Announcements

Fire Season in Alaska

Smoke from the Wood River and Nenana fires cloud the air around Fairbanks. Inset: the Wood River fire, thirty miles away, doubled in size the last week of July. Click on photo for current fire information. Photos by Monique Musick.

BOR prepares for presidential search

The UA Board of Regents is moving forward with the presidential search process following President Hamilton's June announcement that he'll retire in the coming year.

The search is still in its very early stages, but board members are committed to:

Finding the right person to lead the UA System;
Casting a wide net, including applicants from inside and outside Alaska; and from inside and outside higher education circles;
And involving the public and key stakeholders at the appropriate time.

The process is expected to take six months to a year. The university issued a Request for Proposals for executive search services July 8; the deadline for proposals is July 30 at 5 p.m. The board requires the assistance of a professional search firm to ensure the best candidates are considered.

The Voice will update employees regularly on the topic.

In addition, Public Affairs created a web site where information will be posted and updated as needed.

To access the site, go to www.alaska.edu/bor/ and click on "presidential search" at the bottom left-hand menu.

UAF journalism students to report from Iraq

On Thursday, three undergraduate students and a professor from the UAF journalism department will head to Diyala Province in Iraq, where they will spend close to a month reporting as embeds with the U.S. Army's Fairbanks-based Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright. MORE....

Kiplinger’s recognizes Alaska’s T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan as one of the Top Five College Savings Plans

Alaska’s T. Rowe Price College Savings Plan (mirrored in Alaska and available to you as the UA College Savings Plan) was named as one of the top five 529 plans by Kiplinger’s.� MORE....

University of Alaska ICS Training and Pan Flu Seminar

Over 30 executives, administrators and policy makers from UA Statewide, UAF and the community are enrolled in� Incident Command System (ICS) training that will be held in the Butrovich Building Thursday, July 30. The course is intended as a system overview for those responsible for setting or implementing policy, but who are not normally part of the on-scene ICS organization and who may also lack incident management experience at the operational level. Following the training, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services will conduct a Pandemic Influenza seminar.� MORE....

Research site renamed in honor of longtime geophysicist

University of Alaska Fairbanks has renamed a 46-acre research site in honor of Jack Townshend. The Jack Townshend College International Geophysical Observatory is a network of eight state-of-the-art facilities that support research at the Geophysical Institute, the International Arctic Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as other national and international organizations. The site is situated northwest of Smith Lake behind the UAF campus. MORE....

Statewide picnic August 19

It's that time again! School is just a thought away, the fair is coming... must be time for a gathering of family and co-workers to get us in the mood to hit the winter grind again! For those new to Statewide, President and Mrs. Hamilton invite all Statewide employees and their families to their home to get some fresh air, fill their stomachs with awesome food from Sockeyes and enjoy letting the kids run wild. I'll keep everyone informed as the time gets nearer. Don't forget.... Wednesday, August 19th from 5 p.m. until about 8 p.m. Questions? Please email or call Bess Rounds,� bess.rounds@alaska.edu, 450-8001.

Parking lot changes at Butrovich

Freshly painted lines on several new disabled parking spots are the first steps to bring the parking lot at Butrovich up to ADA accessibility standards. Over the past years some of the original signs disappeared, spaces were not marked and the number of accessible spaces fell below minumum standards.� MORE....

Optional extended holiday break

When UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers sent out a memorandum encouraging employees to take the three days before Christmas as annual leave or leave without pay several people at Statewide wondered if the same applied to Statewide employees. MORE......

Butrovich employees added to UAF Staff Listserv

In an effort to improve communication between UAF and Statewide related to routine campus issues, the sdbutro bulk email list has been added to UAF-Staff-L, the listserv for UAF staff. MORE....

Airplane Crash Simulation on UAA Campus

On Tuesday, July 28, the UA Office of Risk Management hosted a disaster exercise at UAA, in which it was simulated that a twin-engine aircraft crash-landed onto the West Campus. The functional exercise, designed by UAA Emergency Manager Ron Swartz, tested the administrative response team’s ability to establish an Emergency Coordination Center following a serious incident on campus. MORE....

SAA News

Summary of SAA recent news and actions. Link to SAA Highlights. MORE....