It took chemistry senior J.R. Wilcox only three years to do what three other generations of his family have accomplished– graduate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

When Wilcox walks across the stage at UAF’s commencement May 9, he will join his father, mother, grandfather and great-grandmother as well as an army of aunts and uncles who have graduated from Alaska’s flagship university. According to Wilcox, each generation of his family has been involved at UAF, and he has continued the tradition by working as a disc jockey for the college radio station and a science columnist for the school paper. Wilcox’s wife, Leiza, is also a UAF graduate with an economics degree.

Wilcox was named outstanding chemistry senior and will graduate with honors. He plans to pursue a master’s degree at UAF next fall in atmospheric chemistry.

Contact: Chemistry and Biochemistry Department Head Lawrence Duffy, (907) 474-5510, or by e-mail: fychem@uaf.edu .

It’s nothing personal, but this year’s outstanding UAF senior man and woman can’t wait to get away from each other. Seniors Erik Suring and Dante Foster began on the same academic path, but will travel to opposite ends of the earth after graduation to continue their studies.

Suring received the 1999 Joel Wiegert Award for a 3.94 grade point average and involvement in the honors program. He has published two scientific articles and will present his research findings on plant evolution at an international conference this summer. As a participant in the Japanese English Teaching Program, he will live and work in Japan for a year. After that, he will attend graduate school.

Foster received the Marion Frances Boswell Award for a 3.81 grade point average and community service. She will travel to Oxford University in England to continue graduate study in theology before returning to medical school in the states. Foster also received the Truman scholarship, a $30,000 award that was a first for a UAF student, and was named one of the top 20 students in the nation by USA Today.

Contact: Student Awards Committee Chair Lydia Anderson, (907) 474-7307, or by e-mail: fnlma@uaf.edu.

If working with computers is an art in itself, then UAF senior Ben Barton is one of its masters. Barton will receive the first bachelor of fine arts degree in computer art when he walks across the stage during commencement ceremonies this year.

Barton used Macintosh, PC and SGI computers with off-the-shelf software to create large, colorful reflective and refractive images in a three-dimensional environment. He programmed into the computer "raytraced" images of shapes, colors and textures to produce the artwork. Sometimes it took the computer days to calculate the image he told it to create, Barton said.

This year marks the first time a degree in computer art will be granted by UAF. Barton held a showing of his work at the UAF Fine Arts Gallery in March.

Contact: Art Department Head Bill Brody, (907) 474-7726, or by e-mail: brody@arsc.edu.

As a child, UAF senior Corinna Letasky remembers playing different tunes for Iditarod mushers as they swept past her parents’ cabin in southcentral Alaska. Now her audience listens at the UAF Davis Concert Hall, but the joy she felt when she first picked up the flute hasn’t diminished.

Letasky will graduate with leadership honors this spring with a music degree after earning top billing as principal flutist for UAF’s Wind Ensemble. She was the first recipient of the William R. and Dorothy Jane Wood Talent Grant, a four-year stipend given to outstanding students in the arts. Music isn’t her only muse, however. Letasky will also receive a biological sciences degree, and plans to pursue a career in medicine while continuing musical performance.

Contact: Music Department Head Theodore DeCorso, (907)474-7555 or by e-mail: fftd@uaf.edu.

Dancing is more than just exercise for UAF senior Janice Shipman– it’s therapy. Through dance and determination, she was able to conquer codependency, escape an abusive relationship and ultimately earn a degree in psychology.

Shipman was selected for the Gray Tilly Memorial Award, given to the outstanding graduating non-traditional student. She is being recognized for overcoming her own struggles and reaching out to at-risk children to help them do the same. By using dance as therapeutic intervention, Shipman said, the children can identify strengths, reach personal goals and learn problem solving skills. She plans to continue at UAF next fall in a master’s program.

Contact: Student Awards Committee Chair Lydia Anderson, (907) 474-7307, or by e-mail: fnlma@uaf.edu.