headlines
The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center recently installed a new
IBM supercomputer and upgraded its existing units. The new system, nick-named
Icehawk, has 200 processors, 92 gigabytes of memory and one terabyte of
disk space. Icehawk is now the fastest computer at ARSC and doubles the
center's computational capacity. The upgrade is part of a three-phase
expansion being completed this summer. For more information visit http://www.arsc.edu.
UAF's Institute of Arctic Biology's
Large Animal Research Committee has cancelled public and school
tours at the Large Animal Research Station. Visitors are also prohibited
near animal areas at UAF's Palmer and Fairbanks agricultural experimental
farms. Georgeson Botanical Gardens will remain open with visitors restricted
to the garden and visitor areas. This action was taken to protect UAF's
animal population from the possible spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
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for your information
The UAF Master Planning Committee recently provided 30 volunteers
from the university and the Fairbanks community with point-and-shoot cameras.
The participants were asked to photograph what they think makes UAF special,
what they would like to see changed or what they think needs improvement.
The project, on display in Wood Center through June 8, is designed to
bring community involvement to the master-planning process. For more information
visit http://www.uaf.edu/mastplan/.
UAF was one of the top five contributors to the 2000 United Way
campaign. As a thank you, United Way is planning a positive picketing
campaign May 8 to draw attention to UAF's efforts. The top five contributors
were UAF, Alyeska, Williams, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and GVEA.
The UA timber purchaser in Icy Bay, Alaska has ordered its operator
to cease all logging and hauling activity until a clean-up of hazardous
materials is complete. The spills were discovered during an inspection
by university and state personnel. The site includes areas where materials,
such as petroleum and antifreeze, were not properly contained.
The latest draft accreditation self-study report is available
online for review at http://www.uaf.edu/provost/accreditation.
The deadline for comments is May 25. For more information, contact accreditation
steering committee co-chairs Ron Gatterdam at 6174 or ffrwg@uaf.edu
or Dana Thomas at 6103 or ffdlt@uaf.edu
Organizers of UAF's Top of the World
Classic pre-season basketball tournament heaved a sigh of relief
after the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted to postpone a decision
which would have eliminated an exemption concerning the number of games
allowed during the season. The board has requested a study on key areas
involved in this issue to be completed by January 2004. The field for
the 2001 TOWC which gets underway Nov. 15 includes Bowling Green, Butler,
Delaware, Mississippi, Radford, Wichita State, Washington, and our UAF
Nanooks.
The IAB director search committee has begun the application review
process, but applications are still being accepted for this position.
For more information contact fydir@uaf.edu.
UAF Codes and Safety reminds faculty and staff members planning
a campus event that they should fill out an "application for special
event" form at least two weeks in advance of the scheduled event.
The form is available online at http://www.safetyservices.uaf.edu/codes.htm.
For more information contact Codes and Safety at 5413 or fycodes@uaf.edu.
The UA Museum hosted
its 2001 Chocolate Bash in April and gathered $14,000 for the museum endowment.
The Luce Foundation of New York announced they will present a $325,000
grant for furnishings and equipment for the museum's new gallery, $75,000
more than requested.
UAF's Geophysical Institute
and the Poker Flat research range
recently hosted nearly 60 Alaska Native middle school students, elders
and teachers from Kotzebue and Buckland who participated in an enrichment
program to improve science and math skills. The visit was funded by a
grant from the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Aurora Alive
enrichment program.
Orientation
UAF is looking for student leaders for the Fall 2001 semester.
The program runs August 29 - Sept. 5 with housing and meals provided during
the week before school begins. For more information contact Carrie Dershin
at fncjd@uaf.edu.
The UAF LIFE Program reminds faculty and staff that Summer Sessions
offers courses that can help you stay fit over the summer including scuba
training, yoga, golf, fitness walking, tennis and karate. For more information
visit http://www.uaf.edu/summer/.
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events
The UAF Spring Softball Classic pits UAF faculty and staff against
students May 5 at 1 p.m. in the athletic fields in front of the Student
Recreation Center (SRC). The classic consists of three single-elimination
five-inning games, followed by a barbecue before the championship contest.
