Careers and Alumni
Arctic and Northern Studies students have been highly successful in finding careers in higher education, government agencies, consulting firms, environmental organizations, and industry in the North. Some work in the tourism industry or in northern business ventures. Others aim for careers in journalism or communications where they need a broad background in northern issues.
Many Arctic and Northern Studies students are already employed on a full-time or part-time basis. Some are teachers who want to strengthen their knowledge of Alaska studies and/or social studies. Some are seeking career advancement in universities or government agencies. Other students are fascinated with the North and are pursuing their own intellectual projects and passions. Arctic and Northern Studies is compatible with either full-time or part-time graduate student status.
Alumni of the Graduate Programs
Russell Vanderlugt, M.A., 2010; Ph.D., 2022
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
Ph.D. Fields: Arctic and Northern History: Interdisciplinary Studies (Indigenous-military relations/history,
cultural anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, history of Alaska and the American
West, historical geography/cartography)
Ph.D. Dissertation Title: Among the Dene: Allen’s 1885 trans-Alaska Expedition
Current Employment: Director of Plans for Alaskan Command ("ALCOM") Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER)
Michael Letzring, M.A., 2012; Ph.D., 2022
Hometown: Kasilof, Alaska (currently Greenville, NC)
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: The 1791 Spanish Malaspina expedition to Alaskan waters and the role of european
cartography in colonial Alaska's development
Current Employment: Geospatial analyst with the arctic coastal geoscience laboratory
Pierce Bateman, M.A., 2022
Hometown: Anchorage, AK
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Look North Tokyo: Japanese Business in Post-World War II Alaska
Current Employment: Ph.D. student, History, University of Oregon; and Adjunct Instructor, University of
Alaska Fairbanks/Community & Technical College
Carol Hoefler, M.A., 2022
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: History and Public Policy
Thesis Title: Northern Vistas: A Retrospective of the Rural Alaskan Volunteers in Service America
Program 1965-1971
Current Employment: Administrative Assistant, UAF College of Liberal Arts
Elizabeth Klemm, M.A., 2022
Hometown: Edinburg, TX (currently living in Anchorage, AK)
ACNS Concentration: Individual Study - Alaska Native Education and Oral History Methods
Project Title: Voices from the “Packy Board Palace”: Student Reflections on the Experience and Legacy
of Copper Valley School
Charlotte Wheeler, M.A., 2022
Yoko Kugo, Ph.D., 2021
Liz Bowman, M.A., 2020
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Policy
Thesis Title: Threat, Opportunity, Cooperation, and Competition: Defining China’s Integration into
the Arctic
Current Employment: Science Project Manager at Polar Field Services, Inc.
Marley McLaughlin Skiba, M.A., 2020
Hometown: Boulder, CO
ACNS Concentration: Individualized Study: Environmental Studies
Thesis Title: Uninhabited and Free From Work: An Environmental and Federal Land-Use Policy History
of Glacial Lake Atna Wilderness, Alaska
Current Employment: Archaeologist/Anthropologist, Bureau of Land Management, Gakona, AK
Sam Urban, M.A., 2020
Hometown: Seattle, WA
ACNS Concentration: Individualized Study: Northern History
Thesis Title: Kings on Ice: A History of the Alaska Gold Kings and the Transformation of Fairbanks
into a Hockeytown
Current Employment: Admissions Counselor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska
Lauren Baranik, M.A., 2019
Hometown: Sioux Lookout, Ontario and Bracebridge, Ontario
ACNS Concentration: Indigenous Governance
Thesis Title: Indigenous-Crown Relations in Canada and the Yukon: The Peel Watershed Case, 2017
Current Employment: Ph.D. student, Indigenous Studies, Trent University, Ontario, Canada
Brenda Dow, Ph.D., 2019
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
Ph.D. Concentration: Interdisciplinary Studies: Arctic & Northern Studies
Dissertation Title: Quality of Life for Alaskan Individuals with FASD and their Families
Kerstin Schley, M.A., 2019
Hometown: Düsseldorf, Germany
ACNS Concentration: Arctic History and Politics
Thesis Title: Germany's Interest in the Arctic as Exemplified by its Arctic Council Engagement
Current Employment: Commercial airline pilot for the German carrier TUI
