AUUF Podcasts

Sister Helen Prejean is a Roman Catholic nun known throughout the world as a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.  Her first book, Dead Man Walking, was adapted as a movie, stage play, opera, and musical album, and came out of her experience in 1982 serving as spiritual advisor to two convicted murderers on Death Row at Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. Her second book was The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, and her 2019 memoir, River of Fire, talks about her spiritual journey leading her to engage in social justice work. Sr. Helen was born in Baton Rouge.  She earned her bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s Dominican College and her master’s in Religious Education from St. Paul University.  Sr. Helen received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.  She and her sister, Mary Ann Antrobus, were deeply involved at a center in Nicaragua called Friends of Batahola. 

Chad Hansen is a staff attorney with the Disability Law Center of Alaska. He grew up in Edmonds, Washington and received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Washington and a law degree from Seattle University before making his way to Alaska. Chad has long been interested in public interest work, including several internships with public defender agencies, and now as a disability rights attorney. Chad’s work at Disability Law Center includes institutional oversight for abuse & neglect, supported decision-making agreements, and various systemic advocacy projects. Disability Law Center of Alaska is the designated Protection and Advocacy System for the State of Alaska, advocating for the rights of Alaskans with disabilities and monitoring against abuse & neglect.

Disability Law Center of Alaska

Elvi Gray-Jackson was elected to the Alaska Senate in 2018. Elvi began her public service career with the Municipality at the Public Transit Department 37 years ago and has worked since in a number of positions, including as Senior Budget Analyst, and Director of the Budget and Legislative Services Office, for the Anchorage Assembly, and as Director of the Alaska Energy Railbelt Authority for ML&P.  She’s served on the boards of Boys and Girls Club, Woodside East Homeowners Association, and National League of Cities.  She served on the Anchorage Assembly from 2008 to 2017, including terms as Assembly Chair and Vice-Chair. She is a mentor for young people and a recipient of the Women of Achievement Award and many other awards. She was recently interviewed by The History Makers, the Nation’s largest African American Video OralHistory Collection. Her video will be housed in the Library of Congress. Elvi is a graduate of UAA and has one son, Ramon.

Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson is president of Alaska Pacific University—the first woman, and 12th president, to lead APU. She served as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services and then lieutenant governor under Governor Bill Walker. Prior to that, Val served as Senior Director of Legal and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and as Executive Vice President of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. Her current board service includes the First Alaskans Institute, the Foraker Group, the United States of Care Founder’s Council, and the Lancet Commission on Arctic Health. Val earned a J.D. with a certificate in Indian law from the University of New Mexico School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in bilingual education from the University of Alaska Southeast. She is an enrolled Tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Association.

You can find the slides that Val used here - http://akwebguy.com/photos/20201122_0900/APU_Overview_ppt_from_ValDavidson_for_112220Forum.pdf

Shelley Gill is the Co-director of Winged Whale Research and has worked in Prince William Sound for the last 25 years as a principal and co-investigator studying humpback whales. She is an educator who has lectured to over 2 million students on whale habitatand behavior and other subjects at over 4,000 schools nationwide. Gill has written over 20 bestselling and award-winning natural history books for children. She works as a naturalist, guest lecturer, literacy consultant, and whale detective. In earlier years, sheworked as a reporter, columnist, editor, and newspaper publisher for the Frontiersman, Homer News, and Alaska Magazine, and was the fifth woman to run the Iditarod Race to Nome. She is also a pretty good mechanic and a great cook. She lives in Homer and hasan adult daughter. http://www.wingedwhaleresearch.org

​Olga von Ziegesar is the full-time Principal Investigator and Co-director of Winged Whale Research.  She first came to Alaska on a kayak expedition in the early ‘70s, and Prince William Sound and the whales captivated her. For the past 40 years, Olga has been the principal investigator and project manager for the humpback whale census and has engaged in data collection and reporting of killer whale sightings, for Prince William Sound and Kachemak Bay. She graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Natural History and Environmental Studies and conducted an assessment of humpback and killer whales after the Exxon Valdez oil spill for the National Marine Mammal Lab, NMFS/NOAA. Olga fished commercially for salmon and herring in PrinceWilliam Sound. She raised two children in Homer where she still lives on a small farm.http://www.wingedwhaleresearch.org/

Their website - http://www.wingedwhaleresearch.org/

The slides that were used in the presentation are available here - http://akwebguy.com/photos/20201115_0900 as web pages. You can navigate from slide to slide by clicking on the page or by using your arrow keys.

