Shiny in Higher Education Marketing, We Are Quite Give Aurora a Facelift

Teacher troubadour No news North? Life after oil

Spring 2013

For alumni and friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Shiny In higher education marketing, we are quite give Aurora a facelift. The old nameplate was familiar with “raccoon syndrome” — the becoming stale, sometimes overshadowing tendency for us, and our bosses, to race the beautiful art on our cover. We wanted to from one bright and shiny object to the liven up our stories and showcase our talented next, collecting them while out on our travels, campus photographers’ work with larger, more bringing them home and leaving everyone captivating photos. We researched and collected else scampering in our wake to make the samples from other universities, trying to decide latest bright and shiny idea our own. what would best show off the “real” UAF. Sometimes, it’s the only way to The results are in front of you. I hope you like get to where we want to be. it. And I hope you’ll tell us, one way or the other. After a successful media launch of our updated Kim Davis, managing editor brand in November, we knew it was time to [email protected]

P.S. For more on our brand, visit www.uaf.edu/branding/.

University of alaska UF A Alumni Association Board of Directors, 2012 - 2013 Aurora magazine Opinions expressed are The University of Alaska Fairbanks those of the authors and Fairbanks is accredited by President Board members M anaging Editor do not necessarily reflect the Northwest Commission Chancellor Jim Dixon, ’90, ’91 Bill Abbott, ’98, ’00 Kim Davis official positions of the on Colleges and Universities. Brian Rogers [email protected] [email protected] University of Alaska UAF is an affirmative action/ Dani Carlson Bickford, Creative Director Fairbanks. equal opportunity employer Vi ce Chancellor for Vi ce President Jan Stitt and educational institution. University & Student ’06 Wayne Donaldson, ’80 [email protected] Send comments or letters Advancement [email protected] E ditors to the editor to aurora. UAF photos by Todd Paris Teresa Flores, ’03 Mike Sfraga, ’84, ’97 LJ Evans [email protected] unless otherwise noted. [email protected] S ecretary or to P.O. Box 757505, Class notes photos provided D irector of Marketing Tori Tragis, ’94, ’99 Tania Clucas, ’95, ’08 Lisa Hall, ’04 Fairbanks, AK 99775, or by alumni unless otherwise and Communications [email protected] [email protected] D esigners call 907-474-6726. We noted. 04/2013 Michelle Renfrew, ’98 Heath Hilyard, ’96 T reasurer Phil Raymond reserve the right to edit [email protected] for grammar and length. Sam Enoka, ’95 Andrea Swingley Chad Hutchison, ’02 Visit us on the web at [email protected] [email protected] Photo Manager www.uaf.edu/aurora/. Eei x cut ve Director Rhonda Widener, ’01 Todd Paris, ’83 [email protected] Joe Hayes, ’97 We b Designers [email protected] DeShana York, ’95 [email protected] Jenn Baker, ’02 Sherrie Roberts, ’07 Launch of the Sikuliaq 2 By Sharice Walker The research vessel meant for the high-latitude seas finally leaves dry land.

With a hammer and a song 4 By Cindy Hardy Steve Brown turns in his tool belt for his teaching license, but his music remains.

The new recruit 8 Gary Gray has just closed out his first season as the Nanooks’ new athletic director. On his mind: student athletes, the NCAA — and floors.

Breaking the news 10 By Lynne Lott In a big state with just a handful of daily newspapers, are Alaskans getting the news they need?

Energy civilization 18 By Doug Reynolds Equinox Marathon: 50 years The oil’s going. The end is near. What now? 24 running A timeline marks 50 years of the famed The good race marathon. 23 By Ned Rozell For many, the Equinox Marathon is an epic feat Festival of Native Arts of endurance. For a father and his little girl, it is a 26 In 2013, FNA celebrated 40 years of ramble through falling leaves and memories. showcasing Alaska Native culture.

The innocent eye Departments 32 By Leonard Kamerling Adrina Knutson’s too-short life, and a 15 Briefly legacy on film that hints at her talent 16 Full Frame and promise. 28 Class notes/In memoriam 33 Nanook Nook

Volume 5 No. 2 Published twice a year for alumni and friends of the University of Alaska Fairbanks ICE MAIDEN

By Sharice Walker e October 2012 christening and launch of the Research Vessel Sikuliaq in Wisconsin were dramatic milestones in the ship’s construction process.

he R/V Sikuliaq perches high above the crowd’s It looks great heads, secured in launch cradles along the riverbank. Bathed in a ernoon sunshine, the ship’s T freshly painted colors — black, white and arctic blue — are striking against the sky. A slight breeze ru es the bunting decorating the bridge. “ from any angle A er nearly 40 years of planning, designing and redesigning, the christening and launch of the vessel are less than 24 hours away. UAF Dean Emeritus Vera Alexander, ’65, and Professor Emeritus Bob Elsner, the ship’s co-sponsors, submitted the rst proposal for an arctic region research vessel in 1973. For decades they continued to push for a ship ” designed for polar eldwork. Now, Alexander and Elsner are visiting the Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard, on the banks of the Menominee River, to review their assignments in a dry run of the next day’s ceremony. Elsner lingers near the ship a er the rehearsal, gazing intently at the product of so many years of work. “It looks great from any angle,” he concludes, smiling. ere is nothing dry about the actual ceremony the next morning. A relentless rain had moved in during the night, and gusts of wind bu et the crowd throughout the program. e rst bottle of champagne falls victim to the wet conditions, slipping out of Alexander’s hands and shattering on the ground without touching the ship. But Alexander is sprayed generously with champagne when the spare bottle smashes properly against the ship’s bow. en, moments a er Elsner pushes the button initiating the launch, he is soaked in a jet of water that surges over the dock a er Sikuliaq drops into the river. Onlookers whoop and holler as the ship slides down the lowered beams and hits the water. en they suck in a nervous breath as the ship lurches away from shore and angles precariously onto its side, toward the water. e cheering erupts even louder as the ship rights itself, the mast swinging back up into the air. ere’s still work to be done on the ship’s interior, and then it’s o on its rst voyage, through the Great Lakes, down the Eastern seaboard and through the Panama Canal before it arrives in Seward in January 2014. When science operations begin in early 2014, the 40-year-old dream of a vessel designed for arctic research will nally be a reality.

