Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/27/10

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ceaser Williams will give a free public lecture Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in downtown Fairbanks.

Williams’ lecture, “Iron Williams: Life and Times,” will chronicle his four decades of work as a writer and editor at papers like the Kansas City Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as his work to support minority journalists.

The lecture is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks journalism department’s C. W. Snedden Guest Lecture Series.

MEDIA CONTACT: UAF journalism department at 907-474-7761. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

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UAF photo by Maureen McCombs
Two competitors participate in the 2009 Farthest North Forest Sports Festival.

Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
9/27/10

If the lifestyle of true woodsmen appeals to you, mark your calendar for the 13th annual Farthest North Forest Sports Festival Oct. 2 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The day’s activities include ax throwing, log rolling, bow saw and crosscut sawing, fire building and more. Everyone is welcome to participate as individuals or as teams of four to six. Observers are also invited to this free event. Awards will be granted to individuals, teams and the “Bull of the Woods” and “Belle of the Woods.”

Faculty members and students at UAF’s Department of Forest Sciences developed the competition as a way to commemorate old-fashioned forest festivals. While high-technology tools are the norm for forest professionals in today’s world, the festival pays tribute to a time when traditional woods activities were the basis for work and play, survival and revival.

The morning events begin at 10 a.m. at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm fields across from the Georgeson Botanical Garden. At 1 p.m. the games move to Ballaine Lake on Farmers Loop. A warming fire and hot drinks will be available at the lake. Participants are advised to dress warmly.

The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Sciences and the Resource Management Society, a student organization.

For more information, contact John Fox at 907-474-7084 or [email protected].

CONTACT: John Fox at 474-7084 or [email protected]. Nancy Tarnai, UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences public information officer, 474-5042 or [email protected].

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UAF photo by Todd Paris
Sophomore Jeremy Langton entertained the crowd with his fire-eating abilities during the Starvation Gulch activities on the Fairbanks campus.

This weekend, the University of Alaska Fairbanks will celebrate Starvation Gulch, an annual fall tradition.

The event was first held in 1923 and includes a bonfire competition. Students use wooden pallets to try 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 474-6026.

The building of the Starvation Gulch bonfires will take place Saturday, September 25 from 9 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.

CONTACT: Cody Rogers, student activities coordinator, at 907-474-6026 or via e-mail at cody.rogers@alaska.edu. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/activity

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

Award-winning writer and environmental advocate Terry Tempest Williams will speak at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom.

Williams is the author of “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place,” considered an environmental literature classic, as well as multiple other books. Williams has testified before Congress on women’s issues, been a guest at the White House, camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses, and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda.

Williams was the 2006 recipient of The Wilderness Society’s Robert Marshall Award, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by The Center for the American West. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction. She is currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah.

Williams’ lecture is part of the University of Alaska’s Bartlett Lecture Series. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Williams will also participate in an informal meet-and-greet from 1-2 p.m. in Wood Center Conference Rooms E and F.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Cody Rogers at 907-474-6026 or [email protected].

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Move-in day is a hectic and exciting day at UAF. This year, we decided to capture the chaos in a time-lapse video shot throughout the morning and afternoon of Aug. 29, 2010.

Video produced by Megan Otts, UAF Marketing and Communications. Photos by Megan Otts, Todd Paris and Maureen McCombs.

UAF photo by Todd Paris
First-year experience coordinator Jamie Napolski gives instructions to her staff moments before opening the doors to hundreds of incoming freshman during Move-in Day on the Fairbanks campus.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will welcome more than 750 new students starting this weekend at the kickoff of this year’s new student orientation activities. The four-day event, which runs Sunday, Aug. 29 through Wednesday, Sept. 1, will include workshops and activities for new students and their families, as well as opportunities for students to connect with the Fairbanks community.
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The campus and Fairbanks communities gathered At UAF last weekend for the summer’s second freecycling event, the Really Free Market. Hundreds of locals flooded the Nenana parking lot, first with donations and later to shop for free items. This summer’s markets were the second season of what is becoming an annual tradition at UAF.

Slideshow by UAF photographer Todd Paris.

Charles Wohlforth

Alaska author and independent journalist Charles Wohlforth will discuss his latest book, “The Fate of Nature: Rediscovering our Ability to Rescue the Earth,” at a free lecture Wednesday, Aug. 25 on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

The lecture will focus on how culture, not technology, holds the key to mankind’s ability to solve environmental problems. Wohlforth is the keynote speaker for the 2010 Alaska Book Festival. His lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall.

