UAF interim chancellor candidate announced

June 6, 2016

A forum to pose questions to Dana Thomas, a candidate for the UAF interim chancellor position, is scheduled for 5 p.m. on June 21. The event will be held at the Schaible Auditorium on the UAF campus. Questions for the candidate can be submitted in advance here.

University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen only submitted Thomas as a potential candidate for the UAF interim chancellor post to the Fairbanks community for comment/feedback and for consultation with UAF governance.

Thomas is the former UA vice president of academic affairs and research. If selected, he would succeed Interim Chancellor Mike Powers, who steps down Aug. 1, and would lead UAF for the next 12 months.

Feedback on the candidate is sought. You can submit comments to President Johnsen to consider when filling the interim chancellor position here. President Johnsen will make his final decision on the post June 30.

Can't attend the forum in person? Tune in via live stream.

As interim chancellor, Thomas would lead UAF through its continued evolution as the premier Arctic research university, the continued commitment to campus safety, efforts to complete the UAF engineering building and the celebration of UAF’s centennial in 2017.

Thomas was born and raised in Fairbanks, is a UAF alumnus and was the statewide vice president of academic affairs and research from 2012 to 2014. He served six years as chair of UAF's Department of Mathematics and Statistics. In 2005, Thomas received the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching Award for sustained excellence in teaching at UAF. From 2006 to 2012, Thomas served as UAF's vice provost and accreditation liaison officer. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities asked him to serve as an institutional accreditation evaluator of other institutions. In addition to his distinguished career in teaching, Thomas is recognized for his interdisciplinary research on the design and analysis of studies assessing food and habitat selection by animals. His career also features contributions at the international level, including work for two years in the Republic of Yemen facilitating a national survey of agriculture and two years in the Sultanate of Oman improving their fisheries statistics operations.

Thomas’ letter of application and full CV can be found at http://www.alaska.edu/pres/uaf-interim-chancellor-se/.