In May 2018, Dr. Paul W. Layer was appointed Vice President for Academics, Students
& Research after serving in an interim role since November 2017. In that capacity,
he oversees academic and research programs for the University of Alaska system, which
has three accredited universities: UA Anchorage, UA Fairbanks and UA Southeast. In
addition, he serves as the co-chair of the Alaska State Committee for Research.
Dr. Layer is also a Professor of Geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
He served as department head/chair for the Department of Geology & Geophysics from
1995 to 2003, and then again in 2007. He also served as dean of UAF’s College of Natural
Science & Mathematics from 2009 to 2017.
Dr. Layer has had a long affiliation with the University of Alaska Fairbanks since
1989, when he was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics
and the Geophysical Institute. He was awarded tenure in 1994 and promoted to professor
at UAF in 2000. He has published over 120 papers in his research areas of radiometric
geochronology and tectonics, and built strong national and international collaborations
in support of his research.
Dr. Layer received his BS in geology from Michigan State University, and his MS and
PhD degrees in geophysics from Stanford University. He spent three years as a post-doctoral
fellow at the University of Toronto, Department of Physics.