UAF photo by Robin Wood. Robin by photo UAF Watch the launch of the Sikuliaq at www.uaf.edu/aurora/.

Bathing Beauty Sharice Walker, ’ , is the public information o cer for the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. ICE MAIDEN

By Sharice Walker e October 2012 christening and launch of the Research Vessel Sikuliaq in Wisconsin were dramatic milestones in the ship’s construction process.

UAF photo by Robin Wood. Robin by photo UAF Watch the launch of the Sikuliaq at www.uaf.edu/aurora/.

Bathing Beauty Sharice Walker, ’ , is the public information o cer for the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 3 STEVE BROWN ‘04, ‘11 “ ” By Cindy Hardy 6 Well, this mile ... 8 old gravel road used to greet me with a s

ate last summer, UAF’s Davis He signed up for 21 credits his rst semester, Tom Petty’s focus on song rather than image Auditorium lled with fans of National and I was willing to help him puzzle together impressed him. Public Radio’s live music program, the pieces of a degree from a batch of transfer “I knew that girls liked boys to sing a song Mountain Stage, for the taping of the credits. When I tried to talk him out of taking over the phone,” he says, “and Tom Petty was second show in its two-day run. My so many credits, he insisted he could pull it writing catchy songs.” friends and I found a few seats together in o . Later, he heard an interview with Petty, the back of the auditorium among a typical “Going for an English degree and guring describing how he wrote songs. Fairbanks summer crowd — Hawaiian shirts out all the credits were horrifying to someone “He said that the best songs are where and gray ponytails, younger folks in jeans and who had been taking community college you’re just sitting around minding your own Carhartt cut-o s, little kids skipping down business classes,” Brown later said. “I knew it business and the whole song comes to you,” the aisles to their seats. would be intense, but I had a good work ethic. Brown says. e lights dimmed and the familiar theme I was determined.” And that’s how Brown writes. Songs come music — “ ere’s a song” — came on. Larry His rst day of classes, he had the same to him at night when he’s trying to sleep, or a Groce, the host, a bit smaller and balder than professor for the rst and last class of the day. catchy phrase or guitar ri gets caught in his TWO GREAT, RELATED I had imagined, walked across the stage, e professor looked at him and said, “Didn’t head. THEMES IN AMERICAN microphone in hand, and welcomed the rst I have you in class this morning? How many “It doesn’t always have to do with people I MYTHMAKING ARE local band, Steve Brown and the Bailers. credits are you taking?” know or something that happens to me,” Steve Brown was the one I had come to see. When Brown told him, the professor he says. CREATION AND He strolled out, guitar in his hands, wearing replied that he’d never make it. But he didn’t REINVENTION OF a black Western shirt with big blue and know Brown. Born in Oregon City, Ore., Brown grew up in COMMUNITIES, THINGS, cream owers on the yoke, a faded red ball Over the next two years, he would drop in the family home-remodeling business. His cap shading his eyes. He bent over his guitar every semester to talk to me. We’d talk about parents owned rental houses on the coast, EVEN OURSELVES. THE with a tall guy’s slouch, tuning as the other poetry and home remodeling and the music and on weekends as a kid, he would go with PROTEST SONG “IF I HAD musicians took their places. ey began to scene in Fairbanks. en Brown graduated them to work on the houses. In high school, A HAMMER” URGED play: with his English degree and got his master’s remodeling became his job every a ernoon “Well, this old gravel road used to greet in education. Soon a er, he was hired to teach a e r s c h o o l . LISTENERS TO CREATE me with a smile English at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks. “I always had the crappy jobs,” he says. “I A NEW SOCIETY WITH I’ve traveled it for years Brown began writing songs when he was hated it. I never realized that I was learning HAMMERS, BELLS AND Used to walk its many miles 15. He had been a Guns N’ Roses fan, but something or that I’d use those skills to pay But, oh, things change when you’re not for college.” SONGS. MUSICIAN AND looking.” TEACHER STEVE BROWN e music had a touch of country, a bit of ISN’T OUT TO OVERHAUL jazz, a hint of folk, and the lyrics had a tough, heartbroken sound. is aw-shucks-looking On mentoring high school THE AMERICAN WAY guy, bent over his guitar, ashy but humble, OF LIFE, BUT HE DID got right to the heart of the matter. debate students: “Who REINVENT HIMSELF, USING I rst met Brown in 2005 when he came to knew 16-year-olds needed my o ce at UAF, looking for an advisor. He any help improving their A HAMMER, A SONG AND, had sawdust on his ball cap and paint on his YES, A SCHOOL BELL. jeans. is was a guy who worked with his argument skills?” hands for a living, but he had intensity and, best of all as far as I was concerned, he wanted to be an English major. “What do you see yourself doing with an English degree?” I asked. “Well, I’m a carpenter now, but I’d like to be a high school English teacher,” he told me. “And I write songs.” He knew what he wanted. He had a plan.

