Jake Poole has been named vice chancellor for university advancement and community engagement. Poole, currently director of TVC, will oversee UAF development, alumni affairs, athletics, KUAC and university relations. The alumni association will remain a separate entity. Rick Caulfield, CRA, has been appointed interim director of TVC. Poole and Caulfield will begin their new duties on Sept. 19. UAF will conduct a national search for a new TVC director.

Joan Braddock has been named dean of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics. Braddock served as interim dean of CSEM since 2003. CSEM was split earlier this year into CNSM and the College of Engineering and Mines (CEM).

The UA Board of Regents met in Fairbanks Sept. 14-15. For more information and meeting minutes visit www.alaska.edu/bor/.

Chancellor Jones approved the UAF Master Planning Committee's recommendations for the addition of a modular building next to the two existing units near the Arctic Health Building and the implementation of the GI plan to thin trees around the SAR antenna dish to maintain the required capture angle. For more information visit
www.uaf.edu/mastplan/.

Dejan Raskovic, OEM and CEM, received a National Science Foundation grant for research on distributed sensor networks. Raskovic, working with Denise Thorsen, CEM, and two researchers from the University of Alabama Huntsville, will use resources of the OEM and build a new laboratory for energy profiling of sensor nodes and distributed sensor networks.

The Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel helped the Nunivak Island Cultural Education and Adventures LLC this summer with a 10-day concentrated biology course designed to blend Western academic and traditional subsistence sciences. For more information visit http://64.62.196.98/news/2004/004114.asp.

Usibelli Coal Mine's recent gift to the Honors Program for the Usibelli Honors Scholarship endowment brings its total donation since 1997 to $187,000.

Sign up to receive news releases and feature stories via e-mail or submit announcements and story ideas in UAF's online newsroom at www.uaf.edu/news/.

UAF offered a special class this summer, ART 295, in which students participated in a painting field trip to the Brooks Range. For more information check out the feature story on the news room at www.uaf.edu/news/featured/.

The Alaska Club is offering university employees a discount and special incentives to join. The offer is valid until Nov. 30. For more information contact the club at 452-6801 or 456-1914, or visit www.thealaskaclub.com.

The UAF web guidelines provide instructions on how to create a more cohesive identity across UAF websites and help departments create, maintain and showcase their web resources. Review them at
www.uaf.edu/univrel/guide/web/.

You'll find the academic calendar along with UAF's strategic, academic development and crisis communication plans in UAF's online newsroom at www.uaf.edu/news/ under resources.

Many departmental newsletters are available in UAF's online newsroom, along with links to information offices across campus, at www.uaf.edu/news/ under links.

The Permanent Fund Economic Forum, a discussion with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation managers about global economic trends, takes place Sept. 21 in Schaible Auditorium from 9:30-11:30 a.m. For more information call 465-2058.

"Earth's Climate: Past Changes and Future Prospects," an eight-part lecture by John Kutzbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison, takes place Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Elvey Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. through Oct. 5. The next lecture is Sept. 21.

The athletic department is hosting its fourth annual women's sports luncheon Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m. in the Westmark Fairbanks Gold Room. All coaches and student athletes from UAF's women's teams will be in attendance. Admission is $25 per person and you may register online for the event at www.uaf.edu/giving/events.html. For more information or to R.S.V.P., contact Amanda Wall at 6631 or amanda.wall@uaf.edu.

TVC and the FNSB School District are holding a dedication ceremony for the Hutchison Institute of Technology Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. For more information call 2857.

New staff hired in the last six months are invited to a Welcome to UAF Employee Orientation Sept. 24 from 9 a.m.-noon in the Wood Center Memorial Conference Room. For more information or to R.S.V.P. contact Scott McCrea at 2857 or fnsjm@uaf.edu.

The Grant Institute is holding Grants 101: Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop at UAA Sept. 27-29. This course offers an intensive and detailed introduction to the process, structure and skills needed for professional proposal writing. For more information visit www.thegrantinstitute.com.

