UAF CHANCELLOR ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Joan Wadlow has announced her plans to retire at the start of Fiscal Year 2000, which begins July 1. Wadlow has been at UAF since 1991.

"I can't think of a better way to end a 40-year academic career than in the midst of new excitement, promise and exhilaration," Wadlow said. "As UAF emerges from the traumatic financial trials of the 90s, I am firmly convinced that the institution is ready for this exciting era - the Arctic millennium."

Wadlow replaced former chancellors Patrick O'Rourke and Howard Cutler to become UAF's third chief executive officer and the first woman to hold the post. She previously was professor and provost at the University of Oklahoma at Norman, Okla., and before that, she served in administrative positions at the University of Wyoming and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

During Wadlow's eight years at UAF, she developed a long-range strategic plan to lead UAF into the 21st century, completed a $12.1 million private fund-raising campaign, the first ever for the university, and most recently, with more than 60 volunteers, helped launch the current $20 million UA Museum of the North Expansion Campaign. Other private gifts to UAF have created more than 50 new endowed student scholarships.

In addition, she spearheaded the development of numerous partnerships with school districts, the public, private and international sectors to aggressively address Alaska, arctic and diversity issues. She stressed the link between research and

teaching at UAF by designating private gifts to endow support for undergraduate research.

During her tenure, Wadlow streamlined top administration by merging positions and cutting administrative costs. "By choice, we have emphasized the 'good news' rather than the difficult choices and pain associated with the realities of financial hard times," Wadlow said. "We've maintained high quality in our programs even though course offerings are more limited than we'd like."

Wadlow said the achievements of the past decade are the result of the talent, energy and personal commitment of many individuals. "These traits not only sustained UAF, but propelled it to significant new levels of accomplishment," she said. "And thanks to legislative support, we are now seeing our historic buildings restored and our facilities renewed."

"My husband Dick and I have enjoyed being a part of the Fairbanks and Alaska community and now we're looking forward to the next stage of our lives."

UAF is one of only a handful of universities in the country that have the distinction of being a Land-, Sea-, and Space Grant institution. In 1994, UAF was reclassified by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctoral II university.

As CEO for UAF, Wadlow oversees the university's programs in Fairbanks, Nome, Dillingham, Kotzebue, and Bethel; service centers at more than 110 sites throughout the state, including fisheries and marine science programs in Seward, Kodiak and Juneau; and Alaska Cooperative Extension program offices throughout Alaska.

Wadlow serves on the board of directors for the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, Alaska Airlines Community Advisory Board, Key Bank Community Advisory Board and the NCAA Division II Presidents Council. She is past president of the Northcentral Association, the largest accrediting organization in the world, and in 1998, she was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award by Rotary International.

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CONTACT: UAF Senior Public Information Officer Debra Damron, (907) 474-7581.

DPD/2-22-99/99-054