4 Aurora | spring 2013 STEVE BROWN ‘04, ‘11 “ ” By Cindy Hardy 6 Well, this mile ... 8 old gravel road used to greet me with a s

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 5 When he started to take the work seriously, But Brown was torn between Fairbanks In 2008, drummer Kli Hopson joined he renegotiated his job with his brothers. He and his family. Until 2005, he spent his them, and they played more gigs. thought he’d stay in the family business in winters in Portland, working in the family “Now people weren’t just listening,” Brown Oregon, that it would be his life. business and taking what he describes as says, “they were tapping their feet.” A er high school, he went to Marylhurst “random classes” at the community college. e band decided it was time to lock down College, outside Portland, taking classes “I was working for my family to earn their membership and learn some songs: toward an associate degree in business. enough money to buy materials to build bluegrass, some cover tunes, and Brown’s own “It was a school for people usually later a house in Fairbanks,” Brown says, “but songs. A er a few more band members came in life,” he says, “but an early scholars they kept putting pressure on me to sell my and went, they stayed with the band they have program took in a small group of high Cripple Creek property and become a partner now: Brown, Feinman, Denick, Josh Costello, school graduates. I had to write letters to get in the business.” Dave Parks and Alex Clarke, ’87, — a mix of accepted on scholarship.” But Brown had his own plans. younger players and a couple of veterans of Brown le school every day at noon to work He returned to Fairbanks to go to school Fairbanks bands. on remodeling projects, the only person in as an English major, following the plan his e band began to get some notice, his classes to do this, or, as he put it, “the only teacher friend had helped him lay out. especially a er public radio’s e Folk person from a working-class background.” He joined the Carpenters union and began Sampler featured the Bailers on a national He thought his life was set out for him — to save for school. broadcast. e exposure eventually led to bathrooms and kitchens stretching into the a 2009 spot on Whad’Ya Know?, another future, just waiting for him to remodel. Brown’s musical life never went on hold, even nationally syndicated radio program that One day, he was driving down a back road during the 21-credit semesters. would be taping its hybrid comedy/music/ and saw his favorite high school English “In 2005, I was sitting at Old U Park, and quiz show at UAF. teacher jogging. ey started talking. I saw a girl with a water bottle that said ‘Hot Brown enjoyed the rehearsal but was so “She asked me, ‘What are you doing with Club of Cowtown.’ It was Robin Feinman. nervous before the show that he didn’t eat. your life?’ I said that I dreamed of going to We became study buddies with guitars,” says “I don’t usually meet celebrities,” Brown Alaska, where my brother had gone, but I was Brown. says, “but [host] Michael Feldman … made What really surprised Brown check. When they walked on the fans milled around, greeting each The band started out stuck in this family business.” Feinman sang bluegrass, something Brown it easy. When Feldman announced the band, was the letters he got a er the stage, Brown was nervous. other. Finally Brown came out. as Steve Brown and the She asked him what he imagined himself hadn’t tried before. She taught him how to the audience response was so positive, and Dwellers, as in cabin show. “ ere were three di erent He looked a bit dazed but doing instead, and he said, “You’ve done so harmonize and how to sing with volume. they let us plug our music.” dwellers, but some “I got 10 handwritten letters sound guys talking to us through grinned big. And even though much for me in high school. I’d like to do ey began singing at a local co eehouse and members kept bailing out from around the country, asking the speakers,” Brown later told it was just my imagination, his that.” at parties. A party host introduced them to before gigs. Now with for CDs,” Brown says. “Who me. “We had to cut half of our hat looked like it still had a bit of at was the rst time Brown had spoken Todd Denick, a bass player, and they began a more reliable lineup, wrote letters in 2009? I wrote songs. en we had to leave the sawdust on it. to anyone about being a teacher, and, with playing bluegrass tunes together. A er a year, Steve Brown and the every one of those people back. stage for the opening of the show, But, oh, things change when Bailers consists of Alex his teacher’s help, he began making a road Denick bought an upright bass, and they How could it get better for a and I le my guitar on the stage. you’re not looking. Clarke, Todd Denick, Robin map to get to his goal. It was a map with a few became Steve Brown and the Bailers. “We Fairbanks band?” When I went back out on stage, it Feinman, Brown, Dave detours, of course. always had some guest artist who might or By the time Steve Brown and was out of tune.” Parks and Josh Costello “I was 19. I’d been in a di cult relationship might not show up to the gig, so we made a Cindy Hardy, ’, is a professor of the Bailers appeared on Mountain But from where we were sitting (not pictured). — the English teacher helped me out with joke out of it.” developmental English at UAF. Her Stage in 2012, their music had at the back of the concert hall, we that — and I came to Alaska for a change of other life involves writing poetry, already seen a fair bit of national saw a guy cool as cool, walking scene,” Brown says. He got a job working for blogging, riding horses, dancing and airplay. But Mountain Stage is around in the bright stage lights his brother’s carpentry business. He bought gardening. She advises her students a show that promotes singer- as the band played, singing his ve acres of land in Cripple Creek, outside to do what they love best, whether songwriters to a knowledgeable heartbreak songs, and, between Fairbanks, and began playing guitar with his it’s playing in a rock band or under- public radio audience. is was sets, ddling with his guitar, friends there. water research diving. Brown’s big break. tuning it like a pro. Picking strings turned into songwriting, e Bailers were the lead-o When the show was over, I and eventually to a songwriter showcase at band for the second show, and waited to greet Brown outside. Davis Concert Hall. A er that, Brown began they were the last band to sound Musicians and their friends and to make more contacts in the Fairbanks music scene. He went to the Juneau Folk Festival. “People kept saying, ‘Nice music. We should play together,’” Brown says. “I got on the radar.”

