A reminder about the holiday schedule:

Thursday and Friday Dec. 25 and 26 are paid leave for the Christmas holiday. All employees need to take either LWOP or annual leave on Dec. 29, 30 and 31. The campus will be closed on those days. Jan. 1 and 2 are paid holidays for New Year's. Regular work resumes January 5.

Have a safe and joyful holiday season!
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On Friday evening, November 21, Phil Rounds lost his battle with cancer.� Phil, the battalion chief for the University Fire Department for over 20 years, served with, trained and touched the lives of countless firefighters during his years of service. He continued to work full-time until a week before his death.

Phil's wife of 39 years, Bess Rounds, has been an integral member of the President’s Office for many years. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. The family will be joined by friends and colleagues in a memorial service following a funeral procession of fire equipment from departments across Alaska.

Phil will be remembered as a kind and easygoing man who was loved and respected throughout the state.
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Memorial Service
The procession of fire engines and apparatus will begin at University Fire Department Station 2 on University Avenue at approximately 12:00 noon on Saturday, November 29, 2008.� The lead engine will carry Phil's flag draped casket, Bess, his daughter, and three grandchildren from the funeral home on South University to the Davis Concert Hall at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.� The family will be accompanied by Phil's fellow officers and pallbearers. University Avenue will be closed during the procession. A shuttle service will be provided from the Taku and Patty Gym parking lots.
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The Memorial Service begins at 1:30 in the Davis Concert Hall. This will be followed by a reception in the Great Hall.
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Reception
Video cameras will be set up in several locations for those that would like to leave a video message for the family.� Food for the reception will be provided by the North Star Fire Department.� A receiving table will be available to leave cards and letters.
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Family Needs - Meals
Jeannie Phillips is organizing a meal sharing schedule for the family. They will need food for 10-12 people and it should be something easy to eat and in a container that they do not have to return.� If that is not possible, please make sure it is clearly marked.
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To help with a meal call Jeannie to schedule your contribution. Please have the food in the President’s Suite by 5:00 p.m. each day to ensure that it is delivered.� Jeannie will set up an alternate schedule for Friday-Sunday deliveries.
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Reception Needs
Statewide has been asked to provide plates, cups, cutlery, and napkins for approximately 1,000 people for the reception. Bring any donations to the President’s Suite, and they will be brought to the reception. Tissue boxes to distribute throughout the Concert Hall have also been requested. Cash donations for the purchase of these items, will be accepted as well.
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Communication with the Family
Bess’ email is being overwhelmed right now, so please do not send her an email.� Notes and cards brought to the President’s Suite will be delivered each night along with the meals.
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Scholarship Fund
A scholarship fund is set up through Denali State Bank.� Donations to the "Battalion Chief Philip E. Rounds Fire Science Scholarship" can be made at any branch office.
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Leave Share Donations
Bess is now eligible for Leave Share Donations.� If you would like to contribute, Jeannie Phillips will have forms in her office, or they can be downloaded through the MyUA portal.
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It’s time to check your cupboards for all those food items you’ve bought, but not used...items that could help give someone else a happy holiday feast.

What:� The SAA annual Holiday Food Drive

When:� November 21 – December 19, 2008

Collection Boxes: Fairbanks – Butrovich 1st floor, east and west ends of the building

Anchorage – Bragaw Suite 102 kitchenette

The annual food drive will benefit the Food Banks in both Fairbanks and Anchorage.� Last year, our two locations combined to donate a total of 628 lbs of food.� Let’s do even better this year!� Remember to check the expiration date on the food items.� Outdated food will be discarded.

Fairbanks employees: Lisa Sporleder
 will once again collect used coffee mugs that need new homes.� The mugs will be dressed up with a candy cane, packet of gourmet cocoa, and a pretty bow, and then sent to the Food Bank with the rest of the food donations.� Last year, we collected 101 mugs from kitchens and kitchenettes across the Fairbanks area that needed new homes.� If you have any extra mugs, bring them to Lisa, by the windows in Butrovich 102 (behind the Support Center).� The elves will turn them into special Christmas gifts for needy families.