Lex Treinen, M.A., 2019
Hometown: Anchorage, AK
ACNS Concentration: Russian Nationalism
Thesis Title: Indigenous Russians in the Kremlin Political Narrative
Current Employment: Web writer for KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage, AK
Leanna Prax Williams, M.A., 2019
Peter Burkhart, M.A., 2018
Hometown: Acworth, GA. But now claims Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Policy
Thesis Title: International and Domestic Drivers of Military Shifts in Alaska
Current Employment: Student at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Yu (Kimmy) Cao, M.A., 2018
Hometown: Shenjang, in northeast China
ACNS Concentration: Environmental Politics and Policy
Thesis Title: Communities’ Reflections on Oil Companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility Activities
in Utqiaġvik, Alaska
Current Employment: Ph.D. student, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona
University
Katie Hayden, M.A., 2018
Hometown: Lake Minchumina, AK
ACNS Concentration: Oral History and Culture
Thesis Title: Perspectives on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in Rural Alaskan Communities
Current Employment: Subsistence Specialist III, Subsistence Division, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Victoria Smith, M.A., 2018
Hometown: Pe Ell, Washington
ACNS Concentration: Cultural History and Higher Education
Thesis Title: Knowledge is Power: Student Driven Strategies for Success in Alaska's Challenging
Postsecondary Context
Current Employment: Director, Student Support Services (TRIO)
Carolyn Kozak Loeffler, M.A., 2018
Hometown: Libertyville, IL
ACNS Concentration: Visual Culture Analysis
Thesis Title: Arctic Paradox: The polar bear and American environmentalism
Current Employment: Adjunct Faculty, UAF; Program Coordinator, AK Center for Energy and Power; Conservation
Coordinator, Interior Alaska Land Trust
Addley Fannin, M.A., 2017
Hometown: Odessa, TX
ACNS Concentration: Northern Literature, Independent Study
Thesis Title: Black Phase: A Novel of Alaskan Alchemy
Current Employment: Freelance writer/ editor with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Yukon College's
"Northern Review"
Emiko Furuya, M.A., 2017
Hometown: Yokohama, Kanagawaken, Japan
ACNS Concentration: Alaska Native Studies and Cultural Tourism
Thesis Title: Xunaa Shuk Hit, the Tribal House, in Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK
Current Employment: Manpower Group Japan, Transcriber
Emily Main, M.A., 2017
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
ACNS Concentration: Alaska History and Culture
Thesis Title: An Analysis Of One Community In The Far North Simply Core Alaska: A Case Study Beyond
The Studio
Current Employment: Grant writer for Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, WA
Forest Wagner, M.A., 2017
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Landscape and Place Identity
Thesis Title: Cowboy Professionalism: A Cultural Study of Big-Mountain Tourism in the Last Frontier
Current Employment: Assistant Professor and Program Director of Outdoor Studies, University of Alaska
Southeast, Interdisciplinary Studies housed in Arctic and Northern Studies, University of Alaska
Fairbanks
Kelsey Aho, M.A., 2016
Hometown: Marietta, GA
ACNS Concentration: Transboundary Policy, Individual Study
Thesis Title: Transboundary Agreement: Case Studies of Marine Mammal Management in the Lower Bering
Strait
Current Employment: Watershed Manager for Russia, Europe and Eurasia, USDA Forest Service
Troy Bouffard, M.A., 2016
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Policy
Thesis Title: Joint Stewardship of the Barents Sea: Russian and Norwegian Policy Expectations for
Preventing Offshore Oil Spills
Current Employment: Director - Center for Arctic Security and Resilience (CASR);; Instructor - UAF Homeland
Security and Emergency Management Program
Vanessa Raymond, M.A., 2016
Hometown: Marion, MA
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Governance
Thesis Title: "Projecting Absence: a decade of U.S. Arctic intelligence, policy and perceptions
of Russia"
Current Employment: Program Manager for Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP)
Deb Corso, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Sitka, Alaska
ACNS Concentration: Anthropology and Creative Writing
Thesis Title: Tales of Well-Seasoned Women: A Literary Exploration of Gendered Experience in Alaska's
Commercial Fishing Industries, 1980s-2005
Current Employment: Owner, Well-Seasoned Wordsmith, writing / editing business, Haines, AK.
