The UA Board of Regents met in Anchorage Dec. 3-4. At the meeting, the board elected Brian Rogers, chair; Elsa Froehlich Demeksa, vice chair; Frances Rose, secretary; and Joseph Usibelli, treasurer. UA's contract with the Alaska Community Colleges Federation of Teachers was approved and the board authorized the sale of general revenue bonds. The board also approved the sale of land from UAF's Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station in Palmer to Triad Hospitals, Inc. Proceeds from the sale will be placed into the Inflation Proofing Fund of the Land Grant Trust Fund.

The UAF website is being redesigned, and your input is needed. Check out the redesigned site at www.uaf.edu/uaf/proof2/ or click on the "test drive" image found on the UAF home page and UAF second-level pages. Please provide feedback through the online survey, available at the redesigned home page. The deadline for comments is Dec. 17 at 5 p.m.

There are many construction projects still underway on campus. Work on the Thompson Drive extension will continue through this winter. The construction impact on campus should be limited to traffic modifications around Farm Road and Tanana Loop. Keep an eye out for traffic revisions and construction crews. The first phase of the UA Museum of the North Expansion Project will be complete by next summer with the entire project scheduled for completion by December 2004. The grand opening for the new wing is scheduled in April 2005.

Return to Top

Jeanne Havemeister was recently awarded the 2003 Alaska Woman in Agriculture Award by SNRAS and AFES. Havemeister runs one of the state's top producing dairy farms near Palmer. This award recognizes women's outstanding contributions to agriculture.

Return to Top

UAF men's basketball Ice Fog Classic tips off Dec. 29-30 at 8 p.m. when UAF takes on Columbia Union and Lake Superior State. The Nanooks will face Seattle University Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. and Northwest Nazarene Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. All games are in the Patty Gym. For more information call 7205 or visit www.gonanooks.com.

Mallory Bergstrom, a junior on UAF's volleyball team, was recently named honorable mention All-American for 2003 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The UAF hockey team faces off against Northern Michigan Jan. 16-17 andBowling Green Jan. 23-24. Both games are at 7 p.m. in the Carlson Center. For more information call 7205 or visit www.gonanooks.com.

The UAF women's basketball team took second place in the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational tournament. UAF beat Morgan State to advance to the championship game against Army. The Nanooks' next home games are Jan. 15 against Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m. and Jan. 17 against Central Washington at 3 p.m. in the Patty Gym. For more information call 7205 or visit www.gonanooks.com.

Return to Top

A Time for Action

The formal announcement of the composition of the Chancellor Search Committee signaled the official beginning of our effort to recruit UAF's next chief executive. While it's true that faculty and staff form the backbone of a university, there is no doubt that the chief executive exerts an enormous influence over the operation and direction of an institution.

Making a good choice in the selection of our next chancellor is one of the most important tasks before us. What can we do to maximize our chances of making our choice a good one? As I've read, thought and talked about leadership over the past several years, I've been struck by a few things that are worthy of our consideration as we ponder that question. First, with a single exception, there is no commonly agreed-upon set of "must have" characteristics of good leaders. Integrity seems to be on everyone's list, but agreement ends there. Second, there is no "most effective" style of leadership. Although the trend in recent years has been away from the "command" style and toward the "team leader" concept, there are many effective approaches to leadership. Finally, the style and approach of the leader must be a good match with the nature and character of the organization he or she leads.

All this leads me to urge the entire UAF community to action. The search committee will begin meeting soon, and one of their first tasks will be to define the experiences and qualities we are seeking in our next chancellor. I believe the committee has some pretty clear directions, in the form of a strategic plan and an academic development plan, about where we are heading. However, I think they need our considered opinions about the type of person we need to lead us.

We can expect to find someone with a broad range of experience and a complete set of valuable personal qualities. Nevertheless, we have to set some priorities. In that context, let me pose some questions - just to get us all thinking and talking. Would you prefer someone who is more comfortable in the world of competitive academic research or in the world of rural Alaska? What substantive difference, if any, would it make if our next chancellor were a physicist or an accountant or a musician? Would you prefer that he or she regularly reads poetry or the Congressional Record? Do we need a change agent? I leave the rest of the questions to you; but I urge you to formulate them, to discuss them with your colleagues and to let the search committee members know your priorities. This is not a time to sit on the sidelines-get involved!

The chancellor's website will be set up to provide additional information and serve as a forum to provide comments.

Return to Top