Permission has been granted to use these photos and graphics copyrighted by Shelley Gill and Olga von Ziegesar in connection with private listening to this podcast only, and not for reproduction or other distribution.  All other rights are reserved.  For any further rights or permissions, contact Shelley Gill and Olga von Ziegesar at [email protected] or Shelley Gill at [email protected].

Heather Lende is a New York Times-bestselling author whose most recent book is Of Bears and Ballots. Her work, mostly about life and sometimes death in Haines has been distributed widely, from NPR to the Anchorage Daily News, from the Christian Science Monitor to Country Living. She is a former contributing editor at Women’s Day magazine and has written some five hundred obituaries for the Chilkat Valley News in Haines. The recipient of the Alaska Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities.

Lende’s other books include If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name, Take Good Care of The Garden and the Dogs, and Find the Good, which was chosen as the 2020 Alaska Reads title. She and her husband, Chip, live in Haines, where they own a lumberyard and hardware store. They have five children and eleven grandchildren.

Heather's website is - www.heatherlende.com.

Douglas Eby has worked as a physician executive in support of Alaska Native people for over 30 years. He has been the VP of Medical Services for the Baldrige Award-winning Southcentral Foundation for over 25 years and helps jointly oversee the Alaska Native Medical Center. While based in Anchorage, SCF manages and supports clinics across a huge swath of southern Alaska, and partners with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in providing support through the tribal health system to the entire state of Alaska. He does speaking and consulting many places nationally and internationally on health policy and a range of healthcare-related topics in addition to his work in support of Alaska Native People.

Doug's Slides can be found here -

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2wb5ai01iwz7ofx/AlaskaTribalHealthOverview11-1-2020.pdf?dl=0

The slideshow starts at about the 14-minute 30-second mark of the Forum recording.

Dr. Anne Zink has served as Alaska’s chief medical officer since August 2019. Dr. Zink grew up near Denver and spent summers in Alaska as an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. After finishing her medical degree at Stanford University and her residency in Utah, she moved to Palmer to serve as an emergency room doctor at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.  Fourteen years later, she remains a practicing emergency room physician, and before joining the Department of Health and Human Services she served as Mat-Su Regional’s Emergency Department Director (2010-18) and also on its Board of Trustees (2012-18).  Dr. Zink is passionate about helping to shape and transform our current healthcare system.  She lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in Palmer and enjoys travel and outdoor recreation.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/6a5932d709ef4ab1b868188a4c757b4f

http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/default.aspx

https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-health/departments/center-for-human-development/AK-ECHO/index.cshtml

This Week In Virology (TWIV) -

https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/

Osterholm Update -

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-osterholm-update-covid-19/id1504360345

Rev. Lise Adams Sherry has served as AUUF’s Minister since August.  She grew up in Oregon as part of a blended family that got along amazingly well together.  Her main interests growing up were dancing and theatre--she performed a lot!  Another highlight was learning French and spending her junior year of college in France. Lise is married to Nelson and together they have two boys (Kennen, 25 and Derek, 22).  They’ve lived in Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, and Massachusetts.  Lise received her M.Div. from Meadville Lombard in Chicago.  Her religious life is informed by nature, Buddhism, and the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Social justice, multi-generational worship services, and pastoral care are some of her favorite parts of ministry.  Lise also enjoys hiking, bicycling, reading, gardening, movies, traveling, and learning about other cultures.

Slides - 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yutqxd7i4v9zgfv/Camino%20Forum%20Presentation.pptx?dl=0