rink with the campus club team. After graduation, he returned to upstate New York and entered the construction field.

Knapp was reintroduced to UAF through a hockey reunion in 2005, when he traveled to Fairbanks from his home in Nassau, New York. He has returned every year since. He regularly attends Alaska Nanooks hockey games, both in Fairbanks and on the road. He is active in a variety of groups supporting the UAF hockey program and has been instrumental in preserving Nanooks hockey history.

The Blue and Gold Celebration will begin at 6:30 p.m. The event includes a social hour, and program featuring the alumni awardees and the 2021 winners of the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards. Tickets for the event are $125 and include a Blue and Gold Celebration box mailed to each guest. For more information or to purchase tickets, go online to https://www.uaf.edu/blueandgold/.