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University Relations 202 Eielson Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7520
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Fairbanks, Alaska - The University of Alaska Museum Expansion Campaign received good news at its fundraising event "Just Dig It" on Thursday, July 23. The State of Alaska, Northrim Bank and ARCO Alaska will be pitching in a total of $720,000 toward the museum expansion.

The capital budget passed by the Alaska legislature on the last day of the legislative session in May and signed by Gov. Tony Knowles in June includes $500,000 toward the museum expansion effort.

Northrim Bank President, Chairman and CEO Marc Langland was on hand to announce that his bank is donating $200,000 in honor of former Northrim Bank Chairman Arnold Espe. An auditorium in the expanded UA Museum of the North will be named for Espe, who was a volunteer for the museum and helped raise funds in the Puget Sound area. Espe died in November 1997.

In addition, ARCO Alaska Inc. announced a gift of $20,000 to help fund the cost of the federally mandated archaeological survey taking place on the lawn of the museum this summer.

UA Museum of the North Director Aldona Jonaitis also announced that the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $2.5 million for the expansion project. The measure must now pass both houses of Congress Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, Honorary Co-chair for the Museum Expansion Campaign and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair, has said there is a precedent for federal support for museums and science centers in other parts of the country.

"The UA Museum of the North is the repository in Alaska for Native artifacts and paleontological specimens collected on federal lands," Jonaitis said. "The First Americans traveled across the Bering Sea land bridge from Russia to North

America. It is important and appropriate that the UA Museum of the North receive federal assistance for housing our nation's precious artifacts."

Also at the event, Tom Moyer, director of Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles Fairbanks office announced that Tony and Susan Knowles have joined Sen. Ted and Catherine Stevens, Sen. Frank and Nancy Murkowski, and Congressman Don and Lu Young as honorary co-chairs for the campaign.

"The goal of raising $20 million for this much-needed expansion is ambitious, and I am confident with the support of your dedicated volunteers this goal will be achieved," said Knowles.

The Just Dig It event was held to highlight the archaeological survey at the museum as well as raise money for the expansion campaign. Before the UA Museum of the North can be expanded, federal and state mandates require that the building site be surveyed for ancient artifacts. Hunters and gatherers throughout prehistory used the ridge where the UAF campus and museum are located. Previous archaeological investigations have shown that artifacts, bone and other debris from human use are scattered from one end of the UAF campus to the other. In 1977, archaeological materials were found in the precise location of the proposed museum expansion. The current survey has unearthed several stone tool fragments and a farming implement.

To date, $7 million has been raised toward the $20 million goal, with gifts of

$1 million each from Usibelli Coal Mine, the Usibelli Family, and Chuck and Marguerite West. Other donors include: Holland America Line Westours, Alaska Airlines, Boeing Corp., KeyBank of Alaska, Craig Salsbury and Totem Ocean Trailer Express. The campaign plans to raise the funds from a combination of public and private dollars.

"When the UA Museum of the North opened in 1980, it was expected to be the first phase of a larger structure," Jonaitis said. "Unfortunately the funding never came through. Now we have simply run out of room."

The expansion will feature a 10,000 square foot fine art gallery, to be named in honor of Rose Berry, the mother of Campaign Chair Joseph E. Usibelli. Currently much of the museum's fine art collection is in storage in the building's basement.

"We have more than 3,000 wonderful works of art in our collection; our current exhibition space can accommodate barely 100 of them!" said Barry McWayne, UA Museum of the North Curator of Fine Arts. "The expanded building will afford faculty, students and visitors the opportunity to experience this treasure trove of aesthetic abundance."

Using an integrated approach, the gallery will feature objects from archaeology, ethnology and fine arts collections, showing visitors, students and scholars different perspectives of significant Alaskan artwork.

The new building will also feature expanded laboratory and collections space for the museum's researchers. The UA Museum of the North is the only research museum in the state, with collections in archaeology, earth sciences, botany, ornithology, mammalogy, ethnology and the marine sciences.

"Our biological researchers are an essential part of the process of identifying and cataloguing the many species of plant, animal and marine life in our huge state," said Jonaitis. "These collections are vital to understanding Alaska's history and culture."

Also included in the expansion plans are a 150-seat auditorium, a multi-purpose classroom, a cafe and an expanded Museum Store.

There are more than 60 volunteers serving on the Museum Expansion Campaign. Joe Usibelli is Chair. Other members include Mike Burns, Augie Hiebert, Hugh Fate, Jim Lund, Paul Massey, Craig Salsbury, Jo Scott, Kip Harmon, Cathy Clapp, Jinx Whitaker, Bill MacKay and Kirk Lanterman.

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CONTACT: Cindy Schumaker, UA Museum of the North Campaign Manager (907) 474-6443, FAX (907) 474-5469, email fncgs@aurora.alaska.edu; Kellie McAnany, Public Relations Officer, Northrim Bank (907)261-3372; or Steve Porter, ARCO Alaska Inc. (907) 451-0097.

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Last modified June 16, 1998