For more information, call Lisa Sporleder
 at 450-8364 (Fairbanks), or DeShana York at 786-1198 (Anchorage).� Let’s make this year special for someone else!
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The sounds of laughter and merriment erupted Friday, November 21, 2008, during the lunchtime hours from the conference room in 109. The annual Thanksgiving potluck sponsored by the Statewide Administrative Assembly (SAA) was very well attended. A variety of family dishes were brought in and enjoyed by all.

This potluck also marked the beginning of SAA's annual canned food drive to benefit the local community. Holiday adorned boxes have been placed near the side entrances to the Butrovich building to receive nonperishable food donations now through the Friday, December 19, 2008.

This letter is to clarify any confusion with the service that the UAF Shuttle buses provide to the Butrovich building. The Blue Route runs Monday through Friday 7:15 am to 7:30 pm with the Butrovich building being a regular stop every 15 minutes. During the peek times of the day, usually 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, the Blue Route makes stops at the Butrovich building every 7 to 8 minutes. This bus will make a loop through West Ridge (Irving, G.I., etc...) on the first loop and will then make a stop at the Butrovich building. As with all of our bus stops, passengers need to be waiting at the stop, or inside the front door, to be seen by the bus driver.

The only exception to this would be if the Blue Route bus is full due to passenger pickups at Irving or G.I. during class changes. At this time, he will dispatch Red Route to make a stop through Butrovich.
This routing will sometimes give the passengers waiting for a ride the false impression that the Blue Route missed the stop at the Butrovich Building when they see a bus drive by. There are other buses driving down Yukon Drive that do not stop at the Butrovich Building such as Campus Shuttle, Red Route (unless making a requested drop off) or a charter.

As a reminder, Gold Route stops at the Butrovich building twice during the noon hour for passengers wanting to ride to lower campus for lunch.

Our buses are equipped with GPS units and can be viewed at www.uaf.edu/fs/shuttletracker.html
We also have the ability to pull past history on any bus and verify exact times and exact locations.
If there are any questions concerning the shuttle buses, routes, or the GPS tracker, please call me at x6857

Thanks,
Todd Smith
UAF Facilities Services
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To the world he is known as President-elect Barack Obama, but to UA’s Saichi Oba he is affectionately remembered as Barry. They attended Punahou (Pron: PUN-AH-HO, literally: 'new spring') School in Honolulu, Hawaii together from the 4th grade through 12th. They both graduated in the class of 1979.

Saichi Oba remembers Obama well from their school days. They played freshman football together- Obama was a defensive end and Oba played center on the offensive line. After ninth grade Oba continued with football and Obama made the switch to basketball. This copy of the high school yearbook shows them as high school seniors playing their respective sports.

A cousin to Oba (another Punahou alum) met Obama at a speech he was giving at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Philadelphia. The two were reminiscing about school at Punahou when he told Obama that his cousin Saichi was in his class, Obama came back with "Oh my God, Saichi Oba!� You know him and me played..."

In the following e-mail Oba describes his time at school with Barry and the impressions of him as a young man and a future leader.

He was always a very nice person - you never heard him speak disparagingly about other people - probably a reflection of living with and being raised by his grandparents.� Their condominium was very close (across the street) from Punahou (his grandmother was still living there at the time of her death).� I also recall him as very smart, articulate and amiable.� We often played pick-up basketball games throughout high school - he was left handed and already a little over 6 foot in high school, so he was pretty good.� Perhaps it was Hawaii, or Punahou, but his ethnicity was not a question or in question that I recall (he does raise some aspects of race in his book "Dreams of my father" while at Punahou - but by and large - I am not sure if you find others having the same recollection - of course - those were his feelings - so who are we too say...)

Another cousin, Jim Scott, is the current President at Punahou School, on occasion he and I see each other at conferences and try to catch up.� Our last opportunity was in 2006 in Las Vegas at the College Board's Western Regional Forum, I was on the Guidance and Admissions Committee, Jim was a former Trustee of the College Board, we went to dinner and he shared the following story about Barack: he said he visited the school not long after his election to the US Senate, actually spoke at an assembly for the academy - touched on all types of topics: staying in school, going to college, etc - as I recall Jimmy told me he captivated the kids (and the faculty - many of whom were still at Punahou from when we were there) - it was a great experience for everyone.� He also told Jim that he would come back and speak anytime he asked or needed him to.� I think that speaks quite a lot about who Barry is and what Punahou meant to him.

