On December 8, Ed Rasmuson, chairman of the Rasmuson Foundation, and Aaron Schutt, CEO of Doyon, Limited, will join UA President Jim Johnsen in hosting the first Alaska Public Higher Education Roundtable. �The Roundtable brings together a diverse group of Alaskan leaders to advise the University of Alaska on the state’s highest-priority needs that should be met through research, education and outreach at the university. It will also provide a vehicle for measuring and reporting on the university’s progress toward meeting those state needs.

Members of the Roundtable�come from�the executive and legislative branches of state government, private businesses, community organizations, the Board of Regents and university administration. Patterned after successful models in other states, the Roundtable is meant to function in a purely advisory capacity to the university and to other members of the Roundtable and will have no governing or coordination roles. The Roundtable will meet twice each year, once in the fall (November/December) and once in the spring (May/June).

At its initial meeting, Roundtable members will review and approve the charter, review data on state needs and university performance, and identify and prioritize the state’s short term (1-5 years) and long term (5-10 years) higher education needs. The university’s Shaping Alaska’s Future initiative will serve as the initial framework for Roundtable discussion, specifically for the formulation of quantitative goals and measures for assessing progress. At each subsequent meeting, Roundtable members will update priorities in light of changing conditions in the state and university performance.

Two public higher education experts, Dennis Jones (President of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems) and David Longanecker (President of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education will facilitate the meeting.

Active shooter events are underway in the Butrovich Building. Employees have had opportunities to be trained on the Butrovich Emergency Action Plan, have been made aware of updated safety signage, are receiving regular safety minutes and most currently have been invited to participate in specific active shooter safety trainings.

A web site with information and events to-date is at: Http://www.alaska.edu/risksafety/training

SW Emergency Management Director Greg Busch and UAF Police Chief Keith Mallard will hold two group trainings on Monday, Nov. 30 from 9:30 – 11a.m. and 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. in Butrovich 109. During these sessions they will be discussing the event and demonstrating the sound a gun makes in the building using blank rounds. Individuals will have ample opportunities to ask specific questions and discuss concerns at that time.

In addition there will be suite-by-suite location-based trainings on Thursday and Friday Dec. 3 and 4 . These trainings will be flexible and scheduled with the department heads earlier in the week.

A retrospective analysis, called an After Action Report (AAR), on the planning, trainings, event and tabletop exercise will be produced a short time after the scenario has concluded. This will be the document that guides our next event. What are the takeaways? Did we meet the objectives? Where can we improve? What is the next step? It will not only tell us where we might have gone wrong but also outline what we did right. The beauty of it is that it will also come from various perspectives…invited evaluators, the actors, the designers and you. Watch for a short survey that will follow the exercise. This report will not be focused on any one individual but will focus on overall flow, timing, coordination between departments and responses to specific injects planned into the event.

AGAIN: Safety is our primary concern for players and participants. More information will be coming as we get closer to the event week. For specific questions and concerns contact: Steve Mullins - OIT Project Management, Kate Wattum - Public Affairs or Greg Busch - Emergency Management.

It was suggested some time ago, that OIT place an intercom near the key fob stations at each end of the building to facilitate access when one does not have one's keycard handy. We now have a low-cost solution:

We have placed instructions by each key fob station that indicate how to contact the datacenter, which operates 24x7x365. Someone there can let you in.

There is already a phone in east vestibule and we have posted the number by the phone there as well.

Please have your UA ID card handy for the Data Center staff. They will be verifying your EDIR info to assess whether you belong in this building, so please make sure your EDIR info is current as well. To update your directory information visit https://edir.alaska.edu/ and log in using your UA credentials.

There was a fantastic turnout for the annual Thanksgiving potluck on Nov. 20 in Fairbanks. Many thanks to everyone who helped make that such a great event. Please click HERE for images of the event and a special holiday message from President Johnsen. MORE...

The Statewide Administration Assembly wil be holding a holiday potluck at noon in Butrovich 109 in Fairbanks on December 18. All Fairbanks staff are invited to bring a dish to share and celebrate with co-workers and friends the end of a year, and the beginning of the holiday season. This is also the end date of the SAA charity drives.

In addition, the Office of the President is hosting a family holiday celebration Dec. 17 in Fairbanks. Information on the event will be forthcoming.

Food Drive

The annual food drive started November 20 and runs until the December 18 potluck. Please bring in unopened, non-perishable food items and place them in the wrapped boxes located by Erector Bear and the Arctic Floats on the east and west ends of the Butrovich Building's first floor. As you check your pantry and cabinets for good food donations keep an eye open for any spare mugs for the mug drive, too. Bring them to Lisa Sporeleder's cubicle in Suite 102, by the windows, behind the purple vine. Lisa and her elves will stuff the mugs with a packet of gourmet cocoa and a candy cane, fill them with wrapped chocolates, and then give them a festive wrapping and a bow. The mugs go to the Food Bank along with the rest of the food we collect.

