October 5, 2012
The annual giving September kick-off emphasizes how gifts to the annual fund make an impact on students and programs. In addition, Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. recently made a gift of $86,000 in support of their diesel and heavy equipment certificate scholarship, established in 2010.
A computer shutdown program funded by the Student Sustainability Fund saved more than $54,000 in energy costs in the first four months. Monitoring and shutting off computers that are not in use could save more than $200,000 annually and help UAF reduce its carbon footprint.
Emerson Eads, a music department graduate student composed Song of the Sikuliaq in honor of the R/V Sikuliaq. His work was supported by a grant from the UAF People’s Endowment. The Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Eduard Zilberkant, recorded the composition Sept. 29.
The Rural Alaska Honors Institute will celebrate their 30th anniversary with the premiere of a documentary chronicling three decades of preparing Alaska Native and rural Alaskan students for college success. The film will be shown at the 2012 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention.
UAF was recently named by G.I. Jobs magazine as a military friendly school for 2013. This ranks UAF in the 15 percent of all schools nationwide which meet the stringent criteria to receive this designation.
Northern Studies Program director and associate professor of history Mary Ehrlander has been awarded the Charles Gates Award for the Pacific Northwest Quarterly article, “The Paradox of Alaska’s 1916 Alcohol Referendum: A Dry Vote within a Frontier Alcohol Culture,” by the Washington State Historical Society Board of Trustees.
To help increase agricultural production in Alaska, UAF is hosting two livestock workshops Oct. 18 - 20 in Wasilla and Palmer. Producers, researchers, retailers, policymakers and students will examine the problems and prospects of feeding and grazing practices for multiple species Oct. 18 in Wasilla.
Nearly two dozen teachers from rural Alaska will attend a salmon-themed in-service Oct. 3 - 6 in Fairbanks. The in-service supports a classroom salmon incubation project coordinated by CES’s 4-H Natural Resource and Youth Development Program. The program integrates scientific inquiry, fisheries and watershed studies, subsistence, ocean science and climate change. CES is also coordinating the Alaska Wood Energy Conference Oct. 9 - 11 in Ketchikan. The conference will focus on wood biomass and converting to and operating a biomass system; forestry resources; and equipment. Co-sponsors are the Alaska Energy Authority and ACEP.
As part of its 50th anniversary, KUAC-FM partnered with the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Denali Center to bring NPR’s oral history project, StoryCorps to Fairbanks. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. Excerpts are broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition. Conversations are preserved at the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center. KUAC is also gearing up for its fundraiser Oct. 13 - 21.
In a new partnership between the Student Health and Counseling Center and the PsychologyDepartment, three doctoral trainees are providing counseling services to students and receiving practicum credit. Tony Rousmaniere, associate director for counseling at the center, is providing supervision.
A study, “Reliability estimation using a genetic algorithm-based artificial neural network: An application to a load-haul-dump machine,” which may help industry anticipate repairs, was co-authored by engineering researcher Sukumar Bandopadhyay. It was published in the journal, Expert Systems with Applications.
The Facilities and Land Management Committee approved the schematic design for the student housing and dining development Sept. 24 and authorized the university to complete the construction documents.
Davis Constructors has been selected as the general contractor and construction manager for the Engineering Facility. Construction on a new sewer line replacement will begin Oct. 8.
Work is in full swing with the buildout of the interior space for the Life Sciences Research and Teaching Facility. Overall, the project remains on schedule for a spring 2013 completion.
Bids opened Sept. 15 for the UAF Community and Technical College aviation hangar renovation.
John Estle, cross country and skiing coach, 1982-1990; Ellen Hannan, women’s basketball student-athlete, 1977-1981; Heather Harrison, women’s volleyball student-athlete, 1990-1991; and Pavla Havlova, cross country and skiing student-athlete, 2005-06, were inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame, Sept. 29.