COASTAL VILLAGES CREATE PANIYAK SCHOLARSHIP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - A Western Alaska coastal villages organization and the University of Alaska Fairbanks are banking on the state's future economic development by investing in today's college-bound students seeking rural development degrees.

Coastal Villages Region Fund, a 20-member group of communities from Platinum to Scammon Bay, and up the Kuskowkim River into Napakiak, Napaskiak and Oscarville, recently donated $10,000 to UAF to create the Joseph V. Paniyak Memorial Scholarship. CVRF is a private, non-profit group which promotes economic and human resource development for its member villages.

The CVRF donation was matched with an additional $10,000 from UAF Chancellor Joan Wadlow from the Scholarship Challenge Grant Program. The new $20,000 scholarship honors Joe Paniyak, a longtime community leader in Western Alaska.

"CVRF's donation demonstrates its commitment to building community leadership for economic development in the region," said Ralph Gabrielli, dean of UAF's College of Rural Alaska. CVRF already supports a number of rural development students seeking bachelor's degrees through UAF's distance delivery program, including Byron Ulak of Scammon Bay and Moses Tulim of Chevak. Both also work for CVRF while continuing to earn their degrees.

Recent UAF rural development graduates from the region include Ann Willert of Bethel and Carl Jack of Kipnuk and Anchorage. The Paniyak Memorial Scholarship is available to students from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, with particular emphasis on those enrolled in UAF's rural development bachelor's degree program.

For additional Paniyak scholarship application information, contact CVRF in Anchorage at 1-888-795-5151, or contact UAF's Kuskokwim Campus at 907-543-4500.

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CONTACT: CVRF Human Resource Management Specialist Selma Davis, 907-278-5151,or UAF College of Rural Alaska Executive Dean Ralph Gabrielli, , 907 474-7143.

DPD/6-21-99/99-081