Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/21/11

This weekend, the University of Alaska Fairbanks will celebrate Starvation Gulch.

The annual fall tradition includes a bonfire competition, when students use wooden pallets to build the most creative fire with the highest flame.

Businesses or community members who would like to donate pallets or who have questions or concerns should contact the UAF Student Activities Office at 907-474-6026.

Bonfire-building will take place Saturday, Sept. 24th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Taku Parking Lot. The bonfires will be lit at 10 p.m. and the event will include music, booths and a barbecue. The public is invited to attend.

For a complete list of events, visit www.uaf.edu and click on the link.

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/woodcenter/activities/traditions/starvation/schedule/

NW/9-19-11/072-12

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/8/11

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alumni Association will honor the President of Kiwanis International Sylvester Neal with the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Neal will receive the award Sept. 23 during the annual alumni awards luncheon at the Princess Riverside Lodge. The event is part of the UAF Alumni Association’s annual reunion, scheduled for Sept. 22 – 24.

Neal, the sixth of nine children, was born and raised near Austin, Texas. In 1978, he graduated from UAF with an associate degree in police administration and in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in justice.

Neal’s career has been marked by his service as a member of the Kiwanis Club. During his tenure at Kiwanis Club of Fairbanks, Neal served as club secretary, club president and lieutenant governor of the Alaska Yukon. He is currently a member of Kiwanis Club of The Valley in Auburn, Wash. He served as governor of the Pacific Northwest District for Kiwanis in 2002-03 and then quickly ascended the Kiwanis International ranks, serving as trustee, vice president and president-elect. In June 2010, at the 95th Annual Kiwanis International Convention in Las Vegas, Neal was elected president of the 600,000-member Kiwanis International organization. Kiwanis International is a service club founded in 1915 that serves children and youths through activities that promote health, education, leadership and service.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award was first given in 1962 and recognizes service to UAF, business or professional accomplishments and distinguished human service.

The association will also honor seven other alumni during the awards luncheon.
The 2011 Alumni Achievement Awards for Business and Professional Excellence will go to Anchorage businesswoman and UA Foundation board member Jo Michalski,’ 76, and co-owner of Kohler, Schmitt & Hutchison, CPAs, Garry Hutchison, ’75 .

The Alumni Achievement Award for University Support will go to director of the UAF Graduate School and Interdisciplinary Programs Laura Bender, ’80 and ’82, and Tony Gasbarro, ’79, director of the UAF Peace Corps International Master’s Program.

The Alumni Achievement Award for Community Support will be awarded to Acoustic Adventures co-owner Trudy Heffernan, ’87, and UAF Athletic Hall of Fame member and high school teacher Milo Griffin, ‘70.

The William R. Cashen Service Award will be presented to UAF staff member and alumni volunteer Barbara Day. The award recognizes outstanding service to the alumni association.

Doug Colp, ‘40, founder of University of Alaska’s Mineral and Petroleum Technology associate-degree program, will be the recipient of the Lenhart J.H. Grothe Resource Award. The Grothe Award posthumously honors an alumnus for contributions in the resource, mining or agricultural fields.

The Awards Luncheon is just one of many activities scheduled as part of the 2011 alumni reunion. Other events include the chancellor’s welcome reception, alumni night at The Pub, the UAF Athletics Hall Of Fame Brunch and the lighting of the Starvation Gulch bonfires. For a full schedule and to register or to purchase luncheon tickets, visit www.uaf.edu/alumni/reunion/ or call 907-474-7081. The deadline to reserve a seat at the luncheon is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Joe Hayes, UAF Alumni Association director, at 907-474-7081 or via email at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/alumni/reunion/

MG/9-8-11/057-12

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
5/3/11

Entrepreneur, miner and philanthropist Joe Usibelli will share stories of his life and career during a free public event Monday, June 6 at 7 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

During the event, Usibelli and interviewer Robert Hannon will discuss a wide variety of topics that encapsulate Usibelli’s contributions to the state, the university and the mining field. “An Evening with Joe Usibelli” is the 2011 UAF Legacy Lecture and is presented by UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning and the UAF Alumni Association.

