| University of Alaska Fairbanks | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Ad Summum (Latin for "to the top") |
| Established | 1917 |
| Type | Public Sea-grant Space-grant Land-grant |
| Endowment | $61.7 million |
| Chancellor | Brian Rogers |
| Academic staff | 835 |
| Admin. staff | 350 |
| Students | 11,034 |
| Undergraduates | 9,796 |
| Postgraduates | 1,238 |
| Location | Fairbanks, Alaska, USA |
| Sports | Alaska Nanooks |
| Colors | Blue and Gold |
| Mascot | Nanook |
| Affiliations | UArctic |
| Website | uaf.edu |
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF. UAF is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, as well as participating in the sun-grant program through Oregon State University. It is also the site where the Alaska Constitution was drafted and signed in 1955 and 1956. UAF was established in 1917 as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, first opening for classes in 1922.
UAF is home to seven major research units: the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station; the Geophysical Institute, which operates the Poker Flat Research Range; the International Arctic Research Center; the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center; the Institute of Arctic Biology; the Institute of Marine Science; and the Institute of Northern Engineering. Located just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the Fairbanks campus's unique location is situated favorably for Arctic and northern research. The campus's several lines of research are renowned worldwide, most notably in Arctic biology, Arctic engineering, geophysics, supercomputing, and aboriginal studies. The University of Alaska Museum of the North is also on the Fairbanks campus.
In addition to the Fairbanks campus, UAF encompasses seven rural and urban campuses: Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham; Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue; Interior-Aleutians Campus, which covers both the Aleutian Islands and the Interior; Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel; Northwest Campus in Nome; and the UAF Community and Technical College in Fairbanks, UAF's community college arm. Fairbanks is also the home of the UAF Center for Distance Education, an independent learning and distance delivery program.
In fall 2010, UAF enrolled 11,034 students, of which 59 percent were female and 41 percent male; 89 percent were undergraduates and 11 percent graduate students.
On May 15, 2011 1,141 degree certificates were awarded to graduates of the various schools and colleges.
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The University of Alaska was established in 1917 as a college, but its origins lie in the creation in 1906 of a federal agricultural experiment station in Fairbanks, the sixth in Alaska. The station set the tone for the university that developed later, which is strongly research-oriented. In 1915, the U.S. Congress approved funds to establish a school of higher education and transferred land from the station for the purpose. The federal land grant was accepted by Territorial Governor John Strong in 1917. That year, on a bluff above the Chena River, a cornerstone for the college was laid by Territorial Delegate James Wickersham. The site became known as College Hill. Charles E. Bunnell was appointed the university's first president, serving for 27 years. The new institution was established as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines in 1922, offering 16 classes to a student body of six (at a ratio of one faculty member per student). In 1923 the first commencement produced one graduate, John Sexton Shanly.
In 1931, the rest of the Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station was transferred to the college, and the Alaska Territorial Legislature changed the name in 1935 to the University of Alaska. As the university began to expand throughout the state, the Fairbanks campus became known as the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1975; the two other primary UA institutions are the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.
The Alaska Constitutional Convention was held on the university campus from November 1955 to February 1956. The student union building, which was completed the same day the convention opened, was used for the convention's sessions. The University's Board of Regents named the building Constitution Hall the same month as the convention's opening. The campus library and gymnasium building, where the constitution was signed, was named Signers' Hall in the 1980s. Today, Signers' Hall houses the Office of Admissions and the Registrar, the Business Office, the Provost's Office and the Office of the Chancellor.
UAF has nine academic schools and colleges:
Students can choose from more than 165 degrees and 30 certificates in more than 125 disciplines.
UAF is Alaska's primary research university, conducting over 90% of all the research done throughout the UA system. Research activities are organized into several institutes and centers:
The Chancellor's Sustainability Task Force has a variety of initiatives, including reducing food waste, starting a recycling program, and starting sustainability academic programs. The Office of Sustainability was created in 2010 and recently hired a sustainability coordinator. In 2011, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave UAF a College Sustainability Report Card grade of "C+." [1]
University of Alaska Fairbanks sports teams are the Alaska Nanooks, derived from the Inupiaq "nanuq." Though often known as UAF within the state, the university prefers to be called simply "Alaska" for athletics purposes. The school colors are blue and gold. The Alaska Nanooks compete at the NCAA Division I level for hockey as a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The Nanooks play their home games at the 4,500 seat Carlson Center located in downtown Fairbanks. The Alaska Nanooks also have a Division I rifle team which has won ten NCAA National Rifle Championships (1994, 1999-2004, 2006-2008). The men's and women's basketball, cross country running, and women's volleyball teams are Division II members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the women's swim team is a member of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference (PCSC) and the men's and women's Nordic skiing teams are members of the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA). Partly due to its isolation from the lower 48 and lack of a dome to protect against the harsh elements, Alaska does not currently have a football program, as is true for all three branches of the University of Alaska.
