A sampling of Shirish Patil's service and professional awards is impressive: The Emil Usibelli Distinguished Public Service Award. Alaska Engineer of the Year. UAF Faculty Senator of the Year. Outstanding Faculty Award from the UAF student chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers -- eight times.

For Patil, excellence in higher education is more than a job -- it's his passion -- a passion which he put to good use in spring 2007 as a member of the UAF Vision 2017 Task Force faculty and staff development work group. The task force made recommendations on how UAF can position itself to become one of the world's premier arctic research and teaching universities by 2017, when UAF will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

But the high point of Patil's year was participating in UAF's 2007 commencement ceremonies as he completed a doctorate in mineral resource engineering and his son earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

"We didn't plan it that way; it just turned out like that," Patil says.

For the past 20 years Patil has introduced UAF engineering students to the fine points of the petroleum industry, guiding students to degrees which have led them to careers all over Alaska and the world.

Patil's daughter will receive dual degrees from UAF in two years and plans to go to medical school; his wife is also a UAF graduate. "Then the entire family will be UAF alumni," Patil says. Impressive indeed.