Usibelli was named Alaskan of the Year in 1983 and UAF awarded him an honorary doctoral degree in 1996. He served as the president of Usibelli Coal Mine from 1964-1986 and has since sat as the chairman of the board of directors for the company. Usibelli Coal Mine has a strong relationship with the university. In 1992, the company established the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Public Service Awards, named for Joe Usibelli’s father and company founder. The Usibelli awards are among the university’s most prestigious awards. They represent UAF’s tripartite mission and are funded annually from a $600,000 endowment established by Usibelli Coal Mine. The company also funds numerous scholarships through the UAF College of Engineering and Mines and the UAF Honors Program.

In addition to his work as a miner, Usibelli’s numerous interests including fishing, flying, scuba diving, and growing grapes in California’s Napa Valley. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1959 from the University of Alaska.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Summer Sessions at 474-7021 or 866-404-7021 or e-mail [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/summer/summer-events/guestlectures/

NAW/6-3-11/244-11

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
10/15/10

Seifert takes new sustainability role within Cooperative Extension Service
Rich Seifert, the longtime “energy guy” for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, has a new role as community sustainability coordinator for Extension. Seifert will help Alaska communities become as self-sufficient as possible and will work to meet the needs for increasing energy, food and health security. Seifert and Extension will provide the link between the university and communities that need current, research-based information in these areas. He will also work with existing community sustainability organizations in all regions of the state and provide opportunities for them to share information. Seifert served as Extension’s energy specialist for 28 years, and retired from the university June 30. He began his new position Sept. 9 but will continue some of his energy education work until a replacement is hired. Seifert is available at 907-474-7201 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Boyer named head of Center for Alaska Native Health Research
Bert Boyer has been named director for the Center for Alaska Native Health Research, part of the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Boyer has been serving as acting director since February, when CANHR director Gerald Mohatt died. Boyer, who was the center’s co-founder along with Mohatt, is the principal investigator of several CANHR genetics studies. Boyer is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. He will give an overview of CANHR at the Alaska Federation of Natives at 10:25 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22.

New librarian takes helm at Geophysical Institute’s Keith B. Mather Library
Former Vassar College science librarian Flora Grabowska was recently named the new librarian and research assistant professor at the Keith B. Mather Library at the UAF Geophysical Institute. At Vassar, Grabowska was a strong proponent of open access, which is a move to provide scientists, teachers, students and the public free and unrestricted use of research published in scholarly journals. Before earning her master’s degree in library science in 1981, Grabowska was a scientist herself. She worked in biochemistry at the University of British Columbia and at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in the United Kingdom. The Keith B. Mather Library is the most northern special library in the Unites States. The library has a number of special collections, including the largest aurora collection in the country. Although the library supports the GI and IARC, it’s open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library is located in Room 202 of the Akasofu Building on UAF’s West Ridge.

UAF Alumni Association elects board members, officers
This spring, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alumni Association elected several new board members and officers. New board members include Jim Dixon of Fairbanks, Dani Carlson of Fairbanks, Sam Enoka of San Francisco and Tania Clucas of Fairbanks. During the meeting, the board elected new officers, including Randy Pitney of Fairbanks, president; Dan Flodin of Chugiak, vice president; DeShana York of Anchorage, secretary; and Derek Miller of Fairbanks, treasurer.

MLG/10-15-10/074brfs-11

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
9/22/10

The Nanook Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 will be inducted this Saturday, Sept. 25 at 10:30 a.m. in at the Carol Brown Ballroom in the Wood Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

Tickets to the induction brunch are $30 per person and may be purchased at the UAF Athletics ticket office from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday as well as 8:30 am. to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24.

This year’s class, which was announced in mid-July, includes former athletic director John C. Gilmore, former vice chancellor of student affairs Harris Shelton, and former student-athletes Sigrid Aas (women’s skiing and cross country), Mallory (Bergstrom) Larranaga (women’s volleyball), Melissa Mulloy-Mecozzi (rifle), and Stuart Watkins (rifle).

