Pat Pitney has served as the interim president of the University of Alaska since August 2020. She previously served as the director of Alaska’s Division of Legislative Finance and as the state’s Budget Director. Prior to her state service, Pitney spent 23 years with the University of Alaska, serving as UAF vice chancellor for administrative services and in positions at the UA system office. Pitney moved to Fairbanks in 1987 from Montana. She earned her MBA from UAF and an engineering physics degree from Murray State University (Kentucky). She has three adult children (all UA graduates with degrees from UAF, UAA, and UAS) and two grandchildren. She was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team and won a gold medal in women’s air rifle.

​Sheri Buretta was appointed to the UA Board of Regents in 2015 by Governor Walker and currently serves as the board chair. She is the Chairman of the Chugach Alaska Corporation, a Director of the Native American Contractors Association, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Alaska Federation of Natives, Alaskans Standing Together, the Tatitlek Corporation, and ROSSIA—Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska, Inc. She previously served on the boards of Anchorage Economic Development Corporation and the Foraker Group, and on the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council. Sheri was born in Anchorage; her family is from the village of Tatitlek located in Prince William Sound. She holds associate degrees in accounting from the University of Alaska and in business from Gulf Coast Community College in Florida. Regent Buretta and her husband Gary have two children.

Interesting URLs:

Alaska Middle College School - https://www.asdk12.org/amcs

Rural Alaska Honors Institute - https://www.uaf.edu/rahi/

Massive Open Online Courses - https://www.mooc.org/

NANA Nordic - Skiing Across Alaska - https://www.skiku.com

Clark Halvorson is the President and Executive Director of the United Way of Anchorage. Before joining United Way last August, Clark served as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health for the State of Washington, leading the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and working to ensure a coordinated and effective response across their health care system. He has over 26 years of experience at the local, state, tribal, and national levels, where he has focused on whole-system approaches to improve health and support places where people can live, play, and thrive. Clark has deep roots in Alaska and spent his formative years in Anchorage and across the state. Some of his strongest memories are those of hearing his father preach at his church on Jewel Lake road, spending summers on the Kenai River, and fishing out of Homer.

Clark slides - https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrm88l8ltvvd8q7/CH_TalkSlides.pdf?dl=0

United Way of Anchorage - https://www.liveunitedanc.org

Forum chat - https://www.dropbox.com/s/as1spagwep074qt/20210221_0900_chat.pdf?dl=0

 

On February 14, AUUF joined in observing the annual Day of Remembrance (Feb. 19) commemorating our government’s incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps during World War II. Dr. Mike Livingston, a cultural heritage specialist with the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association, talked to us about the role racism played in World War II Aleut internment.

Michael Livingston works as a cultural heritage specialist at Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association and serves as affiliate faculty at Alaska Pacific University and the University of Alaska Anchorage, and principal investigator with the National Science Foundation. Mike has worked as a police officer and continues to serve with the State of Alaska's Cops-on-Call program, and is a captain with the Alaska State Defense Force. He was raised in Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. His father, Sgt. Robert Livingston served in WWII. His mother, Annabelle, served as a nurse's assistant at the Cordova Hospital in Prince William Sound. Mike graduated from Bristol Bay High School and holds two master's degrees, in psychology and archaeology‚ and a Ph.D. in education. Mike enjoys World War II history and honoring those who served and sacrificed.

Forum chat - https://www.dropbox.com/s/xohc4gmwpt8ao4s/20210214_0900Chat.pdf?dl=0

Cliff Groh is a lifelong Alaskan who has spent his adulthood working on public policy issues. He was the principal legislative assistant working on legislation in 1982 that created the Permanent Fund Dividend Alaska has today and was instrumental in the passage of major oil tax legislation while serving as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Revenue in 1987-1990. He participated in the Walker-Mallott administration’s forum onAlaska’s future created a course at UAA entitled “Navigating Alaska’s Fiscal and Economic Challenges,” and authored or co-authored four chapters in academic books about the Permanent Fund Dividend and Alaska fiscal policy. Cliff has served on the board of Alaska Common Ground for over 20 years and was its Chair from 2014 through 2018. He earned his bachelor’s from Harvard College, and his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and served as both a prosecutor and a municipal attorney while practicing law for over 20 years.

Cliff's slides can be found here - http://akwebguy.com/AUUF/AlaskaFiscalCrisis_Feb2021

Cliff's website - https://www.cliffgroh.org

Cliff's email address - [email protected]

“Finding Your Way into Fellowship” class sign-up -https://www.anchorageuuf.org/fwf-2021

Megan Webb, a lifelong Alaskan, grew up on the Kenai Peninsula. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education in 2002 from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she studied clarinet, saxophone, and voice, playing and singing in a number of ensembles. Megan then returned to Alaska to teach band, choir, drama, and guitar at schools including Houston High School, and Wendler Middle School where she currently teaches 7th and 8th-grade band, jazz band, and a music exploratory class for Life-Skills students. Megan is the former conductor of the Mat-Su Community Chorus and a current member of the Alaska Chamber Singers. In 2017, she accepted a position as the music director for the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. In addition to her busy life as a music teacher and musician, Megan is the mother of a happy and energetic 7-year-old, Elliot. ​Cal Williams is a community activist. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, he graduated college, served in the United States Air Force during the early 1960s, participated in the historic March on Washington, and was affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1965, he moved to Alaska, seeking job opportunities, racial integration and a better life. He has served as President of the Alaska Chapter of the NAACP, and as District 22 chair for the Alaska Democratic Party, was a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and ran for the Alaska House of Representatives. Cal served as the Filipino choir director at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, as Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus at St. Patrick's Church, and as chaplain for American Legion Post 34. He helped exhibit the collection of the late historian George Harper, who documented the history of African Americans in Alaska. Cal is a past board member for Anchorage Senior Activity Center.