Ulyana Korotkova, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Razdolnoye, Crimea
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Rare Books as Historical Objects: A Case Study of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Rare
Books Collection
Current Employment: Travel Clerk, State of Alaska, Department of Health and Social Services, Office of
Children Services
Emily Russell, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Queensbury, NY
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Policy
Thesis Title: Bounty in the Bering Strait: A case for proactive regulation in the world's next chokepoint
Current Employment: Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer, Anchorage, AK
Angela Schmidt, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Springville, Iowa
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Compendium for Alaska Review, Alaska's first statewide public affairs television
program, 1976-1987
Current Employment: Film Archivist, Alaska Film Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library
Evgeniya Sidorova, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Yakutsk, Russia
ACNS Concentration: Arctic Policy
Thesis Title: Extractive Leviathan: The role of the government in the relationships between oil
and gas industries and indigenous communities in the Arctic regions of Canada, United
States and Russia
Current Employment: Policy and Research Analyst -- Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
Aaron Spitzer, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
ACNS concentration: Arctic Governance
Thesis Title: Confronting 'Kymlicka's Dilemma': Settler voting rights, Indigenous representation
and the 1998 electoral reapportionment in Canada's Northwest Territories.
Current Employment: Assoc. Professor of Arctic Geopolitics, Dept. of Comparative Politics, University
of Bergen, NO
Matt Robinson, M.A., 2015
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Northern History and Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: The Common Good: Salmon Science, the Conservation Crisis, and the Shaping of Alaskan
Political Culture
Current Employment: Fisheries consultant with AKWA-DC
Chris Cannon, M.A., 2014
Hometown: Helena, MT
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Alaska Athabascan Stellar Astronomy
Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, UAF
David Kreiss-Tomkins, M.A., 2014
Hometown: Sitka, Alaska
ACNS Concentration: Alaska Native Culture and Identity
Thesis Title: Use of Tlingit Art and Identity by Non-Tlingit People in Sitka, Alaska
Current Employment: Dept. of Fish and Game, Fish and Wildlife Technician
Melanie Lindholm, M.A., 2014
Hometown: Urem, Utah
ACNS Concentration: Nutritional Health
Thesis Title: Alaska Native perceptions of food, health, and community well-being
Current Employment: UAF/CTC Adjunct Faculty; Subcontractor (with SideTracks LLC) for Tanana Chiefs Conference
& Fairbanks Native Association; PCA with Access Alaska.
Hild M. Peters, M.A., 2014
Hometown: Ellsworth Township, Minnesota
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Where the Rivers Meet: The Life Story of the Reverend Helen Peters of Tanana
Current Employment: Executive Officer, College of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Alaska
Fairbanks
Brittany Retherford, M.A., 2014
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Memory on Trial: The Manhunt for Alaska's Most Elusive Mass Murderer
Current Employment: Emergency services clinician for the Juneau Alliance for Mental Health, Inc. (JAMHI)
Michael Bach, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Staples, Minnesota
ACNS Concentration: Language Policy and Planning
Thesis Title: Community Space for Decolonization and Resistance: Kodiak Alutiiq Language Club Participant
Current Employment: Collections Manager, Kodiak Historical Society & Baranov Museum
Danielle Bennett Redmond, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Seattle and Cordova
ACNS Concentration: Ethnography and Epistemology of Birth
Thesis Title: Birthing Change: An Ethnographic Study of the Alaska Family Health & Birth Center
Current Employment: Birth doula, Juneau, AK
Chad Cook, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Warminster, Pennsylvania
ACNS Concentration: Indigenous and Western Notions of Conservation
Thesis Title: Ataam Taikina: Traditional Knowledge and Conservation Ethics in the Yukon River Delta,
Alaska
Current Employment: Permanent substitute teacher, Anchorage school district
Annette Freiburger, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS concentration: Oral History
Thesis Title: The Life History of Effie Kokrine Through Personal Recordings
Current Employment: Director of Rural Student Services; UAF, Retired
Anke Hildebrandt, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Waupaca, WI
ACNS concentration: Environmental Policy
Project Title: Improving the Renovation, Repair and Painting Training Course to Help Eliminate Childhood
Lead Poisoning--Wisconsin Observations
Current Employment: Public Health Educator for the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Fatima Ochante, M.A., 2013
Hometown: Lima, Peru (currently Fairbanks, AK)
ACNS Concentration: Global Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: Rural water and sanitation in Alaska Native villages
Current Employment: Program Coordinator for the Alaska Water and Sewer Challenge, Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation
Irmelin Gram-Hanssen, M.A., 2012
Hometown: Vrads, Denmark
ACNS Concentration: Individualized, Indigenous Peoples and Community Sustainability
Thesis Title: Youth Creating Sustainable Communities in Rural Alaska
Current Employment: Senior Researcher, Western Norway Research Institute
Publications: Gram-Hanssen, Irmelin. "Leaving, staying or belonging: exploring the relationship
between formal education, youth mobility and community resilience in rural Alaska"
Polar Geography Vol. 0 (2017): 1-25.
