AUUF Podcasts

Sen. Bill Wielechowski has served as a state senator representing Anchorage since 2007. Born in New Jersey, he earned his undergraduate degree in business management and finance at Seton Hall University and later a law degree at Seton Hall. After moving to Anchorage, he became a volunteer in the Mountain View community council and a member of the Anchorage Planning & Zoning Commission. In 1999 he was designated chair of the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board and in 2004 associate general counsel for the local electrical workers union. During his tenure as a state senator, Wielechowski has become a leading advocate of making the oil industry pay its fair share in state taxes.

Fran Ulmer served as lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1994 to 2002, becoming the first female ever elected to statewide office in Alaska. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she earned her law degree from The University of Wisconsin and began serving as a legislative staffer in Juneau in 1973. She was elected mayor of Juneau in 1983 and later served six terms in the Alaska House of Representatives. In 2002 Ulmer won the nomination of the Democratic Party for the office of governor but lost the election to then-U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski. She subsequently served as Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage and special advisor on Arctic issues to the U.S. State Department.

What does it mean to be a sexually safer congregation? We explore sexual health in the context of faith communities and how we strive to live it here.

Come celebrate the vernal equinox (and Poetry Month) through the work and wisdom of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet -- and perhaps learn a few things about writing well.

George Bryson is a career journalist and sometime educator. Over three decades at the Anchorage Daily News, he worked as a general assignment reporter, a Washington correspondent, a Sunday magazine writer, and editor of We Alaskans. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing and has taught courses in journalism and literary nonfiction at both UAA and UAF. George and his wife Ann are the parents of three grown daughters and live happily in the foothills of southeast Anchorage.

Discover the story of brave Queen Esther from the Jewish tradition with a special readers theatre play and fun for all ages!

Dr. Jay Butler was appointed the director of the Alaska Division of Public Health by Gov. Bill Walker in December 2014, as well as the chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). A graduate of the University of North Carolina Medical School, he maintains clinical board certifications in infectious diseases, internal medicine, and pediatrics and has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific papers and medical textbook chapters on infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. He is an affiliate professor of medicine at the University of Alaska Anchorage and currently co-hosts “Line One: Your Health Connection” on Alaska Public Radio.

Sylvia Short and John Blaine are longtime members of the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and early supporters of PILOT, the AUUF tradition of delivering a “Payment In Lieu Of Taxes” to the Municipality of Anchorage each year. Rev. Shelley Page currently serves as AUUF’s interim minister.

Learn more about AUUF's commitment to Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) and some interesting UU perspective on church and taxes.

‘The future belongs to the curious. The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it, and turn it inside out’ Join us for a stimulating morning exploring how curiosity impacts intelligence, knowledge, gender and sexuality, spirituality, happiness, and religion.

Tim Troll is a lawyer and executive director of the Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust, an organization dedicated to preserving the wildlife habitat, culture, and history of the  Bristol Bay region. Having earned a law degree at Washburn University, Tim moved to Alaska in 1978 to work as a VISTA volunteer in Bethel and later served as city administrator for the western Alaska villages of St. Mary’s and Sand Point. In the meantime, he earned a Master’s in Public Administration at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as the conservation program director for The Nature Conservancy. An active member of AUUF, Tim and his wife Leanne live in Anchorage.