Students, faculty participate in science and diplomacy in the Arctic program at Dartmouth College

July 18, 2017

University Relations

Mary Ehrlander, professor of history and director of Arctic and Northern studies; Brandon Boylan, associate professor of political science and associate director of Arctic and Northern studies; and Troy Bouffard, instructor of homeland security and emergency management at UAF, co-organized a week-long program focused on science and diplomacy in the Arctic at Dartmouth College June 26-30. Dartmouth organizers include Melody Burkins Brown, associate director for programs and research in the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and adjunct professor in environmental studies; and Leah Sarson, a postdoctoral fellow with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Carolyn Kozak, an M.A. student in Arctic and Northern studies, and history majors Denae Benson and Owen Fulton joined 22 other students to participate in the program.

The program featured lectures on the Arctic politics and environment, Arctic Council, and leadership from leading experts; a negotiation simulation; and a Model Arctic Council. Boylan, Ehrlander and Bouffard organized the Model Arctic Council. This is the second Model Arctic Council they organized, with the first held at UAF in March 2016. The Model Arctic Council is an ongoing initiative, organized as a thematic network of the University of the Arctic, of which UAF is a member.

The program educates students about Arctic politics and governance, the Arctic Council, and science and diplomacy in an Arctic context, and helps them develop leadership and negotiations skills.

Lecturers included Ross Virginia, director of the Institute of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College; Kah Walla, Cameroonian political leader, activist and entrepreneur; Tina Woods, senior director of Community Health Services, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; and Oran Young, professor emeritus, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ed Alexander of Gwich'in Council International and Ann Meceda of the U.S. Department of State provided guidance and encouragement to students as they participated in the Model Arctic Council.

The full program can be found at http://dickey.dartmouth.edu/global-engagement/conferences-initiatives/science-and-diplomacy-arctic.