Adopt a Family
Love Inc. has matched us with two families this year for our annual Adopt-A-Family gift drive. SAA has created Christmas tree ornaments containing the gifts the family members indicated would make their holiday season a little brighter. If we all pull together we can help these families have a wonderful Christmas. We would like to thank everyone for their pending generosity, by already picking up so many gift ornaments.�The remaining ornaments are hanging on the Christmas tree on the 1st floor by OIT. Gifts and/or gift cards may be bought to Alesia or Buffy in suit 206. If you have any questions, please contact Alesia (x8426) amkruckenberg@alaska.edu or Buffy (x8117) blkuiper@alaska.edu.

Click HERE for the complete family wish list.

The Bugle, a bi-weekly online publication of the University of Alaska Foundation, features donor recognition, announcements, training opportunities and staff news from development offices across the system. Keep up-to-date on our UA Foundation partners HERE.

University of Alaska student Faith Farris won two round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines as part of the university’s myTRACK photo contest.

In the contest, students posted a “selfie,” or self-portrait, to UA’s Facebook site indicating with their fingers how many years it would take to earn their degrees. ��The contest is part of UA’s annual Stay on TRACK campaign, now in its fifth year, which encourages students to graduate on time and with less debt.

The contest ran from July through October, with a top prize of two round-trip tickets on Alaska Airlines. Farris, an Anchorage student who is thinking of traveling to Hawaii, New York, or California with her winning tickets, advised students to take enough credits so that it won’t take longer to graduate, and to consider summer classes as an option.

Another Anchorage student, Kimberly Cooper, won a $250 Amazon.com gift card as the top vote recipient, receiving over 500 votes for her myTRACK selfie.�

UA’s efforts to encourage full-time students to take additional credits have made a difference.� Students who attempted 15 or more credit hours had a higher credit hour completion rate than those who attempted less than 15 credit hours. In the long term, students who attempt and earn at least 15 credit hours a semester perform significantly better than full-time students who take less than 15 credit hours a semester.� First-year retention to the second year of college is 23 percentage points greater for students taking 15 credits per semester compared to students who take lighter course loads.� And graduation rates among full-time students with heavier loads are impressive--39 percentage points higher (over a 10-year period) for students who take at least 15 credits a semester compared to those who take less. �

To learn more about UA’s Stay on TRACK campaign, go to http://www.alaska.edu/stayontrack/.

As you gear-up for the Holiday season, don’t forget that UAs wellness program is still continuing. There are a lot of resources on Healthyroads.com to help you stay on-track with your Holiday goals! Between all campus locations going tobacco-free by 12/31 and focusing on maintaining healthy habits when tempted by all of the treats, we have something to assist you.

There are two Challenges running right now, one of which is still available to join until 12/31. The ‘Walk Alaska’ Challenge will push you to keep on-track with your activity goals. The ‘Maintain Without Gain’ Challenge does run to 1/2/16, but if you missed enrollment on it last week, you can always create your own to help support you with your weight maintenance (or loss!) goals.

Also available is our Healthyroads coaching program. This program is available for any employee, spouse/FIP that is currently on the UA Choice Plan. It is free of charge and allows you to work with your own personal health coach! You can learn more about the program on the Healthyroads website (once logged-in, go to the ‘Resources’ tab and then ‘Health Coaching’), as well as sign up for your first session. You may also call: 877-330-2746 to sign up. Sara Rodewald, our on-site wellness program manager will be providing a presentation on the health coaching program soon on the UA benefit/wellness page. Keep an eye out for an email notifying when that will be available!

For any questions on the wellness program, please contact Sara for assistance:

Phone: (907)450-8203
Email: sararo@ashn.com

The 9^th�Annual Food Drive Challenge & 7^th�Annual SSS Food Box Collection�is underway, and this year the�Wood Center Food Pantry�and Division of General Studies (Academic Advising Center, Honors Program,�Student Support Services (SSS), Upward Bound, URSA & Testing Services) are TEAMING UP to help support SSS students in need during the long holiday break.

This need is often a temporary situation for many students in the program who may find themselves without reliable income for up to a month until the start of the next semester.

It is our goal to collect as much food as possible to assemble food boxes for these students and their families, by�Monday ,�December 14th, 2014 by 5pm.

Last year’s food boxes helped 14 families and over 25 people and even more have expressed a need for extra food this holiday break. Please go to the Google doc to view what items are still needed. Any amount of money can also be donated for the purchase of perishable items (i.e. eggs, bread, butter, milk, etc.):�

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QtsTQtYRk6QIBQE_0Nja6XeF8A-GM2u82hHgfhGqO9E/edit?usp=sharing

Boxes are also needed to collect food for the students Xerox size or bigger.

Please bring all boxes, non-perishable food items and cash donations to 514 Gruening (SSS office) for collection and consider helping UAF students and their families during this long and cold winter to have a happy and healthy holiday season. *All extra non-perishable food will be donated to the�Wood Center Food Pantry�to help other UAF students in need.*�

If you have any questions please contact Kate Wilsey at 474-6844 or�kmwilsey@alaska.edu.

**The mission of�SSS�is to serve students who are either first generation college students, students with documented disabilities, and low-income students.** We need everyone’s help to spread holiday cheer to UAF Students in need.