The 2004 Alumni Reunion will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 2. Everyone is invited to attend the alumni awards luncheon at Pike's Waterfront Lodge Oct. 1 featuring this year's alumni award winners. Register for reunion events, including the luncheon, at www.uaf.edu/alumni/. For more information call 7081.

A violin recital by Linda Rosenthal takes place Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall. For more information call 5733 or visit www.fairbankssymphony.org.

The Visiting Writers Series opens its season with a reading by Renee Manfredi, CLA, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the UA Museum of the North. For more information call 7193.
Note: This event has been cancelled.

The UAF Badminton Association is hosting a tournament Oct. 2 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Patty Center. For more information contact fbsmash@uaf.edu.

The Arctic Chamber Orchestra is holding a concert Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall. For more information visit www.fairbankssymphony.org.

Career Services is hosting Engineering and Computer Science Week Oct. 4-8 and Accounting Week Oct. 18-22. Recruiters from major firms will be on campus. For more information contact 7596 or fycsc@uaf.edu or visit www.uaf.edu/career/.

David O. Ogbe, CEM, received a recognition award for outstanding contributions and support for the Society of Petroleum Engineers' activities in Nigeria and the oil and gas industry at the 28th annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigeria Council of the Society of Petroleum Engineers held in August.

UAF's 2003-2004 Outstanding Academic Advising Award recipients were recognized by the National Academic Advising Association for their contributions. For more information visit www.nacada.ksu.edu/awards/.

Anne-Sophie Taillandier, a former GI intern, won the Outstanding Student Paper Award in the Cryosphere Sciences Focus Group at the 2004 American Geophysical Union-Canadian Geophysical Union joint assembly.

The UAF cross-country running team takes on Seattle Pacific Sept. 23 on the UAF trails and Sept. 25 at Birch Hill. For more information visit www.gonanooks.com.

The Nanook volleyball team faces off with St. Martin's College Sept. 24 and Central Washington Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Patty Center.

UAF hockey's Blue and Gold Scrimmage takes place Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Patty Center Ice Arena. A picnic will follow the game.

Sept. 24, 2004: Submissions for the Technology Advisory Board competitions for innovative technology and education, and departmental/specific-use lab support are due Sept. 24. For more information visit www.uaf.edu/tab/.

Oct. 1, 2004: Applications for the 2005 spring semester North2North exchange program are due to the Office of International Programs. For more information contact 5327 or fyoip@uaf.edu or visit www.uarctic.org/north2north/.

Oct. 1, 2004: Proposals for the Faculty Cross-Campus Collaboration Award are due to the CRA dean's office. The award, available to all regular UAF faculty, encourages collaboration between CRA campuses and the Fairbanks campus or other UAF units. For more information contact Richard Caulfield at 5573 or ffrac@uaf.edu.

Campus somehow seemed unusual through most of August. We at first attributed our feeling to the persistent smoke. With the arrival of students at month's end, however, we realized that what made August odd was an empty campus, with none of the vibrancy and sense of urgency that the students bring.

Orientation activities kept us busy and stimulated thoughts about our university that I relayed to parents, new students, international students and student athletes. Some excerpts from those remarks will give you a sense of what's important here at UAF as the new semester begins:

To Parents: We will do everything we can to make sure your children succeed at UAF. We urge you to keep in touch with them, stay involved with their lives and be there for them.

To Students: We are committed to our students, providing a safe environment for living and learning, world class instruction, facilities that meet your learning needs and services to help you adjust to UAF.

To International Students: We welcome you with a special sense of appreciation for what you bring to UAF-diverse cultural and life experiences, enriching the learning environment for all students and a different set of perspectives to share with all of us.

To Student Athletes: Athletics at UAF serves three inter-related objectives: Develop student athletes for competition and for life; provide a vehicle for the university to connect to the greater community, giving our alumni, our friends and our supporters a reason to come to, and come back to, UAF; and serve as a mechanism for rallying our faculty, staff and students around the university.

The new semester is symbolic of new and promising times ahead for UAF. As faculty and staff, you are essential sparks in igniting a sense of excitement, pride and potential in our institution. The flame is burning bright thanks to your commitment, dedication and shared optimism for our institution's future.