6 Aurora | spring 2013 When he started to take the work seriously, But Brown was torn between Fairbanks In 2008, drummer Kli Hopson joined he renegotiated his job with his brothers. He and his family. Until 2005, he spent his them, and they played more gigs. thought he’d stay in the family business in winters in Portland, working in the family “Now people weren’t just listening,” Brown Oregon, that it would be his life. business and taking what he describes as says, “they were tapping their feet.” A er high school, he went to Marylhurst “random classes” at the community college. e band decided it was time to lock down College, outside Portland, taking classes “I was working for my family to earn their membership and learn some songs: toward an associate degree in business. enough money to buy materials to build bluegrass, some cover tunes, and Brown’s own “It was a school for people usually later a house in Fairbanks,” Brown says, “but songs. A er a few more band members came in life,” he says, “but an early scholars they kept putting pressure on me to sell my and went, they stayed with the band they have program took in a small group of high Cripple Creek property and become a partner now: Brown, Feinman, Denick, Josh Costello, school graduates. I had to write letters to get in the business.” Dave Parks and Alex Clarke, ’87, — a mix of accepted on scholarship.” But Brown had his own plans. younger players and a couple of veterans of Brown le school every day at noon to work He returned to Fairbanks to go to school Fairbanks bands. on remodeling projects, the only person in as an English major, following the plan his e band began to get some notice, his classes to do this, or, as he put it, “the only teacher friend had helped him lay out. especially a er public radio’s e Folk person from a working-class background.” He joined the Carpenters union and began Sampler featured the Bailers on a national He thought his life was set out for him — to save for school. broadcast. e exposure eventually led to bathrooms and kitchens stretching into the a 2009 spot on Whad’Ya Know?, another future, just waiting for him to remodel. Brown’s musical life never went on hold, even nationally syndicated radio program that One day, he was driving down a back road during the 21-credit semesters. would be taping its hybrid comedy/music/ and saw his favorite high school English “In 2005, I was sitting at Old U Park, and quiz show at UAF. teacher jogging. ey started talking. I saw a girl with a water bottle that said ‘Hot Brown enjoyed the rehearsal but was so “She asked me, ‘What are you doing with Club of Cowtown.’ It was Robin Feinman. nervous before the show that he didn’t eat. your life?’ I said that I dreamed of going to We became study buddies with guitars,” says “I don’t usually meet celebrities,” Brown Alaska, where my brother had gone, but I was Brown. says, “but [host] Michael Feldman … made What really surprised Brown check. When they walked on the fans milled around, greeting each The band started out stuck in this family business.” Feinman sang bluegrass, something Brown it easy. When Feldman announced the band, was the letters he got a er the stage, Brown was nervous. other. Finally Brown came out. as Steve Brown and the She asked him what he imagined himself hadn’t tried before. She taught him how to the audience response was so positive, and Dwellers, as in cabin show. “ ere were three di erent He looked a bit dazed but doing instead, and he said, “You’ve done so harmonize and how to sing with volume. they let us plug our music.” dwellers, but some “I got 10 handwritten letters sound guys talking to us through grinned big. And even though much for me in high school. I’d like to do ey began singing at a local co eehouse and members kept bailing out from around the country, asking the speakers,” Brown later told it was just my imagination, his that.” at parties. A party host introduced them to before gigs. Now with for CDs,” Brown says. “Who me. “We had to cut half of our hat looked like it still had a bit of at was the rst time Brown had spoken Todd Denick, a bass player, and they began a more reliable lineup, wrote letters in 2009? I wrote songs. en we had to leave the sawdust on it. to anyone about being a teacher, and, with playing bluegrass tunes together. A er a year, Steve Brown and the every one of those people back. stage for the opening of the show, But, oh, things change when Bailers consists of Alex his teacher’s help, he began making a road Denick bought an upright bass, and they How could it get better for a and I le my guitar on the stage. you’re not looking. Clarke, Todd Denick, Robin map to get to his goal. It was a map with a few became Steve Brown and the Bailers. “We Fairbanks band?” When I went back out on stage, it Feinman, Brown, Dave detours, of course. always had some guest artist who might or By the time Steve Brown and was out of tune.” Parks and Josh Costello “I was 19. I’d been in a di cult relationship might not show up to the gig, so we made a Cindy Hardy, ’, is a professor of the Bailers appeared on Mountain But from where we were sitting (not pictured). — the English teacher helped me out with joke out of it.” developmental English at UAF. Her Stage in 2012, their music had at the back of the concert hall, we that — and I came to Alaska for a change of other life involves writing poetry, already seen a fair bit of national saw a guy cool as cool, walking scene,” Brown says. He got a job working for blogging, riding horses, dancing and airplay. But Mountain Stage is around in the bright stage lights his brother’s carpentry business. He bought gardening. She advises her students a show that promotes singer- as the band played, singing his ve acres of land in Cripple Creek, outside to do what they love best, whether songwriters to a knowledgeable heartbreak songs, and, between Fairbanks, and began playing guitar with his it’s playing in a rock band or under- public radio audience. is was sets, ddling with his guitar, friends there. water research diving. Brown’s big break. tuning it like a pro. Picking strings turned into songwriting, e Bailers were the lead-o When the show was over, I and eventually to a songwriter showcase at band for the second show, and waited to greet Brown outside. Davis Concert Hall. A er that, Brown began they were the last band to sound Musicians and their friends and to make more contacts in the Fairbanks music scene. He went to the Juneau Folk Festival. “People kept saying, ‘Nice music. We should play together,’” Brown says. “I got on the radar.”

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 7 THE NEW RECRUIT

Gary Gray started his new job last September as athletic director and chief cheerleader for 10 Nanook teams.

Originally from eastern Canada, Gray has spent most of his professional life as a college faculty member and administrator in the western United States, including Oregon, Iowa and Montana. He served as the athletic director at Montana State University Billings for 18 years before coming to UAF.

New north I like change. I was not bored In good company It’s no small accident at my old job. I just wanted some new that there’s over a thousand institutional challenges. I wanted to continue living in a members of the NCAA. People understand beautiful part of the country, and Alaska what intercollegiate athletics, particularly fits the bill for wonderful quality of life. NCAA athletics, brings to a campus, a community, to the individuals.

Old north [The Patty Gym’s] original old wooden bleachers are very challenging Disappearing act If we didn’t have and not real comfortable. We’d been told an athletic program there would be a lot maybe we could sand [the gym floor] down of young men and women who would not one more time. This building’s 50 years have the value of getting an education at old, and that’s not going to change. UAF because they would not be here.