Corinna Cook, M.A., 2011
Hometown: Juneau, AK
ACNS Concentration: Literature
Thesis Title: Letters as Literature: Semantic and Discursive Features of Irony in Letters to Howard.
Current Employment: Ph.D. student in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri
Birte M. Horn-Hanssen, M.A., 2011
Hometown: Oslo, Norway -- Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Northern Art
Thesis Title: Visualizing the Present: Current Issues Within Contemporary Visual Sami Art - An Analysis
of Sami Artists and Their Art in Oslo, Norway
Current Employment: Project Coordinator at "BI - Norwegian Business School".
Kate Ripley, M.A., 2011
Hometown: Juneau, AK
ACNS Concentration: Individual Study
Thesis Title: Weekend Wilderness: The Cultural and Spiritual Necessity of the White Mountains National
Recreation Area
Current Employment: Executive Director, UAF Alumni Relations
Kenneth Woldstad, M.A., 2011
Hometown: North Pole, AK
ACNS Concentration: Alaska History and Government
Thesis Title: A Comparative Analysis of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement in Alaska From the Passage
of the 1902 Alaska Game Law to 2011
Current Employment: Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection Trooper (commissioned retired Sergeant) and private
investigator
Lillian Anderson-Misel, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: “I Wonder When We’ll be in Civilization Again”: Women, Alaska, and the Diary of Cinthia
“Addie” Rieck
Current Employment: Executive Office, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Salena Bias, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Russian-Alaska History and Museology
Thesis Title: Displaying Conflict: The Visitor's Experience at the Kolmakovskii Blockhouse
Current Employment: Data Technician for the Center for Alaska Native Health Research
Berill Blair, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: Risk Society on the Last Frontier: Indigenous Knowledge and the Politics of Risk in
Oil Resource Management at Alaska’s North Slope
Current Employment: Research Assistant on a project examining key developments in polar bear policy.
Amanda Foote, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Calgary, Alberta
ACNS Concentration: Individualized Study - Tourism, Culture & Indigenous Issues
Thesis Title: Fishing for Tourists: Cultural Tourism and its Origins in Teslin, Yukon Territory,
Canada
Current Employment: Museum School Coordinator at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta.
Leighton Quarles, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Emigrant, MT
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Roles of Journalists and the Media in World War II
Current Employment: Ph.D. student in History at University of Utah
Tracey Smith, M.A., 2010
Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta
ACNS Concentration: Local Food Systems and Northern Wildlife Governance
Thesis project: "Is Buying Local Better?" A Literature Review and Comparison of Production Locations
and Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Chicken Eggs Consumed in Fairbanks, Alaska
Current Employment: Owner of Beanstalk Honey, a beekeeping and honey packing operation on North Cooking
Lake in Strathcona County, Alberta
Eleanor Wirts, M.A., 2010
Home town: Fairfield, VT
ACNS Concentration: Individualized Study - Cultural Anthropology
Thesis Title: Changes in Traditional Gender Roles Among Alaska Natives: Their Effects on Sense
of Purpose, Direction, Identity, and Family and Community Stature
Current Employment: Owner: Just Short of Magic, Fairbanks, Alaska
Stacey Baldridge Carkhuff, M.A., 2009
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Hometown: Champion, OH
ACNS Concentration: Oral History
Thesis Title: ChangingCommunities: The Alaska Highway Project Jukebox
Current Employment: Assistant Archivist for the Alaska Native Language Archives
Krista Katalenich, M.A., 2009
Hometown: Higgins Lake, MI
ACNS Concentration: Cultural Identity and Expression
Thesis Project: Climate Change and Creative Expression
Current Employment: Dance teacher at Dance Theatre Fairbanks
Jesse Logan, M.A., 2009
Hometown: Austin, TX
ACNS Concentration: Global Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: Renewable Energy in Rural Alaska: Two Case Studies and their Implications
Current Employment: Chief of Staff to Alaska Representative Dean Westlake of Kotzebue
