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George "Tex" Polk, '38, was recently honored by the U.S. Postal Service as one of five American journalists to have a stamp created in recognition of their achievements. Tex was the first editor of the student section of the Farthest North Collegian, the official UA newspaper under President Bunnell. Tex died in 1948 under mysterious circumstances while working as a CBS radio correspondent in Greece.

Walter Soboleff, '67, was honored by Bill Martin, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes, at the 96th Grand Camp Convention held in Ketchikan in October 2008.

Clara Johnson, '69, was honored at the 2008 Alaska Federation of Natives annual conference with the Eileen Panigeo Maclean Education Award. The award honors recipients for their commitment to and accomplishments that improve educational opportunities for Alaska Natives. Clara is the director of UA'’s Interior-Aleutians campus.
 

Jim Madonna, '73, won the 70 - 74 age division of the October 2008 St. George Marathon in Utah by 9 minutes with a time of 3:54:34, only two weeks after he set a new 70-plus age group record of 4:55:36 at the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks.

Joyce Mann, '74, and Kurt Pfitzer, '75, are enjoying the country life at their family farm in Quakertown, Penn. Their 8-year-old grandson, Dustin, is the "love of our lives. I'm celebrating four years cancer-free from an aggressive breast cancer. Love those Phillies!"
 

Bob Mattson, '79, '85, and Maria Byrnes Mattson, '86 -- "In 1986, after Maria graduated from UAF, we teamed up and moved to Japan where we taught English in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto until the spring of 1989 when we returned to my hometown, Juneau. Maria and I married and have based our lives in Juneau. Maria spent 13 years in real estate specializing in property management. In 2004 she took a long break and took a 7-month "drive-about" across the United States from Juneau down the West Coast, across the South to the East Coast and back. I joined her in Seattle for the final leg up Vancouver Island and back to Juneau. Refreshed, she began a new career joining a commercial electrical contracting firm in Juneau where she works as a bookkeeper. I began my career with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in 1989 as an environmental technician in the Douglas Laboratory. Following my tenure at the laboratory I became an environmental specialist in the Juneau district office, performing a wide variety of duties for most of the core programs in the department -- solid waste, air, drinking water, hazardous waste, water quality, domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater, contaminated sites and oil programs. In 1995 I joined the Southeast Area Response Team for ADEC's Prevention and Emergency Response Program and was promoted to the section manager level as the Southeast state on-scene coordinator. In June 2008 I became the manager of the Prevention and Emergency Response Program and am responsible for directing the state’s response to oil spills statewide. I am a past member of the National Ski Patrol and am an ongoing active member of the Civil Air Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Juneau. Maria is also an active member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the League of Women Voters.”
 

Terry Strle, '84, mayor of Fairbanks, donated a kidney to her cousin, Kathy Strle, in fall 2008.
 

David Kingsland, '88, '94, principal of the William H. Seward Elementary School in Seward, was presented a National Blue Ribbon School award on behalf of the school by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in fall 2008. The award was one of only two presented to schools in Alaska.
 

Kathie Horrace-Voigt, '94, is the chief resident at Bay Area Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. She will complete her current assignment and graduate from her residency in July. Kathie has traveled to Fairbanks each of the past two years to present information sessions to UAF students about the path to a medical degree.

Sam Enoka, '95, returned to UAF from California in November 2008 to offer his company's sponsorship for improving alumni mentorship. Sam is the current president and CFO of VIASYN, a company focusing on renewable energy markets, located in the San Francisco Bay area.

Michael Orr, '98, was named by Wells Fargo as senior business relationship manager for its Alaska Commercial Banking Group. Michael was cofounder of Financial Alaska and served as commercial loan officer for Alaska Growth Capital and director of development for Alaska Village Initiatives. He began his banking career with Wells Fargo’s predecessor, National Bank of Alaska, as a management trainee, and served as a personal banker and commercial relationship associate. Michael earned his master’s degree at Alaska Pacific University after earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from UAF.
 

Sara Harriger, '03, is a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi for the next two years. Last fall she took part in a three-day tour of Varanasi, India, as part of America Days, a program that attempts to help spread American representation in second-tier India cities. Prior to her new post, Sara spent a year at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she helped to set up Laura Bush's visit to the first breast cancer detection center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Brian Jones, '07, recently made headlines in Japan for his skill at Go. Go is a Japanese game of strategy where white and black stones compete for territory. It is the oldest board game that still exists today. It is practically a national sport in Japan, similar in popularity to the Western game of chess. A quote from the Kyoto newspaper article said, "Brian comes from the state of Alaska, in America, where you can see the aurora." Brian currently lives in Japan and works at a junior high school.
 

Da-ka-xeen Mehner, '07, was included in a group of artists featured in the i-den-ti-ty show at the Alaska House in the SoHo District of New York, curated by the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. The show's promotional website states, "The show features work that articulates identity through the lens of the artist. The exhibit includes video, digital photography, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional work by Alaska Native artists and illustrates the painful and sometimes ironic definitions of identity and how, and/or if it is measured. The construction of identity, whether it be racial, legal or cultural and the deconstruction of it vis-ą-vis the artists' perspective provides a new pathway to view identity as it relates to indigenous peoples and reconceptualizes the colonial and racial notions of identity."

James G. Ambrose, '78, '85, Nov. 4, Anchorage

Stephanie L. Foint-Richey, '95, Oct. 31, Fayetteville, Ark.

Micki Kobylk, '02, Nov. 13, Sterling, Alaska

Harvey W. Marlin, Jr., Matric, Nov. 5, Palm Desert, Calif.

Phil Rounds, battalion chief at the UAF Fire Department, Nov. 21, Fairbanks

Heinz Wiechen, research faculty, Nov. 23, Fairbanks

Karen Wood, '03, Nov. 17, Boise, Idaho