Regents approve Indigenous studies center, planetarium at UAF

The University of Alaska Board of Regents on Friday approved two projects that will reshape the University of Alaska Fairbanks Troth Yeddha' Campus.
In a unanimous vote, regents approved schematic designs for the $53 million Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center and an $8.3 million planetarium addition at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. The vote allows UAF to move forward with both projects.

The Indigenous studies center will be built between the museum and the Reichardt Building on UAF’s Troth Yeddha’ Campus in Fairbanks. The 40,300-square-foot building will house academic and research units within UAF’s College of Rural and Community Development, as well as Rural Student Services and the Rural Alaska Honors Institute.

"The Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center is essential to our continued growth as an R-1 [research] institution and for positioning ourselves as a destination university with cultural, academic and research distinction," said Charlene Stern, UAF’s vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education, during a board subcommittee meeting. "Troth isn’t just a project to help UAF achieve these goals; it is the project."

Funding for the center will come from a combination of private and corporate gifts, foundation grants and public sources. Regents approved $9 million in expenditures, which will allow UAF to complete the design of the center and begin site preparation this year. In the meantime, UAF will continue to raise the additional funds to complete the project. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2025.

Construction of the planetarium is slated to begin this spring. When it opens in fall 2025, the 5,700-square-foot addition to the west end of the museum will house a 65-seat planetarium under a 10-meter dome. A planetarium has been part of the vision for the museum since it opened in 1980 and also a longtime goal of the UAF Geophysical Institute.

"The planetarium is an incredibly successful product of a collaboration and alignment of goals with the Geophysical Institute, the Museum of the North and an incredibly generous donor who is very interested in helping their community," said museum director Pat Druckenmiller. The project is primarily funded by a $7.4 million anonymous private donation.

The planetarium will be a draw for visitors to Fairbanks and has the potential to be a boon for tourism in Alaska and the Interior, Druckenmiller said. "For Alaskans, I think it will be particularly transformative, especially for K-12 students, who I think will be inspired by all the really cool science that happens here at the university."

VIDEO: Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center

NOTE TO EDITORS: Drawings of both the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center and the planetarium are available for download from the UAF press download folder. 

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