UAF to present honorary degree, Meritorious Service Award

April 19, 2019

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will present an honorary doctoral degree and a Meritorious Service Award on Saturday, May 4, 2019, at its 97th commencement ceremony.

The honorary doctorate will be presented to the Rev. Anna Frank, who has served Alaskans for more than half a century as a community health aide, counselor and priest. Linda G. Hulbert, an educator and UAF advocate, will receive a Meritorious Service Award.

Honorary degree recipients are chosen for their lasting contributions to Alaska and the nation, and for significant achievements in their disciplines. Frank will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Frank was raised in the Old Minto village, where she lived a subsistence lifestyle in a family of 13 children. She began her career as a community health aide and postmistress in Minto, while also serving as a deacon in the Episcopal Church. After moving to Fairbanks, she continued in that role for the church and worked for Tanana Chiefs Conference in the Health Educator Department, becoming the first village traveling counselor in 1976. In 1983, the Episcopal Church ordained Frank as its first female Native American priest.

In her various roles, Frank has served as a counselor, confidante and source of spiritual strength. She has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Denakkanaaga elders group and the Alaska Commission on Aging. At UAF, she has been an elder advisor to the rural human services program.

Hulbert will receive a Meritorious Service Award, which recognizes service to the local community or state.

Hulbert and her late husband, John, moved to Alaska in 1968. She spent most of her first two decades in Alaska as an educator, focusing on adult education and job training programs. For nearly 30 years she has worked in the private sector assisting others with their estate planning, business development and charitable giving.

In 2012, Hulbert created the John R. Hulbert Memorial Scholarship, which is for students who attend UAF’s Community and Technical College after a lengthy absence from school. Hulbert served on the boards of the University of Alaska Foundation and Nine Star Education & Employment Services, and on the Alaska Workforce Investment Board.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Marmian Grimes, 907-474-7902, mlgrimes@alaska.edu.