Fans in the stands We want the game Steady growth The key word is balance. environment to be positive and inviting and You come as an 18-year-old, you leave as comfortable and a great place for people to come. a young adult, college educated, degree in hand, career in mind, and you understand what you can contribute. That’s a very, very Headstrong We have some student-athletes important and exciting thing to balance. who are just the cream of the crop academically, very high grade point averages, 3.8s, 3.9s, etc.

™

Sporting man

tried out for the Canadian Olympic volleyball team

huge Red Sox fan

has hiked almost all 700 miles of the Beartooth Mountains’ trails

started playing hockey at age 4 (he is Canadian, after all)

Div. I — Western Collegiate Hockey Association (beg. 2013 – 2014): Men’s hockey Open: Men’s & women’s rifle Central Collegiate Ski Assoc.: Men’s & women’s skiing Div. II — Great Northwest Athletic Conference: Men’s & women’s basketball • Men’s & women’s cross country • Women’s volleyball Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference: Women’s swimming JOURNALISM TODAY Breaking the news What is the state of journalism in Alaska? By Lynne Lott Libby Casey remembers feeling Reality television jumped e Anchorage Daily News its free online classi eds model, like she was in a movie as on the bandwagon. Following is hardly the exception. When poached revenue from daily and she jumped into a taxi and forerunner Deadliest Catch came he started at the Fairbanks weekly newspapers. On-demand said, “Take me to the Justice Alaska State Troopers, Ice Road Daily News-Miner 18 years ago, television and iTunes provided Department!” It was her second Truckers, Sarah Palin’s Alaska managing editor Rod Boyce says, ample opportunity for music, day of work as the Alaska Public and more. Alaska now draws the paper boasted double the news and information without Radio Network’s Washington, interest, viewers and readers like number of reporters it has now. having to go through traditional D.C., correspondent. She was on never before. While that intrigue None of the reductions means. her way to Congressman Don may have leveled o , Casey says, happened overnight. Journalism With newspaper and station Young’s o ce for an interview “You can’t go back to unmarked enjoyed a heyday in the 1970s websites, “there was this ‘if when her phone rang. snow.” and ’80s. It was a golden age you build it, they will come’ U.S. Senator Ted Stevens had Around the same time, for reporters, brought on by mentality,” says Charles Mason, been indicted. Alaska newsrooms underwent a coverage of the Vietnam War professor and chair of the “I was covered in sweat and di erent sort of change: media and Watergate. Journalists Journalism Department. “No one my hair was frizzed out beyond began to shrink as part of a enjoyed enormous popularity, bothered to think about how they belief,” Casey recalls. Unfamiliar national trend. Now as the state and while the paycheck didn’t would pay for it.” with her new hometown, she was enjoys unprecedented coverage always match the prestige, Media outlets faced cutbacks surprised again when the cab nationally, the state of the hundreds of bright young people as advertising dollars decreased. dropped her just two blocks from state — at least journalistically entered journalism’s ranks In February 2009, Colorado’s where she’d started. Flustered speaking — is far less certain. hoping to be the next Woodward oldest newspaper, the Rocky but not shaken, Casey dove into and Bernstein. In Anchorage, Mountain News, ceased the story. Less than a week on the The long and wired the Anchorage Times and the publication. A month later, the job and she was reporting some road Anchorage Daily News duked of the biggest news Alaska had When the Anchorage Daily for the title of “best newspaper seen in decades. It was just the News hired Wesley Loy in 1991, on the Last Frontier.” beginning. the newspaper was one of two Pulitzer Alaskans who travel frequently dailies in Alaska’s largest city. Prizes were likely remember 2008 as the Loy’s job would be covering retail won in the year Outsiders stopped asking businesses in Anchorage and process. Yet “Do you live in an igloo?” and beyond. e paper had a reporter even a er the “Is it really dark all winter?” and dedicated to the shing industry Times shuttered started asking “What do you and another with the oil and gas in 1992, Alaska’s think of Sarah Palin?” Casey was beat. All told, Loy was one of media presence Extreme Alaska is a one month into her job at APRN ve reporters covering Alaska remained robust. multimedia newsroom project of the Journalism when John McCain tapped Sarah business in a department with its Communities as Department. It’s a training Palin as the Republican vice own editor. small as Dillingham ground as well as a presidential candidate. Today, Loy says, “there is no possessed both a multimedia news site that A er years on the fringe of business editor and no business radio station and a covers UAF and the greater the national consciousness, of reporters. ey don’t even have a newspaper. Fairbanks community. The being a dream cruise destination reporter covering oil and gas, the independently run Sun or the place where someone a lifeblood of this state.” Then, the Star (not shown), sta ed friend knew was stationed in the “ ere were times back when Internet and produced entirely by military, Alaska suddenly seemed [reporters] would y out to e rise of the web students, publishes in print to show up everywhere. places and cover things at the caught journalism o and online. “It changed dramatically,” drop of a hat if it was a big deal,” guard. Media outlets Newspapers have always lived on the Extreme Alaska Casey says of the time following says Casey Grove, ’06, who has scrambled to build margins — the defunct Anchorage Times www.ua ournalism.com the Palin pick. “Suddenly people worked at the Daily News for two websites without a stopped running long before the Internet had this heightened interest in years. “But that was before my revenue model in Sun Star — but the modern wired world poses new www.uafsunstar.com Alaska.” time.” place. Craigslist, with threats to paper-based media.