Recently, the Nanook hockey team has gained fame with the increased popularity of their introduction videos, which feature a mascot known nationally as "Hockeybear," who engages in over-the-top antics such as destroying planets, moons, galaxies and even rival cities such as Anchorage or Columbus, OH. Hockeybear then ends his destruction when he arrives at the Carlson Center, usually entering through the roof after tearing off a large section. Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" is featured prominently.
Since the UAF athletics program was operating at a financial deficit for several years prior, a new student fee was initiated in 2008 to keep the program alive. This fee charges UAF students $8 per credit hour they are enrolled in, up to a maximum of $96 per semester. The fee grants students free admission to select UAF athletic events.
In fiscal year 2009-10, the department was able to meet financial obligations without additional year-end funding for the first time.
The department has increased scholarships for women by 95 percent since 2005, and was even recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education for Title IX compliance in an article titled "Turnaround Stories."
There are several book publishers at UAF, including the University of Alaska Press, the Alaska Native Language Center, Alaska Sea Grant, the University of Alaska Museum of the North, Cooperative Extension Service, and the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. The University of Alaska Foundation also publishes books.
Magazines include Aurora,[2] a twice-annual produced by Marketing and Communications;Frontiers,[3] a twice-annual produced by the Center for Research Services;Agroborealis,[4] a twice-annual produced by the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences; Challenges in Science and Engineering,[5] an annual produced by the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center; Ice Box,[6] the UAF student literary magazine; and Permafrost,[7] the UAF English department's literary magazine. The alumni newsletter, a twice-annual publication, is the Alumnus.
The student newspaper is the Sun Star,[8] formed after a merger of the Polar Star, an independent student paper, and the Northern Sun, the journalism department's student newspaper.
The university hosts a Fine Arts complex, one room of which is named after long-time local chorister Eva McGown. The art department has a gallery, the UAF Art Gallery, which is used for student art shows, BFA and MFA thesis shows, and (occasionally) combined faculty shows. The complex includes two theatres, the Charles W. Davis Concert Hall and the Lee Salisbury Theatre. UAF offers an extensive Native Arts program, directed by Da-ka-xeen Mehner.[9]
As well as art, UAF offers MFA degrees in music and creative writing. The creative writing program is run by the English Department,[10] and offers courses in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. Currently, faculty include Gerri Brightwell (fiction), Derick Burleson (poetry), David Crouse (fiction), Daryl Farmer (creative nonfiction), Len Kamerling(film/dramatic writing), and Amber Flora Thomas (poetry).
The Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks or ASUAF is the representative group for the students attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
During the fall and spring semesters, each student enrolled in three or more credit-hours pays a $35 fee to ASUAF, which lobbies the university administration and occasionally the state Legislature. During the summer semester the fee is $10.
Students elect a president, vice-president, and up to 20 senators to the student government. The president and vice-president are elected in the spring for one-year terms. They oversee five directors. The organizing director holds major ASUAF events. The government relations director is responsible for relations between ASUAF and local, state, and federal governments. The director of UAF Community and Technical College relations coordinates ASUAF actions at CTC, while the recycling director coordinates the association's recycling program. An information services director manages ASUAF's computer-related services.
The senate has 20 senate seats, not always filled. Ten are elected the fall semester, and 10 more in the spring. They serve one-year terms. The senate appoints a senate chair at the beginning of the academic year.
Although recognized as the official student governing body at UAF, ASUAF elections typically draw about 5 percent voter turnout, low when compared to local and state elections. The elections also draw their share of controversy. In 1995, a ballot box turned up a month after the election, uncounted, in police custody; a recount resulted in new senators being inducted, and then-President Joe Hayes nearly was impeached.
An electronic system was set up for the fall 2002 elections, which officials at the time said would cut down on election problems. At the time, officials said that since students could vote in the privacy of their rooms, it would be impossible to enforce electioneering claims. Consequently, rules regarding electioneering were done away with.
But in April 2004, incumbent President Thom Walker brought forward electioneering claims after his opponent, Brandon Maitlen, won the election by 43 votes. Walker claimed Maitlen had bribed voters with hamburgers during an election day barbecue and had blared music and occasionally his voice too close to polls. An oversight board dismissed the bribery charge, but agreed the sound system unduly influenced voters. The board called for a new election, but Maitlen contested, charging the board with impropriety. A new board was formed, but it did no good—the board disqualified Maitlen, making Walker the winner.
Recent elections have been quieter affairs. In the spring 2005 presidential elections, turnout increased 1.2 percent to 379 voters, or about 6 percent of the eligible student population.
Student fee funds for UAF's student-run media, the Sun Star newspaper and the KSUA radio station, are funneled through ASUAF. Both of these organizations are funded by a percentage of the $35 and $10 student fees collected by the association, and are managed wholly by students at UAF. Funding aside, they are operated independently of the student government.
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