UA Foundation President and Chief Development Officer Mary Rutherford has been named to one of three national commissions of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).� She will
serve a three-year term on the national CASE Commission on Philanthropy.

The appointment will provide Rutherford the opportunity to frame research important for evaluating professional practices in philanthropy, as well as monitor programs and services to ensure they reflect current knowledge, emerging issues and trends with the highest ethical and professional standards. The Philanthropy Commission is one of three national CASE commissions (the other two are for Alumni
Relations and Communications/Marketing). Commission members report to the national CASE Board of Directors as well as to district boards and conference planners. The University of Alaska is an active participant in the CASE District VIII as well as the national CASE organization. The three functions within university advancement are alumni, marketing/communications and development/philanthropy.

"It's an honor to be appointed to this national position," said Rutherford. "I hope to not only elevate the University of Alaska within CASE as a professional organization, but also to bring back what I learn to share with colleagues throughout Advancement at the UA System."

The CASE Commission on Philanthropy meets twice annually, and is paid for entirely by CASE. The next meeting for the 2011-12 Commission is Oct. 17-18, 2011, in Washington, DC.

Congratulations Mary!
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The SunGard Higher Education Community Source Initiative Board of Directors has selected Rory O’Neill as the winner of a 2010 Merit Award. The Merit Awards for 2010 recognize those whose efforts have contributed significantly to advancing the Community Source Initiative’s goals and activities. The Board considered individuals’ level of participation, willingness to lead and extraordinary contribution to Community Source.

O’Neill said that the award reflects internal expertise and effort provided to him by Finance/OIT applications services professional staff. They have been administratively supporting SunGard Higher Education's "Community Source (Code)" initiative as well as consuming its fruits upon deploying Banner upgrades that now include customer-contributed enhancements. They will be submitting the recent distance education Banner customizations for inclusion into the baseline product.
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President Barack Obama has appointed Fran Ulmer, Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, to a 4-year term as the Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission (USARC).

The USARC is an independent federal agency, established by the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984, to develop a national policy on integrated Arctic research and a program to implement the policy. As the Chair of USARC, Chancellor Ulmer will advance federal arctic research in coordination with the State of Alaska and international partners.� MORE...

President Gamble will be hosting a spring "Coffee with the President" on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 in the BOR conference room. Anchorage staff will join by teleconference from BOB 205. There will be coffee and refreshments provided in both locations.

Did you know that Administrative Professionals Week is April 24-30, 2011?� This week is a national event to recognize the contributions of administrative professionals and to encourage their development.�

In recognition of the dedicated and hardworking administrative professionals at the University of Alaska, the Statewide Office of Human Resources and Public Affairs are jointly sponsoring various events on Monday, April 25, 2011 in Butrovich 109.� MORE....

Finding and registering for e-learning classes just got easier. Instead of having to look up e-learning classes using the Distance Ed Gateway as students have in the past, the new class search at UAOnline now allows students to easily pull a list of e-learning courses in all available subject areas for all campuses. The advanced search allows students to narrow down the list of available courses based on the types technology utilized, for example, students can easily search for classes using only audio conferencing versus classes using web or satellite technologies. The course descriptions have also been expanded to include course specific information such as if the course is instructor led or self-paced, lecture style or correspondence, and the type equipment required. An open search is also now available.� It will look for keywords in the course title, description or other attributes to assist students in locating the class that is right for them. A student looking for a class on Photoshop can now just type 'Photoshop' in the open search and will be shown a list of all courses within the user's criteria that mention Photoshop. All of these changes have been added to UAOnline's already robust search capabilities to allow for easier navigation and registration of all courses for every student and every campus.

Students who are used to using the Distance Ed Gateway to find e-learning courses can still use that site for Summer and Fall 2011 registrations; however, we encourage you to head straight over to UAOnline to find and register for classes in one convenient location.

The University of Alaska Southeast will become the only educational institution in Alaska to offer underground mine training simulation thanks to support from the legislative office of Rep. Cathy Munoz (R-Juneau) and other members of the Southeast Alaska legislative delegation. University of Alaska Workforce Development funds in the amount of $400,000 are matching a $400,000 2010 capital budget appropriation for a total of $800,000.
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The money will allow UAS to purchase a state-of-the-art mine training simulator with three modules for training on different pieces of mining equipment. The simulator and modules will provide a dramatic increase in training capacity to prepare individuals for entry-level hard rock mining jobs in Alaska. The simulator will be housed at the UAS Center for Mine Training, located at Juneau’s UAS Technical Education Center.

The University of Alaska College Savings Plan would like to congratulate the Boys and Girls Club's 2011 Youth of the Year winner, Karimah B. Shine! Karimah was presented with a $2,000 scholarship account donated by the UA College Savings Plan. First and second runner ups also received scholarship accounts provided by the University of Alaska College Savings Plan.

Keep up-to-date on current wellness benefits and be inspired by healthy lifestyle tips through the UA Health Link. This online newsletter provides monthly updates on IHP programs, wellness breaks, current incentive programs and more. If you missed this month's issue, read it HERE.