10 Aurora | spring 2013 JOURNALISM TODAY Breaking the news What is the state of journalism in Alaska? By Lynne Lott Libby Casey remembers feeling Reality television jumped e Anchorage Daily News its free online classi eds model, like she was in a movie as on the bandwagon. Following is hardly the exception. When poached revenue from daily and she jumped into a taxi and forerunner Deadliest Catch came he started at the Fairbanks weekly newspapers. On-demand said, “Take me to the Justice Alaska State Troopers, Ice Road Daily News-Miner 18 years ago, television and iTunes provided Department!” It was her second Truckers, Sarah Palin’s Alaska managing editor Rod Boyce says, ample opportunity for music, day of work as the Alaska Public and more. Alaska now draws the paper boasted double the news and information without Radio Network’s Washington, interest, viewers and readers like number of reporters it has now. having to go through traditional D.C., correspondent. She was on never before. While that intrigue None of the reductions means. her way to Congressman Don may have leveled o , Casey says, happened overnight. Journalism With newspaper and station Young’s o ce for an interview “You can’t go back to unmarked enjoyed a heyday in the 1970s websites, “there was this ‘if when her phone rang. snow.” and ’80s. It was a golden age you build it, they will come’ U.S. Senator Ted Stevens had Around the same time, for reporters, brought on by mentality,” says Charles Mason, been indicted. Alaska newsrooms underwent a coverage of the Vietnam War professor and chair of the “I was covered in sweat and di erent sort of change: media and Watergate. Journalists Journalism Department. “No one my hair was frizzed out beyond began to shrink as part of a enjoyed enormous popularity, bothered to think about how they belief,” Casey recalls. Unfamiliar national trend. Now as the state and while the paycheck didn’t would pay for it.” with her new hometown, she was enjoys unprecedented coverage always match the prestige, Media outlets faced cutbacks surprised again when the cab nationally, the state of the hundreds of bright young people as advertising dollars decreased. dropped her just two blocks from state — at least journalistically entered journalism’s ranks In February 2009, Colorado’s where she’d started. Flustered speaking — is far less certain. hoping to be the next Woodward oldest newspaper, the Rocky but not shaken, Casey dove into and Bernstein. In Anchorage, Mountain News, ceased the story. Less than a week on the The long and wired the Anchorage Times and the publication. A month later, the job and she was reporting some road Anchorage Daily News duked of the biggest news Alaska had When the Anchorage Daily for the title of “best newspaper seen in decades. It was just the News hired Wesley Loy in 1991, on the Last Frontier.” beginning. the newspaper was one of two Pulitzer Alaskans who travel frequently dailies in Alaska’s largest city. Prizes were likely remember 2008 as the Loy’s job would be covering retail won in the year Outsiders stopped asking businesses in Anchorage and process. Yet “Do you live in an igloo?” and beyond. e paper had a reporter even a er the “Is it really dark all winter?” and dedicated to the shing industry Times shuttered started asking “What do you and another with the oil and gas in 1992, Alaska’s think of Sarah Palin?” Casey was beat. All told, Loy was one of media presence Extreme Alaska is a one month into her job at APRN ve reporters covering Alaska remained robust. multimedia newsroom project of the Journalism when John McCain tapped Sarah business in a department with its Communities as Department. It’s a training Palin as the Republican vice own editor. small as Dillingham ground as well as a presidential candidate. Today, Loy says, “there is no possessed both a multimedia news site that A er years on the fringe of business editor and no business radio station and a covers UAF and the greater the national consciousness, of reporters. ey don’t even have a newspaper. Fairbanks community. The being a dream cruise destination reporter covering oil and gas, the independently run Sun or the place where someone a lifeblood of this state.” Then, the Star (not shown), sta ed friend knew was stationed in the “ ere were times back when Internet and produced entirely by military, Alaska suddenly seemed [reporters] would y out to e rise of the web students, publishes in print to show up everywhere. places and cover things at the caught journalism o and online. “It changed dramatically,” drop of a hat if it was a big deal,” guard. Media outlets Newspapers have always lived on the Extreme Alaska Casey says of the time following says Casey Grove, ’06, who has scrambled to build margins — the defunct Anchorage Times www.ua ournalism.com the Palin pick. “Suddenly people worked at the Daily News for two websites without a stopped running long before the Internet had this heightened interest in years. “But that was before my revenue model in Sun Star — but the modern wired world poses new www.uafsunstar.com Alaska.” time.” place. Craigslist, with threats to paper-based media.

