Vice President of Academic Affairs
Statewide Academic Affairs

President Gamble announced that Dana Thomas will be the new vice president of Academic Affairs. Thomas served as vice provost and accreditation liaison officer for the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Thomas is an alumnus of the UAF biology program and later earned a master’s and Ph.D. in statistics at Oregon State University. Thomas returned to Fairbanks, where he was born and raised, and developed a statistics program at UAF in 1981.

Since returning, Thomas has served UAF in many ways. He has been a faculty member in statistics for 31 years and was chair of the mathematics and statistics department for six years. In 2005, Thomas received the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching Award.

While on faculty at UAF, he arranged U.S.A.I.D contracts to work two years in the Republic of Yemen facilitating a national survey of agriculture and two years in the Sultanate of Oman improving their fisheries statistics operations. He is recognized for his interdisciplinary research on the design and analysis of studies assessing resource (food and habitat) selection by animals.

Thomas evaluates other universities for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Chief Human Resources Offices
Statewide Office of Human Resources

Donald Smith was announced Wednesday, Aug. 8, as the new chief of the Statewide Office of Human Resources. Smith has been serving in the position as interim chief since Nov. of 2011.

Smith was appointed after a nation-wide search, which resulted in his selection by a university search committee.

Formerly, Smith was the system wide executive director of Labor and Employee Relations. He has accumulated more than 30 years of working experience in human resources and employee relations in both government and private business.

Kim Fackler, who has served as administrative coordinator in the Systems Governance Office, is headed to graduate school at the University of Edinburgh where the school motto is "influencing the world since 1587."

In her position, Fackler supported the efforts of the System Governance Council, the Staff Alliance, the Coalition of Student Leaders, and the Faculty Alliance.

Fackler received in journalism B.A. (UAA, 1993), a biology B.S. (UAF, 2006).

Fackler is a second-generation Army kid. Her family lived in Germany and in many different Lower 48 states before moving to Alaska when she was a teenager. She completed high school in Anchorage while her father was posted to Fort Richardson; Alaska has felt like home ever since. After high school Kim studied and worked in Germany and then returned to Alaska to complete her journalism degree. Technical writing work took Kim to Canada and Washington state.

Davey grew up in the small, rural town of Glennallen, Alaska. Initially enrolling in the Computer Science program at UAF, he was inspired to change his major to Accounting his sophomore year�after reading a Sun Star article in the Lola Tilly Commons. He still is fond of programming though and has found his understanding of computing concepts to be very helpful in the world of accounting and information systems.

In his free time Davey likes to play guitar and read up on philosophy. He says that if there are any Schopenhauer, Nietzsche or Sartre fans in the building, they should stop by his office at lunch some time and have a chat.

Assistant Auditor��������������
Statewide Internal Audit

Anne Doyle has joined the Statewide Internal Audit team as an assistant auditor. Doyle will perform financial, compliance, operational and performance audits utilizing accepted professional standards.

Doyle received her business administration degree in management and marketing with a minor in geography from the University of Nebraska and her master’s from Ashford University. Before coming to the University of Alaska, Doyle worked for ADP, Inc. gaining corporate experience under positions such as account manager, compliance specialist, implementation specialist and software support associate. �

Doyle and her son moved from Scottsdale, Ariz., to Fairbanks on Dec. 21, 2011 (the winter solstice and shortest day of the year), to be closer to family and provide her son a childhood that only Fairbanks can offer.

Property Manager
Statewide Facilities and Land Management

Patrick J. Kelly is the new senior property manager with Statewide Facilities and Land Management. Kelly was hired on June 4.

Before working as senior property manager, Kelly worked as a land manager, a survey manager for the Alaska Railroad Corporation Northwest Region and worked for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Kelly was born in Washington, D.C., and was raised in McLean, Va. He moved to Alaska in May of 1985 and has never looked back. Kelly received his formal education from Paul Smiths College in Paul Smiths, N.Y., where he received an associate degree in land surveying.

Kelly's wife Kathy is a construction inspector with the Anchorage School District, and his daughter, Zoey, is currently an exchange student in Chile.

In his free time, Kelly enjoys running, biking, skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting, mountain climbing and considers himself an outdoor enthusiast.

Property Manager
Statewide Facilities and Land Management

Tina Schimschat is the new senior property manager with Facilities and Land Management. She is responsible for managing educational and investment property.

Schimschat began her new position on May 7. Previously she was the central region chief of aviation leasing for four years and prior to that worked as a property manager for Providence Health and Services in Anchorage.

Schimschat is originally from Seattle, Wash., and moved to Alaska in October of 2003. She received her formal education from the University of Washington and Shoreline Community College. While there, Schimschat studied education and was a licensed realtor in Washington State.

Her husband is a construction project manager and works on large projects in remote villages, mostly in the Yukon-Kuskokwin Delta. Together, they have three sons that live at home, one who attends UAA, and she is an avid hockey mom and fan. During her free time, Schimschat loves to read, cross-country ski and garden.

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