Phyllis Morrow has enjoyed her service at the university but will be retiring after the spring semester.
Morrow has played a special role in the university as dean of the College of Liberal Arts for the past five years. She has spent the majority of her career, however, as a cultural and social anthropologist. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Morrow explained what originally sparked her interest in the field.
"When I look back, I trace this interest to when I was a very little kid, and I had these books about other places in the world," says Morrow. "Two stood out, one on Egypt and the other on the Far North. I spent a lot of time wondering how these two places could be so different."
Morrow is from Aberdeen, Maryland, which is about an hour from Baltimore.
"The idea of education, and not just formal education, was very strong in my family," says Morrow. "We valued reading, talking to people, and just being aware of the world."
Morrow first became interested in Alaska from a friend from college.
"My friend showed me this elaborate loon skull, found near Point Hope," remembers Morrow. "It had these beautiful ivory eyes. I was learning about symbols at the time, so my friend thought I might find it interesting."
The exchange between her and her friend provided the spark for the idea of going to Alaska.
"The first time I had been in Alaska was in '74," says Morrow. "There were no published materials on Yup'ik back then, but I was able to get some bootleg copy of some Yup'ik grammar which was being conducted at the time."
Morrow spent 1976 to 1987 in Bethel, working on her doctoral dissertation on the development of bilingual education materials during the last two years there.
"I did most of the dissertation work at the Kuskokwim campus, except the last year, which I finished back at Cornell," explains Morrow.
Upon receiving her dissertation, she applied for a position at UAF and for a position at Cornell.
"I remember that the further and further away from the East Coast, the better I felt," says Morrow. "I began to hope more and more that I would get the position at UAF."
She was offered the position at UAF, and furthered her work on Native Alaskan traditions and languages. She also taught classes at UAF, ranging from basic Anthropology 100 to Cultural Anthropology, Language and Culture.
"My favorite memory as a teacher came from a student evaluation," says Morrow. "The student wrote that, 'This was a pretty fun class, but for some reason, I thought it was going to be about insects, but it was about people.' Apparently, the student had thought it was a course on entomology (the study of insects), not anthropology."
Eventually Morrow took a position as an associate dean. She was building a house at the time, and was living in a cabin.
"I thought I was probably the [only] associate dean in the country without running water," says Morrow.
Morrow was appointed dean in 2001. Morrow sought to help raise the profile of the College of Liberal Arts at UAF, and she believes that "it is better now than when I first came in. We have claimed our place at the university."
In describing her leadership philosophy, Morrow believes that "success is all in what the faculty, students, and staff are doing. What the dean accomplishes is giving the framework for that success."
Morrow is aware of the difficulties facing liberal arts at UAF
"The biggest struggle for liberal arts is balancing excellence in teaching with excellence in scholarship and service," explains Morrow. "This university has placed a high value in research. To maintain excellence for our students, and to have the educational programs we need, something is going to have to give."
Morrow says she will probably not stray far from the university after retiring.
"I don't think I will ever want to be far from a university," she says, "and for the time being that will be UAF."
