July 26, 2019
The Rural Alaska Honors Institute hosted its 37th graduation at UAF this month. Fifty rural and Alaska Native high school students, representing more than 30 communities across the state, graduated after six weeks of academics and on-campus life at the Fairbanks campus. Since its inception in 1983, RAHI has prepared more than 1,950 students for the rigors of higher education. Graduates have gone on to obtain 929 degrees and 187 certificates after attending RAHI.
UAF is the first university to earn exemplary program status from Quality Matters, the international leader for quality assurance in online education. UAF earned the recognition for its online special education and teaching program. Exemplary status is achieved when an institution earns individual program certifications in four key online areas — program design, teaching support, learner support and learner success — within three years.
A dozen Alaska Nanooks student-athletes from nine different sports received academic honors this month by being named a Great Northwest Athletic Conference Faculty Athletic Representative Scholar-Athlete. The award is given to student-athletes who compete at a GNAC institution and accumulate a grade-point average of 3.85 or higher. Additionally, sophomore Kaia Norbye earned a Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America's Scholar-Athlete All-America Honorable Mention.
The University of Alaska Press book “Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich,” by Annie Boochever and Roy Peratrovich, has been selected for Alaska's 2019-20 Battle of the Books. “Fighter in Velvet Gloves” has also been selected by the Alaska Center for the Book’s board to represent the state at this year’s Library of Congress National Book Festival. Since 2002, the festival has selected a book from each U.S. state and territory annually for its “Discover Great Places through Reading” program.
More than 100 alumni gathered at UAF July 18-20 for the Nanook Rendezvous reunion. Alumni traveled from six different states, as well as Alaska, to participate in events such as a welcome picnic at the Georgeson Botanical Garden, Golden Days Grande Parade, Alaska Goldpanners baseball game, and tours of various UAF offices and facilities.
Poker Flat Research Range was invited to participate at Arctic Lightning, the July 13 open house at Eielson Air Force Base. Poker Flat displayed a full-size rocket, payload parts, brochures and a slide show about the range. More than 12,000 people attended the event. Poker Flat also offers summer range tours on the first and third Thursdays of the month. Attendance this summer has been higher than ever, with about 200 people taking the tour as of July 17.
Despite a challenging year, UAF fundraisers brought in more than $6 million in new private philanthropic dollars in fiscal year 2019. UAF received a total of $16.8 million in private philanthropic gifts from 3,628 donors in FY19, which represents current-year gifts as well as pledges from prior years.
The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration recently signed a $2.5 million contract with Transport Canada to conduct beyond-visual line-of-sight unmanned systems operations and research, primarily focused on Arctic and maritime environments.
Cooperative Extension Service agents and staff in Fairbanks, Palmer and Juneau are offering a diabetes prevention program endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program has been shown to reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 58 percent. It combines nutrition and health education with peer support. Fairbanks agent Leslie Shallcross trains and supports leaders who offer the yearlong program across the state.
Former Alaska Nanooks hockey captain and current St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko led a youth hockey camp at UAF from July 16-19. Fresh off of winning the Stanley Cup last month, Parayko returned to Fairbanks for the second annual camp, donating all proceeds to the Alaska hockey program. Parayko was a Nanook from 2012-15 and finished his business administration degree from UAF during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs in his rookie season.
The Geophysical Institute sponsored a student-led project to install a planet walk on the UAF campus. The slightly less than one-mile walk begins at the west end of Yukon Drive, near the intersection with Koyukuk Drive. As you move east along Yukon Drive, nine signs represent the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A 10th sign highlights Pluto, which was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Each station presents an image of the planet and information about it. A website (gi.alaska.edu/planetwalk) offers more information about the walk.