INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN UAF WILDLIFE EXPERT RETIRES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 1997
Fairbanks, Alaska - A 40 year association with the University of Alaska Fairbanks will formally come to a close this month when UAF wildlife management professor David Klein leaves the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, a jointly sponsored and financed group of federal, state and university scientists.
Although officially retiring as Senior Scientist with the unit, Klein intends to continue his affiliation with the university in the area of international arctic research and conservation. Klein was awarded the rank of Professor Emeritus from UAF in May. The emeritus title is given to individuals who have served UAF with distinction, and as a recognition of the university's desire to maintain an identification with outgoing faculty. A record number of 28 professors retired from UAF this year and were promoted to emeritus status.
An internationally recognized expert on arctic ecology and northern ungulates, which are hoofed animals like caribou and muskoxen, Klein has been affiliated with the Cooperative Research Unit at UAF since July 1, 1962.
Klein first came to Fairbanks in 1947, arriving from his home state of Connecticut on the just-completed Alaska Highway. After a year in Alaska, he returned to Connecticut to complete his bachelor's degree in wildlife. Klein came back to Fairbanks to attend graduate school at UAF, and in 1953 he became the university's third recipient of a master's degree in wildlife. His thesis research was on mountain goats.
After a stint in the Army, Klein worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in southeast Alaska as a deer biologist, transferring to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at statehood in 1959. At the same time, he began a Ph.D. program at the University of British Columbia, receiving his doctorate from UBC in 1963. He joined the Alaska Cooperative Research Unit at UAF in 1962 while working on his Ph.D.
"Dave has made significant contributions to the understanding of wildlife in arctic environments. His list of achievements is impressive. His decision to remain active in the areas he has helped developed is good news for all of us in the wildlife profession," said Robert White, director of UAF's Institute of Arctic Biology, which is affiliated with the Cooperative Research Unit. White is also a long-time research colleague of Klein's.
White says Klein has been a dedicated teacher and has been a major adviser to 70 graduate students, including six who have completed Ph.D. degrees. Many of Klein's former students are now in key wildlife management positions in Alaska and throughout the U.S.
Klein has authored or co-authored over 120 publications on the Arctic and wildlife ecology, with an emphasis on northern ungulates and their habitat and management. Klein's numerous ongoing projects including leadership of graduate student projects on northern ungulate ecology.
CONTACT: Alaska Cooperative
Research Unit Leader Jim Reynolds, (907) 474-7661, Wildlife Management
Professor Emeritus David Klein, (907) 474-7661, or Institute of
Arctic Biology Assistant to the Director Michele Combellick, (907)
474-7649
UAF News releases available electronically at:
http://www.uaf.edu/univrel/media/index.html
DPD/6-26-97/97/97-089