UAF names 2024 honorary degree, service award recipients

The University of Alaska Fairbanks has selected five people to honor during its 2024 commencement weekend in May.

Honorary doctorates will be presented to Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney, Neal Fried and Mead Treadwell. Sarah Keller and Meg Nordale will receive Meritorious Service Awards.

Honorary doctorates recognize recipients’ lasting contributions to the state and nation, and significant achievements in recipients’ respective disciplines.

Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney

Master weaver and Indigenous knowledge bearer Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Born and raised in Kake, she learned the art of weaving and the importance of sharing traditional knowledge from her grandmother. Cheney has practiced and taught weaving for decades, combining ancestral wisdom with contemporary concerns about environmental stewardship. She has documented her knowledge through photos and videos, and in 2017 published a book, “Weaving Our World.” Cheney has received many awards, including the Alaska Federation of Natives’ Culture Bearer Award, the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council’s Mayor’s Award and the President’s Everyday Hero Award from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She was executive secretary in the Office of the Governor, tribal administrator for the Qutekcak Native Tribe, cultural educator at Floyd Dryden Middle School and external relations coordinator for Sheldon Jackson College. She completed the Community Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Neal Fried

Alumnus Neal Fried will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Vienna, Fried received a bachelor of business administration in economics from UAF in 1978. He served as an economist for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development for 45 years, producing vital data on employment, economic forecasts and labor trends for the State of Alaska. Fried is widely recognized for his insightful analysis of the state's economy, labor force and key industries, including oil and gas, construction, the military, and health care. Fried wrote many articles for Alaska Economic Trends and presented at numerous conferences, developing a reputation for his ability to distill complex data into understandable and engaging information. Alaska state Sen. Click Bishop, a former state labor commissioner, wrote in his nominating letter, “Neal Fried is the EF Hutton of Alaska. When Neal speaks, everyone listens. He’s that good. He’s that dependable. He’s that solid.” 

Mead Treadwell

Mead Treadwell will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Treadwell has been an outspoken advocate for Alaska, UAF and Arctic research on local, national and international platforms for more than 45 years. He served as lieutenant governor, chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and deputy commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation. He co-founded the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and the Prince William Sound Science Center, and he directed the Institute of the North. He pushed for Arctic Ocean shipping safety and reliability rules, research to preserve Alaska Native languages and an Arctic human health research plan. Treadwell helped establish a permanent advisor on polar regions in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was instrumental in securing construction of the research vessel Sikuliaq, which UAF operates. As an author, investor and lecturer, Treadwell focuses on strategic and defense issues facing Alaska and the Arctic, managing Alaska’s shared resources, and integrating Arctic transport and telecommunications.

Meritorious Service Awards recognize significant public, academic, volunteer or philanthropic service to the university or an Alaska community.

Sarah Keller

Wildlife biologist and UAF alumna Sarah Keller has supported the university and the community of Fairbanks for decades, both as a volunteer and a donor. She came to Alaska in 1978 to work on avian use of estuarine habitats. While working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, she earned her master’s degree in natural resources at UAF, graduating in 1990. Raising two daughters, she volunteered in schools, starting as an officer with Fairbanks Montessori School Board. For more than two decades, she helped organize Fairbanks school science fairs, recruiting UAF scientists to serve as judges. Keller is an officer on the KUAC Friends Group board of directors and volunteers on-air during fundraising events. She is a member of the UA Museum of the North advisory council. In addition to their longtime support of UAF athletics, Keller and her husband, Cary, have made a significant gift to UA’s teacher education programs.

Meg Nordale

Meg Nordale’s great-grandparents came to Fairbanks in 1908, and their descendants have been active in Alaska civic life ever since. In that tradition, Nordale not only personally contributes to the university but also leads Ghemm Co., a Fairbanks general contracting firm that has been a corporate donor since the 1970s. Nordale joined Ghemm in 1994 after a career in insurance and risk management and became the firm’s president in 2015. That same year, she served as president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. Nordale serves on the UAF chancellor’s board of advisors and currently chairs the UA Foundation’s board of directors. She recently led a statewide committee of academic and industry experts seeking to enhance construction management training to meet Alaska’s workforce demands. She is an active KUAC volunteer, and Ghemm provides matching gifts to the station during biannual fundraising events.

UAF will celebrate Cheney, Fried, Treadwell, Keller and Nordale at this year’s Honoree Recognition Ceremony on Friday, May 3, at 5 p.m. at the Davis Concert Hall on the Troth Yeddha’ Campus in Fairbanks.

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