UAF to dedicate new fisheries building in Juneau

Submitted by Carin Stephens
Phone: 907-322-8730
04/23/09

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will dedicate the new Lena Point Fisheries Building in Juneau on Tuesday, April 28. Construction on the building was completed in October 2008.

Gov. Sarah Palin will speak at the ceremony, along with University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton and Rep. Beth Kerttula. Walter Soboleff, a Tlingit scholar and leader, will lead the invocation.

At about 30,000 square feet, the three-story building offers the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences fisheries division much needed space, vital for program accreditation and expansion. The building accommodates 10 fisheries faculty members, 27 graduate students and nine administrative and research staff members.

The Lena Point Fisheries Building also provides two classrooms and 11 laboratories, including computer labs for statistical analysis to wet labs with a running seawater system and saltwater tanks for studying live marine organisms.

The building is located at Lena Point, along the coast of Lena Cove, about nine miles from downtown Juneau. Located next to the new NOAA Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute, Alaska's largest fisheries research facility, UAF scientists and students can continue and expand their long collaborative relationship with NOAA.

UAF offers the only graduate-level degrees in fisheries in Alaska and has awarded more than 150 such degrees. Many of UAF's fisheries graduates go on to work for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

About SFOS
The UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences conducts world-class marine and fisheries research, education and outreach across Alaska, the Arctic and Antarctic. 55 faculty scientists and 135 students are engaged in building knowledge about Alaska and the world's coastal and marine ecosystems. SFOS is headquartered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and serves the state from facilities located in Seward, Juneau, Anchorage and Kodiak.