Six plaques, featuring the inductees’ individual picture and accomplishments, will be placed into the Nanook Hall of Fame display case at the Patty Center in time for the Nanooks’ volleyball match at 7 p.m. against Simon Fraser. All six class members will be presented with a replica plaque at the induction brunch on Saturday morning and recognized twice with their plaques at both of the Alaska Nanooks home events later in the day: first at the Blue vs. Gold hockey game at 5 p.m. at the Patty Ice Arena and then the volleyball match that follows.

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/16/10

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alumni Association will honor professor of petroleum engineering Shirish Patil with the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Patil will receive the award Sept. 24 at a luncheon at the Princess Riverside Lodge. The event is part of the alumni association’s annual reunion, scheduled for Sept. 23 – 25.

Patil, the oldest of three children, was born and raised in Pune, India. In 1981, he graduated from the College of Engineering in Pune, India and moved to the United States shortly thereafter. He continued his studies, first at the University of Pittsburgh and later at UAF, earning master’s degrees in mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering and engineering management. In 2007, he received a doctorate in mineral resource engineering from UAF.
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Nancy Tarnai

907-474-5042

8/13/10

For Gretchen Kerndt farming started with basil and grew from there. Kerndt, 51, hails from Iowa where her father was big on gardening. One of 10 children in the family, she did her share of helping tend the vegetable patch. After studying animal health in Denver, she worked as a veterinary technician until she got tired of working indoors with sick animals and took up landscaping.

She arrived in Alaska in 1981 and Fairbanks in 1985, where she enrolled at UAF and earned a degree in natural resources management. Past career highlights include working for the Division of Agriculture and being executive director for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.

When Kerndt started growing things as a business in 1996 she found she had a knack for producing the popular, pungent herb, basil. This proved surprising to her. “Here I am growing a subtropical plant in a subarctic environment,” she said. “I sure had an incredible plethora of basil,” she said. Thus began the age of her “riding the wave of people’s understanding of the medicinal properties of herbs.”

As consumers became more interested in their own health, Kerndt found opportunities to help educate them about the good qualities of herbs. “My motto is growing good food to feed good people doing good things,” she said. Pausing while loading up her wares at the Tanana Valley Farmers’ Market on a recent Wednesday afternoon, Kerndt added, “I know that sounds corny, but oh well.”

In addition to selling fresh vegetables, specialty herbs and herb products like herbal vinegars, seasoning mixes and gift sets at the farmers’ market, Kerndt operates a 55-member community supported agriculture business. She also grows a beautiful assortment of flowers just for fun and sells vegetables to local restaurants. All her crops are grwon on three acres in the Pearl Creek area.

The value-added products came about when Kerndt had an abundance of basil left over one season. She suddenly had to get creative about marketable items that the basil could be used in. “I stuffed everything into bottles and called it good,” Kerndt said. An avid agriculturist, Kerndt professes to enjoy everything about her job except the long hours. In the summer she works seven days a week, 14 hours a day. “That’s pretty crazy,” she said. “But I know I get January, February and March off.”

During the winter she travels. And even at the height of the season if she needs a break during the day she’ll go bicycling, swimming or fishing. “Some days in August I say I’m not going to do this next year,” she said. “Remind me of that next April when I ‘m buying seeds.” The challenges are the weather and finding varieties that grow well in the Fairbanks’ climate. There are always experiments to try, such as hoop houses and row covers. “Farming is not a lucrative business; it’s a passion,” Kerndt said. “I will never go hungry.”

Homegrown Agriculture is a column provided as a public service by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. For information on publishing the column, contact Nancy Tarnai at 907-474-5042 or e-mail her at [email protected].

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
7/19/2010

Three women and three men have been named the 2010 inductees to the Nanook Hall of Fame, University of Alaska Fairbanks athletic director Forrest Karr announced Saturday.