New email address for the Forum - [email protected]

"Black Coffee with Cal" every Mon - Fri through February 2021 from 7:00 - 7:20 AM on Zoom. You can find more info here -

https://www.thealaskablackcaucus.com/events2/black-coffee-with-cal/

There is NOT a link to the zoom meeting. You will need to go here -

https://zoom.us/join

Enter the following Zoom Meeting ID - 836 8345 7315. You will be asked to Enter Meeting Passcode. Use 462036.

LOTS of resources from Megan - available as a separate pdf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wyyc5ff4ficxcw0/Megan%27sResources.pdf?dl=0

 

 

 

 

 

Diane Hirshberg is Professor of Education Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, and also serves as Vice President Academic for The University of the Arctic. She sits on the board of the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. and the International Arctic Social Sciences Association Council. Her research interests include education policy analysis, indigenous education, circumpolar education issues, and the role of education in sustainable development. She co-authored the Education chapter for the Arctic Human Development Report II, and co-edited “Including the North: A Comparative Study of the Policies on Inclusion and Equity in the Circumpolar North.” Dr. Hirshberg currently teaches in the UAA Master of Public Policy Program. She has a Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, and two bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley.  

Contact Diane - [email protected] 907.786.5413

Diane's slides https://www.dropbox.com/s/uftaioap2drc2ri/Arctic%20policy%20for%20Unitarian%20Church%20Jan%2021.pdf?dl=0

Arctic Human Development Report - https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/51

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna - https://www.caff.is

Rep. Ivy Spohnholz represents House District 16 in east Anchorage including Northeast Anchorage, Russian Jack, Nunaka Valley, Reflection Lake, and College Gate neighborhoods. She chairs the House Labor & Commerce Committee, vice-chairs House Health & Social Services and Special Committee on Energy, and serves on the Joint Armed Services Committee, Military & Veterans Affairs, and Resources Committees.  Her recent legislative accomplishments include passing Health Care Price Transparency legislation, expanding access to telehealth, expanding access to unemployment insurance for Alaskans impacted by COVID-19, and providing protection from evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs if Alaskans are unable to pay due to the public health emergency measures.

Rep. Spohnholz was born in Nebesna, Alaska, and raised in Anchorage. She and her husband Troy have three adult daughters. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management, both from the University of Washington.  

Link to Rep. Spohnholz's slides - 

http://akwebguy.com/AUUF/IvySpohnholz_20210117

The View from Inside Alaska Airlines

Marilyn Romano, Vice President of Alaska Airlines

Marilyn Romano is Alaska regional vice president for Alaska Airlines. She spent nearly two decades with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the second largest paper in Alaska, including 11 years as publisher. She was the newspaper’s first woman top executive. Marilyn serves on the boards of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation and Rasmuson Foundation. She also serves on the Governor’s Aviation Advisory Board and is a member of the American Heart Association statewide board and the Alaska Airlines Foundation board. She’s been inducted into the ATHENA Society, named a YWCA of Alaska “Women of Achievement,” and recognized with a Top Forty Under 40 award from the Alaska Journal of Commerce, Woman of Distinction from the Farthest North Girl Scouts, and the Cashen Award for meritorious service to University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Marilyn and her husband, Brian, live in Anchorage.  

Lael Wilcox, the best ultraendurance bicycle racer in the world, is a fourth generation Alaskan.  She grew up in Anchorage, and graduated from East High’s School Within a School, before earning a degree in chemistry and French at the University of Puget Sound.  In 2016, she became the first American, and first woman, to win the 4,400 mile Trans Am Bike Race that crosses the US from west to east.  The year before, she crushed the women’s record in the 2,745-mile Tour Divide, which follows the Continental Divide from Alberta to New Mexico. In 2017, Lael formed Anchorage GRIT—Girls Riding Into Tomorrow—as a mentorship program to teach young girls about cycling and expose them to role models.  She has also established scholarships to fund a rider’s journey on the Baja Divide route that she co-established from San Diego to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, and another to fund cycling adventures in Alaska.  Lael lives with her girlfriend, Rue Kaladyte, in Tucson, Arizona.

Lael's Globe of Adventure

Anchorage Girls Riding Into Tomorrow (GRIT)

 

Dr. Travis Rector is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  His primary area of work is in star formation and astronomy education research.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Trinity University in 1992, and his master’s (1995) and Ph.D. (1998) in Astrophysics from University Colorado. Travis and his wife and fellow UAA professor Paola Banchero have one daughter. His website at aftar.uaa.alaska.edu contains a collection of his astrophotography, and his UAA Faculty website lists his many publications. https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy/faculty/rector.cshtml  Like many scientists, Dr. Rector has become alarmed by danger of climate change; and in recent years he has focused much of his work on helping people understand the causes, consequences, and solutions for climate change.    

Slideshow presentation