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 11 ©iStockphoto.com/Image Source.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer shut some counts, has a newsroom less That which does not In , Wesley Loy was down its printing press in favor than half the size it was in 2002. growing reputation Outside and, only a handful of for-pro t news before 2012. e “new-media Newsprint is no longer one of ﬁ ve business kill news … of a web-only presence, gutting Alaska Newspapers Inc., which speci cally, Sarah Palin came to websites operating in the country. producer” is a relatively recent at the forefront of the reporters at the Tony Hop nger spent more than information revolution — the reporting sta in the process. published six weekly newspapers the rescue. e Internet can take away. It can addition, especially to Alaska Anchorage Daily News. a decade working in Alaska mobility is. Newspapers alone saw a 30 in rural Alaska, including “Two weeks a er we launched, also give. newsrooms. Positions such as Today, “they don’t journalism, rst as a reporter percent drop in ad revenue in the Seward, Cordova and Dutch Palin was picked,” Hop nger “ e News-Miner is not just a these ll the gaps created by Twitter. even have a [dedicated] at the Anchorage Daily News, rst quarter of 2009. e New Harbor, shut down its operation says. “Our site crashed. e jury- newspaper company anymore,” downsizing. ey also speak to reporter covering oil and then as a reporter and editor at Facebook. gas, the lifeblood of this York Times, the Boston Globe, the in mid-2011. ough other rigged servers we were using had Boyce says. “We’re a communi- the industry’s future. the weekly Anchorage Press and state.” Chicago Tribune and other major interests eventually purchased problems.” cations company operating on “I’m going to be producing Tumblr. nally as a freelance reporter for American newspapers faced several of the papers, few retained e problems eventually multiple platforms. content primarily for the Bloomberg News and Newsweek. Live online newsfeeds. layo s, contract buyouts and reporters in the towns they turned into opportunities. Like News-Miner reporters uses website,” Bryant says. “But it ough his freelancing News now. Immediate. other cutbacks. TV newsrooms covered. the many bloggers who’d hitched Twitter, Facebook and the paper’s could be used on TV or radio.” commitments added up to a full- Concise. and radio stations, both public “Across the state it seems like their wagons to Palin’s star, the website to gather and write the Today’s newsrooms also rely time job, Hop nger noticed an and private, found themselves in the size of the nuts-and-bolts Alaska Dispatch used Palin and news these days. Newsminer.com more heavily on users for both odd trend. similar circumstances. reporting sta has declined in the the Ted Stevens corruption trial gets more than 1.5 million unique feedback and content. When “I was reporting, and I would When Casey le her job as last four to ve years,” says the as a launching pad for their visitors every month, Boyce says. the News-Miner redesigned its come across things that I thought a reporter at KUAC-FM in News-Miner’s Rod Boyce. “And journalistic endeavors. Dispatch He credits this to the web’s reach, print edition in 2007, it included were good stories. But then I’d Fairbanks in 2008, she wasn’t that means readers are getting eventually attracted the interest but also the new focus of the a page known as “Our Town.” look in the newspapers and TV replaced for almost four years. less, and what they are getting of an investor-publisher who now organization. Without as many It showcases reader poetry, and they wouldn’t show up,” he Loy took a contract buyout from might not be as comprehensive.” owns 90 percent of the company. reporters, they can’t do what they photos and stories. Sometimes says. the Daily News in 2009. Loy, who now works as a In an industry lled with layo s used to do. a reader sends in a particularly So despite a climate that “When I le the Anchorage freelancer a er his career at the and downsizing, Dispatch “We’ve turned our attention compelling photo, Boyce says. seemed inhospitable to taking Daily News, it was a really Daily News, agrees. “I used to starting hiring. to local,” Boyce says. “Because e paper might follow up and chances, Hop nger and depressing place,” Loy says. write stories that would take a “So far it’s been a doubling that’s the one thing we have that ask that person to write an essay journalist Amanda Coyne “ ere had been multiple week or two weeks to develop,” factor,” Hop nger says. “ e nobody else has. So we cover or article. launched Alaska Dispatch, rounds of people being laid he says. “And I could count readership, the revenue. It Fairbanks. at’s our primary “I’m not sure that if we had an online-only news site with o , bought out, encouraged to on the Anchorage Daily News doubles every year.” goal.” a big, fat old sta here we’d be original content from a variety of leave. And that atmosphere of for a paycheck while I put that Hop nger credits the venture’s KTOO, Juneau’s public radio engaging those people,” Boyce contributors. uncertainty was …” Loy hesitates, together. Now, as a freelancer, success to its nimble nature. A and television station, takes a says. When it started in 2008, “wearing.” I’m more in the business of printing press is expensive to similar tack, according to new- ose people —readers, Hop nger says, they didn’t e News-Miner didn’t replace producing what I would call a run. Without a print product media producer Heather Bryant, viewers, listeners — ll an have much money and relied reporters and photographers commodity, just thousands of and associated infrastructure, ’12. Instead of a radio station, a important role, especially on journalist friends and who moved on, which whittled words. e reporting is thinner.” Hop nger says, the site can take television station or a website, when they provide content or community members for much the newsroom to ve reporters. chances and try new things. e Bryant says, they’re “content comments that lead to a story. of the content. But again, Alaska’s e Anchorage Daily News, by Alaska Dispatch is now one of creators.” Her position didn’t exist ey bridge the gap between

12 Aurora | spring 2013 ©iStockphoto.com/Image Source.

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 13 the journalism of the past, in stories that they wouldn’t 10 or some compelling, interesting and which journalists told the public 20 years ago.” rewarding stories in Alaska.” what the journalists thought was Today’s journalists and High-caliber journalists from important, and the journalism of journalism graduates face a job across the country work in small today, in which news consumers market signi cantly di erent Alaska newsrooms by choice, engage on a level that makes from that of 20 years ago. Casey says. at’s one thing that them active participants in the Traditional newsroom jobs like won’t change any time soon. news process. Grove’s, who now works at the Alaska’s glaciers, open spaces, With the web, KTOO Anchorage Daily News, are more mountains — and mountainous producer Bryant says, “there’s an di cult to nd. personalities — will continue element of people being able to “We’re in some really confused cast a wide net, capturing the participate immediately in what seas right now,” Loy says. “It’s dreams of journalists Outside I’m doing. Now it’s become a a weird time. It’s especially and homegrown, novice and dialog. And that’s a great way for befuddling to those of us who seasoned. journalism to be heading.” grew up, at least in terms of “I’m still excited about coming our careers, in a steady, stable to work each day,” Boyce says. Reporting the future environment.” “It’s still a fun biz. I get to learn In his essay “Newspapers and But if “everything might” new things as an individual. inking the Unthinkable,” work, it’s also an exciting We’re always exploring.” media theorist Clay Shirky time. Loy maintains a blog ough the way Alaska explores this new future for called Deckboss. He regularly journalism looks might change, journalism. e Internet, he reports news on Alaska’s shing people will always be curious. writes, is no less a revolution industry. He doesn’t make And people will always want to than Guttenberg’s printing money from the blog, he says, tell Alaska’s stories. press. While everyone now but “some of us are natural born “I look forward to continuing knows that the rami cations newspeople. We’re gonna tell the to add more people,” Hop nger of movable type extended far news, by God, whether we’re paid says of Alaska Dispatch’s future. beyond the printed word, what to or not.” “ e fun part is being able to no one talks about is what life “ e new generation of do bigger and better stories. was like immediately a er the journalists needs to have an All of us, as journalists, want printing press became a reality. entrepreneurial spirit,” says to contribute something to the Shirky points out that it was a Mason, the journalism professor. conversation.” chaotic time lled with upheaval, “Today’s students aren’t going to “I get to bother people who con ict and rapid change. In go into jobs that exist right now. should be bothered, and I get to answer to the question about ey’ll make their own way.” tell good stories at the end of the what will work for journalism at entrepreneurial spirit day,” Grove says. “You can’t ask now, Shirky writes, “Nothing is a lot like what Alaskans for much more than that.” will work, but everything might.” call the pioneer spirit. As the Casey Grove graduated from state enjoys its tenure in the Lynne Lott teaches journalism at UAF with a job o er in hand — media spotlight, Alaska will UAF. She came to Alaska in at a mine. Days before he was set continue to draw those seeking a seeking journalistic adventure and to begin he got another job o er, singular experience, personally never left. this one from the Anchorage and professionally. at may Press. e Press o ered him make Alaska journalism more signi cantly less money. Grove adaptable than Lower 48 didn’t hesitate. newsrooms grappling with the “It seemed fun,” he says. “It same issues. seemed like a lot more fun than “I think a lot of journalists going mining. It was like an go to Alaska for the adventure adventure.” and then they stay,” says Libby “Because Alaska is so rich with Casey, who now works as a host stories, I think young journalists and producer for C-SPAN’s Get the UAF Mobile app are getting a chance to cover Washington Journal. “ ere are in the App Store.

