It’s been a busy summer and fall for your government relations team as we engaged state and federal policymakers on behalf of the University of Alaska. Together, with your support and assistance, we created a number of exciting opportunities for political leaders to come to campus and to observe, engage and participate in all the wonderful things you do. Building personalized experiences is critically important to raising the university’s profile and to building relationships essential to our long-term success.

State Engagement
We hosted Governor Walker for a record seven bill signings on our campuses this year including the state’s FY2019 operating and capital budgets, the Permanent Fund Protection Act, and the Education Tax Credit extension bill. In September, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) at UAA hosted the Governor for the public release �of the Alaska Climate Action Leadership Team’s climate change policy recommendations and action plan. Larry Hinzman, UAF Vice Chancellor for Research, participated in the team’s work.

In August, UAF celebrated completion of the new Combined Heat & Power Plant. Over a hundred invited guests including legislators, contractors, staff, faculty and industry partners, joined UA President Jim Johnsen and UAF Chancellor Dan White for the festivities and watched as the ceremonially breaker was flipped. The $245 million coal-fired facility replaces the 56-year-old current plant and will generate 17 megawatts of electricity and enough steam to heat the entire UAF campus.

In September, President Johnsen and UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield addressed the annual meeting of Southeast Conference in Ketchikan. The regional economic development group’s annual meeting attracts business, political and industry leaders from across Southeast and other coastal areas of Alaska. As part of the agenda, UAS hosted conference attendees at the grand opening of the newly renovated Southeast Maritime Training Center. Governor Walker, Senator Begich and Senator Dunleavey were each able to tour the facility during the conference. The $5.8 million facility features state-of-the-art bridge and engine simulators, metal welding facilities, and diesel, hydraulics and refrigeration labs. Upgrades to this new facility are well-timed to coincide with our ongoing efforts to have the University of Alaska designated as a Domestic Maritime Workforce Center of Excellence by the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Federal Engagement
At the beginning of the summer, UA President Jim Johnsen traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the Alaska congressional delegation and officials from the U.S. Department of Education to discuss a variety of federal policy and funding priorities. Resolving the university’s 350,000 acres land grant deficit continues to be a significant focus of our federal engagement.

In May, UAF and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski co-hosted National Laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a two-day conference at the Engineering Innovation and Learning Facility in Fairbanks.� DOE’s seventeen National Labs are leaders in scientific innovation and working to address some of the most significant challenges of our time. The Alaska National Lab Day brought academic, industry and policy leaders from across the country to Alaska to learn about the world-class research being done here - particularly in the areas of alternative energy, power distribution and microgrid innovation. The successful event has already generated promising new research partnerships and collaborations. Senator Murkowski returned to campus two weeks ago to kick off Women Entrepreneurship Week at UAA.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan partnered with UAA’s College of Health and Justice Center to hold the second in a series of Wellness Summits�at the Alaska Airlines Center in August. This year’s event brought together a prominent group of federal, state and local leaders, and stakeholders to build awareness and to discuss solutions for confronting Alaska’s serious crime and opioid epidemic. UAA Justice Center Director Brad Myrstol, was joined by the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the Department of Justice’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of organized crime and gangs.
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In July, UAA Biology Professor Cheryl Wilga testified before Senator Sullivan and a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on shark research, during which she discussed engineering and bio medical breakthroughs using the properties of shark cartilage. You view the hearing�here.

Thanks and recognition

These are just a few examples of the outreach and advocacy that has been happening over the last several months. Thank you to everyone who took time to collaborate on these initiatives this summer, and for all the time and energy you put forward on behalf of our university.� I look forward to continuing to partner with you as we work to advance our priorities with policymakers.
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I’d like to conclude by congratulating UAF on winning a number of significant federal contracts.

• NASA recently awarded the Alaska Satellite Facility a five-year, $48.6 million contract to continue operating the synthetic aperture radar data center at the UAF Geophysical Institute.
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• The Geophysical Institute was also selected by the Department of Defense to serve as a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), one of only seventeen such centers in the country. �The institute has a significant capability to use infrasound and seismic sensors to detect nuclear detonation, and that will continue to be the research area of focus. The contract makes the institute eligible to receive long-term, sole-source funding from DOD potentially worth $50 million over five-years.
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• In September the National Science Foundation awarded UAF a 5-year $20 million grant in support of interdisciplinary climate research in Alaska. The “Fire & Ice” project will study climate-driven impacts on the boreal forest and near-shore coastal areas within the Gulf of Alaska. The project will be administered by UAF, involves faculty from a variety of disciplines and all three of our universities.�

For more information, contact Miles Baker, Associate Vice President of Government Relations, at 907-463-3086 or miles.baker@alaska.edu.