UAF Arctic and Northern Studies Contact Information
Directors
Brandon Boylan, Ph.D.
Director of Arctic and Northern Studies
Professor of Political Science
GRUE 613 B
Courses taught by Dr. Boylan:
- ACNS 601 - Research Methods/Sources in the North
- ACNS 652 - International Relations of the North
Philip Wight, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Arctic and Northern Studies
Assistant Professor of History
Courses taught:
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ACNS 201: The Circumpolar North: An Introductory Overview
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HIST 411/ ACNS 611: Environmental History
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HIST 453/ ACNS 653: Fire, Ice & the Fate of Humanity: A History of Energy & Climate Change
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HIST 461/ ACNS 661: History of Alaska
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HIST 483/ ACNS 683: 20th Century History of the Circumpolar North
Dr. Wight advises the B.A. and Graduate Certificate programs.
View Curriculum Vitae
Affiliated Faculty
Walkie Charles, Ph.D.
Director of Alaska Native Language Center
Associate Professor of Yup'ik
Courses taught:
- Yup'ik 101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 415
Research specialties and interests:
Dynamic Assessment, Sociocultural Theory, Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Pedagogy, Second/Foreign Language Assessment (Classroom-based assessment), Theories of Second Language Acquisition, Indigenous Knowledges
Daryl Farmer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Courses taught:
- Intermediate Fiction and Nonfiction Writing
- Introduction to Creative Writing
- Nature and Travel Writing
- Graduate Writing Workshops
- Forms of Nonfiction
Research specialties and interests:
Nonfiction and fiction writing and Literature of the US West.
John Heaton, Ph.D.
Professor of History
Courses taught:
- History of Alaska Natives
- American Film history
Research specialties and interests:
Native American economics and culture, Native American history
Eric Heyne, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Courses taught:
- Alaskan and Northern Canadian Literature
- Images of the North
Research specialities and interests:
Alaskan and northern Canadian literature, American literature and critical theory
Alexander Hirsch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Courses taught:
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Comparative Indigenous Rights
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US Environmental Politics
Research specialties and interests:
Zoë Marie Jones, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Art
Courses taught:
- Visual Images of the North
- Alaskan Field Artists
Research specialties:
20th Century art, immigrant artistic communities, art created in times of conflict
Tyler Kirk, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
GRUE 606 B
Courses taught by Dr. Kirk:
- HIST 102 Western Civilization Since 1500
- HST 316 Europe since 1945
- HIST 434 Topics in History
- HIST 464 Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia
- HIST 600 Perspectives on the North
Michael Koskey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Studies
Courses taught:
- Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights
- Field Research Methods
- Documenting Indigenous Knowledge
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- Education and Socioeconomic Change
- Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Wellbeing
Research specialties and interests:
Oral history, traditional knowledge, ethnohistory, culture change, decolonization, resource use and allocation, community-based participatory research, cultural and intellectual property rights, and indigenous cosmology/mythology.
Yoko Kugo, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher/Term Faculty Center for Cross-Cultural Studies
Courses taught:
- ANTH 390A Arctic and subarctic ethnography (Central Yup'ik Cultures)
Research specialties and interests:
Alaska Native food lifeways, Alaska Native language (Central Yup'ik), Alaskan history,
Indigenous place names and way of knowing, oral history, community-based participatory
research, cultural anthropology, geography, and Japanese pioneers in Alaska.
Amy Lovecraft, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Courses taught:
- Science, Technology and Politics
- Government and Politics of Canada
Research specialties and interests:
Policy research: wildland fire, sea ice, marine mammals, freshwater systems & transnational environmental regimes; Environmental political theory addressing rapid change and the far North.
Leslie McCartney, M.A.
Associate Professor Library Science, Curator of Oral History
- The Oral Tradition: Folklore and Oral History
- Dene Peoples of Alaska and Adjacent Canada
- Independent Studies in Oral History Methodology
Chanda Meek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Courses taught:
- Arctic Politics and Governance
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Comparative Indigenous Rights and Policies
- US Environmental Politics
Research specialties and interests:
Resilience of Northern social-ecological systems, natural resource & environmental policy & politics, human dimensions of wildlife management, indigenous-state power-sharing arrangements, cross-scale policy implementation
Jennifer Schell, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Courses taught:
- Northern and Environmental Literature
- Images of the North
Research specialties and interests:
Circumpolar literature and film, ecogothic and ecohorror, critical animal studies, extinction studies, climate writing, and environmental justice.
Walter Skya, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Courses taught:
- Modern East Asia & the Arctic (HIST F697)
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Modern Japan
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Modern China
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East Asian Civilization
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Political Economy of Modern East Asia
Research specialties and interests:
Modern Japanese Intellectual History, Political Economy of Modern East Asia, East Asian Nationalisms
Jeremy Speight, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Courses taught:
- Comparative Environmental Politics
- Political Economy of the Global Environment
- Thesis Writing Workshop
Research specialties and interests:
Professor Emeriti
In Memoriam