This year’s inductees are former athletic director John C. Gilmore, former vice chancellor of student affairs Harris Shelton, and former student-athletes Sigrid Aas, Mallory (Bergstrom) Larranaga, Melissa Mulloy-Mecozzi and Stuart Watkins.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the department’s rich history,” said Karr.

The induction ceremony will take place Sept. 25 at the Carol Brown Ballroom at the Wood Center. Tickets and pricing will become available in August.

Each inductee’s plaque will be added to the Hall of Fame display case at the Patty Center in time for the Nanooks’ volleyball match at 7 p.m. against Simon Fraser. Inductees will be in attendance at the match.

John C. Gilmore
John C. Gilmore served as Alaska’s athletics director from 1968-1982, making him the longest tenured athletics director in school history. He was originally hired as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences but quickly took over as director of physical education, recreation and athletics before becoming the athletics director.

When he arrived on campus, most athletic teams at Alaska were club teams and, aside from skiing, none competed in the NCAA. Gilmore led the transition into NCAA competition.

His firm belief in gender equality led to the expansion of women’s programs on campus, including the development of the women’s basketball team. His stance eventually led to the creation of the John C. Gilmore Award by the women’s swim team, which rewards the team member with the highest GPA during the season.

Gilmore also created the Arctic Swim Club to bring community swimmers young and old to campus to swim competitively. Before Gilmore, there was no age-group swimming at the Patty Center—a tradition continued today.

Harris Shelton

Harris Shelton served as vice chancellor of student affairs from 1974-1992. At the time, his office directly oversaw the athletic department and he took an active role in the everyday activities of the department.

Shelton defended the school’s athletic programs at a time of fiscal pressure. He took hockey off campus—first to the Big Dipper and later to the Carlson Center—at a time when its following was not near what it is today. Shelton also supported the hockey program’s move to the CCHA at a time when it was not guaranteed full membership in the name of expansion.

If not in the hockey team, Shelton’s impact can best be seen in the Student Recreation Center. He fully endorsed its construction to chancellor Patrick O’Rourke, and when the estimates came in millions of dollars over budget, Shelton lobbied in Juneau to raise the funds needed.

Mallory (Bergstrom) Larranaga
Mallory (Bergstrom) Larranaga played her record-setting volleyball career from 2001-2004. During that time, she amassed the Nanook career record for kills (1,363) and finished second in digs (1,269). She finished second in match kills (31) against Western Oregon in her senior season.

She finished fifth in GNAC history in career kills and points (1,543) and third in attack attempts (3,862). She set records in conference kills (1,110), points (1,250) and attack attempts (3,120). She is second in conference games played (277).

Larranaga was Alaska’s first volleyball All-American in 2003. She was a first team all-conference player in 2003 and 2004, a second team all-region player in 2004, and an AVCA selection in 2003 and 2004. She was named to the GNAC Academic Team in 2002 and 2004.

She is the first women’s volleyball player to be inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame.

Melissa Mulloy-Mecozzi

Melissa Mulloy-Mecozzi was a four-time rifle All-American between 1997-2001. Her career at Alaska led to advanced competition on the Olympic level, where she finished 8th at the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.

As a student, she was part of NCAA National Champion teams from 1999-2001. She was the USA Shooting National Champion in 2000, a UAF Female Scholar Athlete in 1999 and 2001, and the NCAA Alaska Woman of the Year in 2001.

Since college, she has continued shooting. She was a World Cup team member from 2000-2003, including a championship team in 2002. Her individual awards include the 2003 International Distinguished Award, silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games and the 2004 Olympic Quota Place.

Mulloy-Mecozzi is the fifth rifle athlete to be inducted.

Stuart Watkins

Stuart Watkins was a four-time All-American shooter who attended the University of Alaska from 1960-1964. After a storied high school career, he joined the campus ranks and was named the first All-American in Alaska history in his freshman year.

Watkins followed by being named second team All-American in 1962 and first team in 1963 and 1964. He was a Collegiate National Champion in both small and large bore in 1963.

