Almost 15 years ago, I packed up my New York City life and moved to Fairbanks to begin a new job as director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

My friends, for the most part, were astonished. How could I give up the culture and vitality of life in the big city and a position at a world-renowned museum to move to a small university museum a mere 125 miles from the Arctic Circle? Looking back, it's easy to say I have no regrets.

When I arrived in Fairbanks, one of the first instructions I received from then-Chancellor Joan Wadlow was “expand the museum.” Today, the museum's expansion is complete and fully operational. The dramatic architecture is generating national and international media attention for the museum, for Fairbanks and for Alaska.

The excitement of seeing the dream for expansion become a reality pales in comparison to my enthusiasm for what's happening inside our walls. This is what makes the University of Alaska Museum of the North - a “small university museum” on the edge of the Alaskan wilderness - so exceptional:
•    Education programs that reach out to students in rural Alaska over the Internet.
•    New exhibit galleries that reflect life in the Great Land and capture the creativity and ingenuity Alaska's peoples.
•    Growing collections that document our state's rich biodiversity and thriving cultures — 1.4 million artifacts and specimens ranging from dinosaur fossils to contemporary Alaska Native art.
•    New programs that help expand our audiences beyond the typical “museumgoer.”

Of course, we couldn't do this without an incredible community of support - our volunteers, research colleagues, donors, students, corporate partners, elders, artists and friends. I hope you share in our excitement and take pride in knowing you've helped make all this possible.

Aldona Jonaitis
Museum Director