Rudy Riedlsperger, M.A., 2009
Hometown: Austria
ACNS Concentration: Environmental Politics and Policy
Thesis Title: Jay Hammond: The Conservationist Governor
Current Employment: Ph.D. student in Human Geography at Memorial U in St. John's Newfoundland
Amy Russell-Jamgochian, M.A., 2009
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: A Storm Like No Other: Changes that shaped Seward Peninsula communities at the turn
of the 20th century
Current Employment: Project director at the Beringia Center of Culture and Science in Nome, Alaska
Lynne Snifka, M.A., 2009
Hometown: Milwaukee (now Fairbanks)
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: The Doctor, The Publisher and The Curmudgeon: How Personalities, Politics and the
Press Set the Stage for Alaska Statehood
Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Journalism at UAF
Talis Colberg, Ph.D., 2008
Hometown: Palmer, AK
ACNS Concentration: Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Northern Political History and Culture
Dissertation Title: M.D. Snodgrass: The Founder of the Alaska State Fair
Current Employment: Director, Matanuska-Susitna Campus, UAA
Mikayla Saito, M.A., 2008
Hometown: Kotzebue, AK
ACNS Concentration: Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: The Extent to which Traditional Ecological Knowledge is Included in the Alaska Resource
Management System
Current Employment: Program manager for Dept. of Educational Leadership at UAA
Erik White, M.A., 2008
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: Bob Bartlett and Ernest Gruening: The Relationship That Helped Alaska to Become a
State
Artem Zhdanov, M.A., 2008
Hometown: Chishmy, Russia
ACNS Concentration: New Media Journalism
Project Title: Website Design for Creating Alaska Website
Current Employment: Video conferencing specialist for Online with Libraries (OWL), State of Alaska
Sean Bledsoe, M.A., 2007
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Russian Alaskan History and Anthropology
Thesis Project: Documentary Film on St. Herman of Alaska
Jessica Brooks, M.A., 2007
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
ACNS Concentration: Oral History
Thesis Project: Friends on the Road: An Oral History of Trucking on the Dalton Highway
Sigrid Ekran, M.A., 2007
Hometown: Sparbu, Norway
ACNS Concentration: Northern Psychology
Project Title: Rocky Raccoon: Sixteen Dogs, One Girl, 1122 Miles from Anchorage to Nome
Sabine Hugger, M.A., 2007
Hometown: Heilbronn, Germany
ACNS Concentration: Environmental Education
Thesis Project : An Environmental Education Curriculum for Fairbanks for 7th and 8th Grade Students
Amy Taylor, M.A., 2007
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
ACNS Concentration: Creative Writing
Thesis Project: Awake Walking: Three One-Act Plays on the Human Condition
Justin Andrews, M.A., 2006
Hometown: mostly Virginia (Navy brat)
ACNS Concentration:Higher Education
Thesis Project: The Ant and the Grasshopper: The Mindsets Behind the College Gender Gap in the Millennial
Generation
Aaron Doyle, M.A., 2006
Hometown: Rhinelander, WI
ACNS Concentration: Rural Education
Thesis Title: Drifting and Directed:The Aspirations of High School Seniors from Three Communities
in Rural Alaska
Current Employment: Ph.D. program in Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Applied English Studies at
Hong Kong University.
Neva Sherman Hickman, M.A., 2006
Hometown: Keweenaw Peninsula, MI
ACNS Concentration: Northern History
Thesis Title: The Illusion of Knowledge: Evolution of Early Cartographic Conceptions of Alaska
Steve Mitchell, M.A., 2006
Hometown: Fairbanks, AK
ACNS Concentration: Alaska Historical Drama
Thesis Project: “James Wickersham: A Judge on the Last Frontier” (a play)
Jane Reilly, M.A., 2006
Hometown: originally from Florida; now Fairbanks
ACNS Concentration: Biopsychology
Thesis Project: “Northern Stressors and Alcohol Abuse: Is Serotonin Dysfunction a Factor in Self-Medication”
(Annotated Bibliography)
Reija Shnoro, M.A., 2006
Hometown: Mieslahti, Finland
ACNS Concentration: Global Environmental Policy
Thesis Title: The Kyoto Protocol and the Arctic Region: A Case Study of Finland and Canada
Current Employment: International Student Program Coordinator for UAF
Lauren Krueger Sill, M.A., 2006
Hometown: North Andover, MA
ACNS Concentration: Global Environmental Policy
Thesis Project: Community Development Quota: Community Sustainability and the Bering Sea