In 1969, Watkins was named National Air Rifle Champion and in 1971 he won a gold medal in the Pan-American Games.

Watkins has coached at the YMCA and high school levels, capped by a state championship in 1996 by Dimond High School’s (Anchorage) air rifle team. He is a life member of the National Rifle Association, National Education Association and the Military Marksmanship Association.

He is the sixth rifle athlete to be inducted.

Sigrid Aas

Sigrid Aas competed in cross-country skiing and running for Alaska from 2000-2004. In her senior season, she finished first at the NCAA Ski Championships in both the 15-kilometer classic and 5-kilometer freestyle events. She also led the team to its first CCSA Regional Championship.

As a runner, Aas placed third in the 5-kilometer and sprints at the 2003 USA National Championsips.

Aas was a five-time NCAA All-American and three-time GNAC Academic All-Star and the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year. She graduated magna cum laude before moving back to her native Norway.

She is the first skier to be inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame.

Ned Rozell>
907-474-7468
7/02/2010

An ancient jawbone has led scientists to believe that polar bears survived a period thousands of years ago that was warmer than today.

Sandra Talbot of the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage was one of 14 scientists who teamed to write a paper based on a polar bear jawbone found amid rocks on a frigid island of the Svalbard Archipelago. The scientists determined the bear was an adult male that lived and died somewhere between 130,000 to 110,000 years ago, and that bear was similar to polar bears today. Charlotte Lindqvist of the University at Buffalo in New York was the lead author on the paper, published in the March 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A polar bear near Barrow. Photo by Ned Rozell.

An Icelandic researcher in 2004 found a fossilized lower jawbone, in excellent condition and complete with a canine tooth, on a narrow spit of land on the far west edge of Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago. It was a stunning find because there aren’t many fossils of polar bears around. The largest bears in the world spend most of their lives on sea ice, so they often die there, and their remains either sink or get scavenged by something else.

With bone and tooth in hand, scientists got to work with the latest techniques for finding the age of formerly living creatures and determining their genetic backgrounds. The latter is the specialty of Sandra Talbot. She is a research wildlife geneticist who earned her doctorate degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks by helping determine that the mitochondrial DNA of brown bears on Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof islands of Southeast Alaska is more closely related to that of polar bears than to the DNA of other brown bears.

Talbot says the evidence of a polar bear from 130,000 years ago shows that the creatures somehow survived conditions warmer than they face today.

“This is verifying that the polar bear lived through at least one warming period,” Talbot says. “The Eemian was a very hot period, and polar bears survived it,” she says.

During the Eemian, about 125,000 years ago, the planet was warm enough that hippos lived where London is now. Polar bears, now adapted to eating seals that live only near sea ice, somehow made it through a few thousand years when there may not have been much sea ice, if any existed at all.

“It gives us hope that they survived that stage,” Talbot says. “It does make you think about refugia more.”

“Refugia” are places that polar bears may survive without ice. The Svalbard Archipelago may have been one of those places. Biologists today think polar bears would have a difficult time living on land, because other species like the grizzly bear could outcompete them.

The warm period of the Eemian might have come at a time when the polar bear wasn’t such an ice specialist, Talbot says.

“We can’t predict whether the polar bear is too far out (in its evolution towards a life on ice),” she says. “It’s interesting that there are a few examples of hybridization (between polar bears and brown bears). That’s something worth watching.”

And maybe polar bears have been trying to adapt to life on land, but one species has blocked that avenue of evolution. Polar bears that wander onto land, especially near a human settlement, tend to get shot. And humans — who didn’t wander out of Africa until about 45,000 years ago — weren’t present on the edge of the sea ice when polar bears first made it their home.

“We weren’t impacting them then the way we are now,” Talbot says.

Though the polar bear perhaps prospered through hot times in the past, what they have in store ahead may be their greatest challenge ever.

“We’re going into a very similar period of time, but it’s generally thought that this is going to be warmer than (the last great warm period),” Talbot says.

This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.