MEDIA ADVISORY

TO:                      News Directors and Education Reporters

FROM:                 UAF University Relations

SUBJECT:            UAF Residence Hall Named for Alaska Native Leader

LOCATION:         Columbia Circle, UAF Campus

The University of Alaska Board of Regents has unanimously approved renaming the Inupiat House on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus to honor a former alumna and distinguished Alaska State Representative. The Eileen Panigeo MacLean House at UAF will be dedicated during a ceremony next month.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in elementary education from UAF in 1975, MacLean began a longtime career of teaching in rural Alaska and community service throughout the state. She received her master's in education from the University of Copenhagen in 1983, and has a long list of community service positions to her credit, including president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, director of the Inupiat History, Language and Culture Commission, and executive director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.

Recognized across Alaska as an advocate for Alaska Native rights and education, MacLean was elected to the North Slope Borough Assembly, North Slope School District Board and the Alaska State Legislature, who honored her for dedicated public service after her death in 1996.

The Eileen Panigeo MacLean House is a 25-person student complex featuring a common lodge area, a visiting parents' apartment, computer laboratory and laundry facilities. Construction of the residence hall in 1997 resulted from a donation from ASRC and a continuing partnership with UAF, with the intent to provide transitional housing for Alaska Native students, and to improve recruitment, retention and graduation numbers.

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CONTACT: Tiffany Noisworthy, UAF University Relations, at (907) 474-6438.

JCS/8-11-00/01-010ma