They will be celebrating their 30th reunion this June in Honolulu.
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The season of snow and ice is here and with it comes the slips, trips and falls. Statewide Risk Services is giving away free Spikies to provide employees the opportunity to GET-A-GRIP, on snow and ice, that is. Spikies are rubber soles with carbide studs that slip over your boots and shoes.

Spikies are available to all Statewide employees, including temporary, part-time or student employees. Spikies or similar shoe traction devices can be found at local sporting goods and fire safety stores for $20-$25. If you have received a pair of Yaktrax or Spikies in previous years and they are still serviceable, please do not request another pair as supplies are limited. If you can only find one serviceable Spiky, bring it by so Risk Services can try to make a pair.�

Spikies can be picked up at the Butrovich Building in Suite 106 from Amaya or Yvonne.
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Looking to brighten up a long winter day? Check out the fun puppet show/video the Office of Public Affairs produced to assist UA campuses in getting the word out about student representation on the Board of Regents:��� http://www.alaska.edu/bor/student-regent/
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The two-year term of our current student regent, William Andrews, expires at the end of May, 2009. Campuses hold their elections at varying times, but that process must be completed by Feb. 20, 2009, and results forwarded to Jeannie Phillips in the Board of Regents’ Office by March 6, 2009.
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Please help spread the word to any interested students you may know!
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Addressing an audience of UA Scholars and their families at each of three receptions honoring the incoming class of UA Scholars, President� Hamilton’s message was clear, “I’ve been waiting for you.” This year’s class� of UA Scholars was in the first grade when Hamilton initiated the program. At the time, as the newly appointed president of the University of Alaska, Hamilton made it a priority to stop what he considered the brain drain in Alaska. That is, the tendency of the best and brightest students to be lured out of state by outside scholarships and institutions. Only 45 percent of college-bound graduates were attending� UA in 1996. Funded by money generated by the university’s Land Grant Trust, the UA Scholars Program was developed to keep top high school greaduates in Alaska by offering an $11,000 scholarship to any student in the top 10 percent of his or her high school’s graduating class. Over 4,200 students have enrolled since the Program’sinception in 1999, and this year so far the university has offered 1024 awards to the high school graduating class of 2009. Today, the University of Alaska retains over 60 percent of Alaska’s college bound graduates.

President Hamilton believes so strongly in the Program, and the importance of asking students to attend the state university system, that he personally meets with and congratulates each UA Scholar who attends one of the receptions he hosts in their honor in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau.� In Fairbanks,�� 66 UA Scholars attended, in� Anchorage, 166 and in Juneau a record 26 UA Scholars were present at the event. He has his photo taken with every Scholar, telling the assembled audience that he wants to memorialize meeting these students because he knows, he dreams, in seeing them as Alaska’s future leaders and looking back to say he knew them when they were young.

Hamilton’s dream to gather the best minds from across the state to the benefit of all Alaska is already coming true. Post-graduation surveys show that 95 percent of the Scholars are staying in the state after graduating from UA. UA Scholars have received more than 1200 degrees at UA and some of the first scholars are enrolled in PhD programs at UA. So look closely at the faces of these bright young Scholars, someday they will be Alaska’s leaders.

For more information on the UA Scholars program visit www.alaska.edu/scholars

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For more information please visit http://www.uaf.edu/uapress/flurry.html

Visit the blog of UAF School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences - Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station for frequent updates on SNRAS news, research progress, and much more. Find this useful, fascinating information at www.snras.blogspot.com.

At UAA, Emergency Manager Ron Swartz has initiated a series of training sessions for all employees who may be called upon to assist in the management of a crisis involving the university. Specifically, these presentations familiarize everyone with the concept of setting up and operating an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to support response activities at a scene. It’s common for hospitals, municipalities, school districts, and colleges & universities to stand-up an EOC in order to efficiently manage their response and continued operations after a natural or man-made emergency. Managers, directors, and subject-matter experts are valuable assets to incident commanders during a time of crisis. Soon Swartz intends to host a functional exercise to practice the administration’s EOC function, and this training will benefit anyone who may be involved in crisis response & recovery for that mock scenario. The Municipality of Anchorage Office of Emergency Management has assisted Ron in developing and delivering these 2-hour classes.