1991-1999 Sharon Gagnon

1991-1999 Sharon Gagnon

Anchorage

Whether assisting students or developing opportunities within the University of Alaska system, Sharon Gagnon has worked to assure access to higher education for students of all locations and backgrounds.

Active in a wide range of educational and civic affairs in Alaska, Gagnon served as a regent of the University of Alaska from 1991 to 1999, and as president of its Board of Regents from 1993 to 1996. She chairs the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee for Alaska, and was a member of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education in the early 1990s. She served on the board of trustees of the Northern International University in Magadan, Russia, from 1994 to 1999. Her community service endeavors include membership on the community advisory boards for Alaska Airlines, Providence Health Care System Alaska, and Williams Alaska Petroleum, as well as the president's advisory panel for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. She sits on the boards of the National Bank of Alaska, the Rasmuson Foundation, the CIRI Foundation, and the University of Alaska Foundation.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University, Gagnon received her bachelor's degree in French in 1962. She went to France as a Fulbright Scholar from 1962 to 1964 and received a Certificat d’aptitude à l’enseignement du français à l’étranger in 1963 from the Université de Poitiers. She has taught French language and literature at a variety of institutions including Harvard, Vanderbilt, Alaska Methodist University, and the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

She is married to Bruce Gagnon '64, JD '67. The couple have two children, Anne Millington '92 and Elliot Gagnon '95.

Gagnon Lane