The umpires for the games will be Chancellor Lind and President Hamilton.
The University Women's Association
Spring Recycle sale takes place May 5 from noon - 2:30 p.m. in the
Wood Center Ballroom. Sales are on a cash-only basis. Anyone associated
with UAF is eligible to sell items at this sale. Check-in for sale items
is from 7:30 - 10 a.m. May 5. For more information contact Cam Carlson
at 479-2348.
The art works of Yelena Matusevich, CLA, are currently on display
at the Dog House restaurant through May 31.
The UAF Bookstore
is holding a spring customer appreciation sale May 7 - 13. All clothing,
insignia items, gifts and Alaska books will be 20 percent off. A drawing
for a camping package will also be held.
Celebrating UAF Staff Day May 17 begins with a staff convocation
and continues with the longevity awards program and picnic. The convocation
will be held in the Davis Concert Hall with coffee in the Great Hall from
8 - 8:45 a.m., Chancellor Lind's remarks at 8:45 a.m. and the "Cultivating
Winning Attitudes" seminar from 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The picnic and
awards program runs from 12:30 - 3 p.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom For
more information visit http://www.uaf.edu/uafgov/www/picnic/picnic.html.
KUAC-TV and FM Family Day will
be held June 14 from 1 - 5 p.m. in the Great Hall. This event is free.
And it's not too early to start planning for the annual Red Green Regatta
which begins July 14 at the launch area near the University Avenue bridge.
Rules clearly state that each entry must use at least one role of duct
tape. For more information or to register call 5036.
The Fairbanks Flutists are celebrating their 20th anniversary
with a concert May 17 at 8 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall. The 16-member
ensemble will present classical, folk and dance music with a reception
following in the Great Hall. For more information call 7555.
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grants & awards
Leonard Kamerling, CLA and UA Museum, has received the Excellence
in Documentary award at the second annual College of Education Film Festival
for his work "Heart of the Country." This film also received
the American Anthropological Association's Award of Commendation for excellence
in visual anthropology in November 2000.
Laura Milner, SOM, has been selected for a Fulbright Scholar award
for 2001 - 2002. Milner will be helping the business school at the University
of Cape Town in South Africa develop a tourism program.
UAF's Native
American Business Leaders (NABL) student club, the only Alaskan
chapter of the American Indian
Business Leaders' Organization (AIBL), recently received the AIBL
Chapter of the Year Award.
UAF's Faculty Advisor manual has been selected as an Outstanding
Publication Award winner in the advisor category. It's one of 16 publications
to be honored in the National Academic Advising Association's national
awards program for 2001.
The Alaska Press Club
awards for 2000 included KUAC-FM
staff and programs: Amy Mayer tied for first in the Best Public Affairs
category; Theresa Bakker took second for Best Arts Story; Libby Casey
received honorable mention in the Best Education Reporting category; and
"Alaska Edition" took third for Best Daily News Program.
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institutional accreditation
by Roger Norris-Tull, Dean, School of Education
Preparing the School of Education self-study for UAF's upcoming northwest
association accreditation review has been, as we expected, a valuable
and revealing process for our faculty, staff and myself. By working closely
with Planning, Analysis and Institutional Research (PAIR), we have been
able to retrieve critical data that has never been accessible before.
Much of the data will be applicable to our upcoming National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) review in addition to the northwest
review. The analysis and interpretation of that data by the entire faculty
and staff yielded immediate benefits by enabling us to make essential
structural and programmatic changes based on the quantitative and nominal
data which is now available.
What we discovered, but hadn't anticipated, was that preparing the School
of Education self-study provided us with a context for a depth of self-scrutiny
that went significantly beyond the value of the hard data we gathered.
The process enabled us to put the School of Education's troubled past
into a more instructive perspective. It helped us discover the importance
of defining who we are and what we value today. And perhaps most importantly,
it helped us complete the process of articulating a shared vision of our
future.
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