Forrest Karr was recently named Director of Athletics and Recreation at UAF. Karr had served as interim director since the resignation of Dr. Cory Schwartz last year.

Karr previously worked as the school's NCAA compliance coordinator, and had been on-staff for less than a year when he was appointed as interim director.

"Despite the high turnover rate in the department, things are going well," Karr said.

During Schartz's two and a half years at UAF, several coaches resigned and her associate director quit after allegations of sexual harassment were lodged against him. At the same time, UAF athletes excelled in the classroom and in competitions, and the department added a women's swim team.

Karr came to UAF in August 2004 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School that May.

Karr, who has a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and a business degree from Notre Dame is no stranger to collegiate athletics.

During the 1996-1999 seasons, Karr was a four-year letter-winner in goal for the Fighting Irish hockey team, earning the Most Valuable Player title his senior year. He was also named to the CCHA's All-Academic Team, for his performance off the ice in the classroom.

After receiving his law degree, Karr worked as a legal clerk for a private firm, as well as the NCAA's legal division.

What does this background bring to UAF? Karr has several ideas he wants to implement as Athletic Director.

"The immediate one is to increase women's scholarships," Karr said. "This year we gave out a total of 34 men's full-ride scholarships in total, and we gave out about 23 women's full-ride scholarships. So we actually have more female student athletes than males. More than 50 percent of our student athletes are females, and I'd really like that scholarship number to get up around 50 percent as well. I think we definitely need to find a way to do this."

From various outside sources, such as the Fairbanks Youth Sports Association and Coca-Cola, Karr has secured enough funding for two additional scholarships. "But we still have ways to go to get them evened out," he said.

What else is on the agenda? "The next big project for me is a new weight room for student athletes. I don't want the other students on campus to have to fund that in any way since it will be for the varsity athletes. We have some funds to get started, but we need to do a major funding campaign in the community." The existing weight room is really sub-par, in Karr's opinion. "The weight room that we're using right now is really inadequate. It's only about 600 or 700 square feet, it's not big enough to put any of our teams in there. The whole team can't lift at once because there isn't enough space or equipment, not enough bench presses or lifting platforms."

Karr's third major goal is a Hall of Fame for Nanook athletes. "We need to do something to recognize the history of UAF athletics. It would go along with a revamping of the lobby area of the Patty Center." Of course, money is the stumbling point. "Right now, there's no funding for any of these ideas," Karr said.

UAF's new Athletic Director is making progress, and he has a well-organized staff behind him.