|
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Governor Parnell and his cabinet visited UAA in early November. We focused on health (nursing) and engineering (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics -- STEM) as examples of the high demand jobs and university progress. We thanked the Governor for his support of scholarships and the great partnerships that exist between state agencies and our campuses. It was a tough choice what to show the Governor in a short two hour visit. The nursing simulation lab showed hands on education at UAA.
Nursing students from Kodiak were in Anchorage for clinical work, demonstrating how we are accomplishing distance education.
Governor's cabinet visited engineering and saw how inadequate our engineering facilities are. The ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building was the last stop on a tour that gave the Governor's cabinet a view of some of the best and worst facilities on campus.
A week later Governor Parnell returned to UAA’s Consortium Library for a press conference to announce his intention of providing $100M for deferred maintenance for state buildings. The university's share would be $37M of the $100M. The money would help us repair and maintain our existing buildings.
Partnerships between the University, the state and industry are increasing with the signing this month of a Memorandum of Understanding to develop engineering academies for high school students. The academies will give high school students interested in science, technology, engineering and math an opportunity to develop skills to succeed in these fields. We are very grateful to Wells Fargo and Shell Alaska which each issued $5,000 challenge grants to support this initiative.
USUAA invited Alaska legislators to lunch on campus to talk about important issues including the need for needs-based scholarships. Legislators who visited included Sen. Johnny Ellis, Sen. Hollis French, Sen. Fred Dyson, Rep. Sharon Cissna, Rep. Berta Gardner, Rep. Bob Lynn, Rep. Pete Petersen, Rep. Mike Doogan and staff from the offices of Rep. Max Gruenberg, Rep. Lindsey Holmes, Rep. Charisse Millett, and Sen. Con Bunde. Thank you to students for hosting this luncheon!
UAA is having a remarkable Athletic season. Our Seawolf Women’s Volleyball team finished the regular season with a school record 12 consecutive victories and competed in NCAA Div. II West Regional Championships for the first time in 19 years this week. Coach Chris Green was named GNAC Coach of the Year. Congratulations to you all!
Our Seawolf women's cross country team is undefeated this season and holds a program-best No. 3 ranking going into the 2009 NCAA Div. II Cross Country Championships on Nov. 21. The men's team, ranked No. 19, will also be making their second consecutive appearance at the NCAAs. Coach Michael Friess received his seventh Great Northwest Athletic Conference's Coach of the Year award and first ever West Region Coach of the Year accolade after his women's team won its first-ever region title. Congratulations! Come congratulate our fabulous athletes and coaches at the Chancellor's Holiday Gathering on Tuesday, November 24 in the Den at the Student Union from 3-5 p.m. Help us kick off the holiday season and cheer our Seawolf basketball teams to victory! Did you know?
- You could pay your parking tickets in peanut butter and jelly? Nov. 19 was the last day you could pay your parking citations by donating peanut butter and jelly for the Food Bank Alaska. A preliminary tally has more than 100 jars of PB&J that will go to the Food Bank from parking tickets. Departments across campus have been collecting PB&J for the Human Services Club’s "A Ton in Ten" to raise a ton of PB&J in 10 days. Thanks to all who have contributed!
- Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice Center faculty, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of NeighborWorks Anchorage, a chartered member of NeighborWorks America. Neighborworks America is a national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts. Dr. Myrstol serves on the Board as a Fairview resident, one of the target areas of the organization's program.
- UAA’s Russian language program in partnership with the Anchorage School District, in Partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage Russian language program, is one of 11 school districts nationally to win the competitive U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant for critical languages. The five-year grant expands Anchorage’s pioneering elementary Russian K-6 partial immersion program at Turnagain Elementary School to the middle and high schools. The project connects the eventual K-12 Russian language immersion program to UAA, building the pipeline for an innovative K-16 articulated Russian language model that is one of a kind in the U.S.
- Congratulations to Mandy Kaempf for being selected the Administrative Services Division 'Outstanding Employee' of the 1st Quarter FY10. Mandy is an assistant ski coach/Mayor's Marathon coordinator at UAA Athletics.
- Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth, UAA logistics professor in the College of Business and Public Policy, is researching potential increases in efficiency and decreases in costs for construction trucking operations. The Alaska University Transportation Center and the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public facilities each contributed $45,000 for a total of $90,000.
As always, thanks for all you do to make UAA a great university!
Sincerely, |
