Dr. Alexander counts herself very fortunate to be joining the Climate Scholars program
as its first coordinator. Her role will accelerate the Honors College initiative to
equip outstanding undergraduate students from all disciplines with experience, knowledge
and skills to lead and to act on the challenges presented by climate change that manifest
on so many dimensions. As well as supporting the overall program, she will contribute
through her own research agendas in maritime geographies and the role of place in
the production of scientific knowledge.
Alexander earned dual undergraduate degrees from UAF in Political Science and Journalism
followed by an MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics. She
worked first in the non-profit sector followed by a fifteen-year stint at Microsoft
in business software development while raising two children, Celia, and Everett Jackson.
She left the company in 2014 and returned to the U.K. to earn both an MSc (Distinction)
in Geopolitics and Security and a Ph.D. in Political Geography at Royal Holloway,
University of London.
She is Anchorage-born and grew up in Fairbanks. Her mother (Dr. Vera Alexander) was
the first woman to graduate from UAF with a Ph.D. (in Marine Science) and stayed at
UAF where she served as Dean of College of Fisheries and Ocean Science. After many
years away, the younger Dr. Alexander returned to Fairbanks to edit her thesis in
relative peace (a biography of the Bering Sea Patrol Ship Northland), spend valuable time with her mother, become reacquainted with old friends and experience
Alaska in ways both familiar and new. One can go home again, but it will be a different
place! Her two Spinone Italiano bird dogs Guido Gelato Cioccolato and Tobi Moray accompany
her on many adventures, she cares for two Icelandic horses, plays the banjo sufficiently
to clear a room, and dabbles in various creative pursuits.
She says it is ultimately always a pleasure, even when it is momentarily not, to work
with students and colleagues to advance our knowledge and skills and gain intellectual
and pragmatic progress on a variety of research subjects. She loves teaching, and
in particular encouraging the development of independent critical thinking and an
awareness of the role of geography in historical and contemporary inquiry, a virtually
unlimited and perpetually fascinating work surface.