Friday Focus: Hearing from you

Sept. 27, 2024

— By Dan White, chancellor

How long does it take UAF employees to eat 500 ice creams? Well, according to data collected at Convocation on Sept. 12, the answer is a lot faster than we predicted! By the time I made it out of the auditorium, all of the ice cream and most of the sweatshirts were gone. Though sad for my anticipated ice cream delight, this was a good problem to have. This meant that so many of you (500 ice cream's worth) showed up to convocation. Thank you. And thank you to everyone at the rural campuses and remote employees who attended online! You are a part of Convocation and part of this great institution.

Last spring, the Employee Experience Task Force reviewed the data from the Fall 2023 employee survey and, among other recommendations (available here), recommended UAF increase opportunities for two-way communication with employees. Several teams are working on how to implement this recommendation on a broad scale across campus, but Convocation felt like the right place to start things off with a fun new polling platform. Over 250 people voted in the various polls, and we found out that UAF employees prefer muskox over ground squirrels, the sledding hill over the ice climbing wall, and we are somehow perfectly split (142:142) on blue versus gold. Thank you to the student-athletes who helped bring fun to this opening act!

On a more serious note, I also heard from you about your priorities. A majority of you voted that you are most excited about the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center being built on campus. UAF recently hired a lead fundraiser for the TYISC project, and I am confident that we will make significant progress on turning this building into a reality in the next year. You also voted that you want the next Chancellor’s Forum to focus on our R1 initiative. Heard! The Chancellor’s Forum on R1 is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. I hope to see you there.

In the meantime, we are also hosting an R1 Strategy Workshop on Oct. 17. We are a data-driven research university, and it is time for us to use our strengths to sharpen the strategy. It will also be an opportunity to dispel myths, anecdotes, and fears that may be holding us back. I am excited to see some new faces join the R1 conversation and “be the one in R1”!

This semester started off with a bang, and I am excited to keep the momentum going. Just in the past month, UAF welcomed thousands of students to campus, raised $163,000 at the Blue and Gold Celebration, and set the longest winning streak in Nanook volleyball’s program history. Coming up, we have forums, budget discussions, events, board meetings, midterms, Starvation Gulch, athletics games, and more! The semester is full of good things thanks to you. Thank you for participating, for showing up, and for being part of our community. Thanks for choosing UAF.

Friday Focus is written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week.