For Immediate Release
Friday, June 1, 2007

The University of Alaska Board of Regents will meet at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus June 6-7, 2007.

The meeting includes a community reception from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, at the Museum of the North for 11 recently hired International Polar Year postdoctoral researchers.» The public is invited to the reception.

Regents also will attend a naming and dedication ceremony of the Natural Sciences Building at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 7, in honor of Paul Reichardt, UAF's retiring provost who worked for the campus in teaching and administrative positions for 35 years.

The public is welcome to testify to the board at 11 a.m. both days during the two-day meeting.» The fairly light agenda includes the following:
* An update on the International Polar Year, a two-year, multinational effort that focuses on scientific research affecting Earth's polar regions. The university recently hired 11 postdoctoral researchers throughout the system to focus largely on global climate change issues;
* Total project cost increases for two ongoing projects--the Arctic Health Research Building on the UAF campus and the Lena Point fisheries facility in Juneau, part of UAF's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences;
* And budget distribution for the fiscal year starting July 1. The Alaska Legislature recently approved a total of $292.5 million in state general funds for the university, up $10 million compared to the current fiscal year but still $1.6 million shy of meeting the fixed-cost need in required retirement payments and $16.3 million below the regents' request.» Federal funding, private donations, university receipts and other funding brings the total UA system budget to $798.8 million for the new fiscal year, compared to $774.1 million for the current year.

This meeting also will be the first for recently appointed regents Erik Drygas of Fairbanks and William Andrews of Juneau.
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For more information, call Kate Ripley at 907/450-8102 or 907/388-3506. For a complete agenda, go to http://www.alaska.edu/bor/agendas/agendas.xml.

NR11-07
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