Wohlforth’s experience as a journalist included coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill for the Anchorage Daily News. He wrote three travel books and served two terms on the Anchorage Assembly before publishing his first non-fiction book, “The Whale and the Supercomputer,” in 2004. The book, which earned a number of honors including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, examined climate change in the Arctic. His second book, “The Fate of Nature,” came out in June.

Wohlforth was chosen as the festival’s keynote speaker because of his work writing about Alaska, the issues it faces and its people. The mission of the festival, created in 2007, is to celebrate literature from and about Alaska. Wohlforth’s “The Fate of Nature” is a prime example. Revealing how Alaska populations provide an example of conflicting worldviews that lead to different fates for the natural world, Wohlforth describes how people can work together to preserve nature.

For information on the lecture or the Alaska Book Festival, call 907-474-7021.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Michelle Bartlett, UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning director, at 907-474-6624, 907-474-7021 or via e-mail at [email protected].

ON THE WEB:
www.uaf.edu/bookfestival/
www.fateofnature.com/

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UAF employees, students, alumni and supporters flooded the Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds on Tuesday for the annual UAF Day at the Fair. The day included booths and displays from UAF departments and the Alaska Nanooks, as well as burgers from the Fairbanks Chapter of the UAF Alumni Association. This slideshow offers a few snapshots from the day’s events.

Marmian Grimes

907-474-7902

8/11/10

Dozens of university leaders and students from around the Arctic will gather at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Aug. 12-15 for the fourth University of the Arctic Rectors’ Forum.

The event will draw university presidents, chancellors and other leaders from eight circumpolar nations for discussions about postsecondary education’s role in serving northern communities.

“The University of the Arctic is an extraordinary network of over 120 postsecondary educational institutions across all the countries of the circumpolar north,” said forum chairman and UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers. “The Rectors’ Forum is the only annual international gathering of the leaders of these institutions and UAF is honored to host the 2010 meeting. Participants will discuss how the UArctic network can best address the educational and other needs of an arctic region that is undergoing rapid and unprecedented change.”

The forum is preceded by a student workshop with a similar focus. The student workshop began today and runs through Saturday.

“The UArctic students in the workshop, which runs parallel with the Rectors’ Forum, will identify gaps in how universities serve northern communities as well as best practices for solving problems common to the Arctic,” said UAF professor Rich Boone, who serves as UAF’s representative on the University of the Arctic council. “It’s an opportunity for a fresh perspective from graduate students who will become future leaders in science, policy, resource management, and governance in the eight Arctic nations.”

The University of the Arctic is a network of universities and other higher education organizations that work together to build educational programs that address the needs of circumpolar communities. The University of the Arctic currently offers a bachelor’s-level certificate in circumpolar studies. Courses are open to students at all member institutions and are delivered online.

Work to establish the University of the Arctic began in 1997; UAF is one of the founding members. The first rectors’ forum was held in 2007. The forums are an opportunity for the leaders of the member institutions to meet face-to-face and determine direction for the network.

The forum will open with a reception on Thursday, Aug. 12 and will be followed by two full days of workshops and presentations from scientists and leaders, including Denali Commission co-chairman Joel Neimeyer, UAF professors John Walsh, Scott Rupp, Terry Chapin and Terrence Cole, and UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer. Sessions on Friday afternoon will focus on higher education, business and tourism, health, and climate, energy and natural resources. On Sunday, participants will make their final recommendations and sign a declaration that will provide direction for the coming year.

The student workshop began today, when 15 graduate students from nine universities met on campus for the first time. In advance of the workshop, students surveyed their local leaders about how universities can best serve communities. Most of the morning on Thursday will be spent in a panel discussion about how universities can help communities deal with the challenges they face. Students will join rectors for plenary sessions on Friday and Saturday and will present the results of the workshop to the rectors’ forum on Saturday afternoon. The student workshop has been organized by four graduate students in the UAF Resilience and Adaptation Program.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Rich Boone, associate dean, UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics, at 907-474-7685 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Outi Snellman, vice-president administration, University of the Arctic International Secretariat, at +358-40-5010209, or [email protected].

ON THE WEB: For more information about the University of the Arctic and the rectors’ forum, including full schedules of the student workshop and rectors’ forum, visit http://www.uarctic.org/singleArticle.aspx?m=715&amid=7904.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Media wishing to cover the forum or workshop should contact Grimes at the number above or Snellman at the forum.

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