14 Aurora | spring 2013 Briefly First woman graduate the journalism of the past, in stories that they wouldn’t 10 or some compelling, interesting and honored which journalists told the public 20 years ago.” rewarding stories in Alaska.” The name “Life Sciences Facility” is accurate, but what the journalists thought was Today’s journalists and High-caliber journalists from it’s not very evocative. Now the building where the important, and the journalism of journalism graduates face a job across the country work in small life sciences are studied and taught has a name that today, in which news consumers market signi cantly di erent Alaska newsrooms by choice, evokes both history and science: the Margaret Murie engage on a level that makes from that of 20 years ago. Casey says. at’s one thing that Building. The first woman to graduate from the them active participants in the Traditional newsroom jobs like won’t change any time soon. University of Alaska, in 1924, Margaret Murie was a news process. Grove’s, who now works at the Alaska’s glaciers, open spaces, conservationist and the author of Two in the Far North, With the web, KTOO Anchorage Daily News, are more mountains — and mountainous which recounted the travels and work she undertook producer Bryant says, “there’s an di cult to nd. personalities — will continue in Alaska with her husband, biologist Olaus Murie. element of people being able to “We’re in some really confused cast a wide net, capturing the participate immediately in what seas right now,” Loy says. “It’s dreams of journalists Outside I’m doing. Now it’s become a a weird time. It’s especially and homegrown, novice and Hire fliers dialog. And that’s a great way for befuddling to those of us who seasoned. Pilots keep roadless communities con- journalism to be heading.” grew up, at least in terms of “I’m still excited about coming nected with the rest of Alaska, so here’s a dip our careers, in a steady, stable to work each day,” Boyce says. Reporting the future of the wing to the new aviation wing and flight simulator at environment.” “It’s still a fun biz. I get to learn the Chukchi Campus. In his essay “Newspapers and But if “everything might” new things as an individual. “Homegrown pilots know the local terrain and weather inking the Unthinkable,” work, it’s also an exciting We’re always exploring.” A lung long time ago conditions,” says Director Asik Pauline Harvey. “And we will media theorist Clay Shirky time. Loy maintains a blog ough the way Alaska The most ancient life forms breathed be training local pilots for aviation jobs in this region.” explores this new future for called Deckboss. He regularly journalism looks might change, underwater. So what made our ancestors come up for The $1.8 million construction and renovation project journalism. e Internet, he reports news on Alaska’s shing people will always be curious. air? UAF researchers think they’ve identified the founder was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and writes, is no less a revolution industry. He doesn’t make And people will always want to of our lung legacy. The story’s a little complicated and too included renewable energy systems to reduce operating than Guttenberg’s printing money from the blog, he says, tell Alaska’s stories. long to be a brief, but it involves coughing lampreys, and costs. Chukchi Campus also provides training in renewable press. While everyone now but “some of us are natural born “I look forward to continuing who doesn’t want to learn more about coughing lampreys? energy techniques. knows that the rami cations newspeople. We’re gonna tell the to add more people,” Hop nger Get a breath of fresh insight into our oxygenating ways at of movable type extended far news, by God, whether we’re paid says of Alaska Dispatch’s future. http://bit.ly/lampreylung. beyond the printed word, what to or not.” “ e fun part is being able to no one talks about is what life “ e new generation of do bigger and better stories. was like immediately a er the journalists needs to have an All of us, as journalists, want printing press became a reality. entrepreneurial spirit,” says to contribute something to the Icelandic ideas Shirky points out that it was a Mason, the journalism professor. conversation.” chaotic time lled with upheaval, “Today’s students aren’t going to “I get to bother people who Four students, five days and a whirlwind con ict and rapid change. In go into jobs that exist right now. should be bothered, and I get to tour of Iceland. Looking for possible Alaska answer to the question about ey’ll make their own way.” tell good stories at the end of the applications, the students visited geothermal and Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management. Land of Bureau the of courtesy Photo what will work for journalism at entrepreneurial spirit day,” Grove says. “You can’t ask hydropower plants, an aluminum smelter, and even now, Shirky writes, “Nothing is a lot like what Alaskans for much more than that.” a mushroom production facility. The students got will work, but everything might.” call the pioneer spirit. As the help from mentors at UAF’s Alaska Center for Energy and Power to do research through interviews and site Casey Grove graduated from state enjoys its tenure in the Lynne Lott teaches journalism at visits. The trip was coordinated by the Institute of UAF with a job o er in hand — media spotlight, Alaska will UAF. She came to Alaska in the North, a nonprofit organization that studies and at a mine. Days before he was set continue to draw those seeking a seeking journalistic adventure and promotes Alaska’s role in the Arctic. to begin he got another job o er, singular experience, personally never left. this one from the Anchorage and professionally. at may Press. e Press o ered him make Alaska journalism more signi cantly less money. Grove adaptable than Lower 48 Wealth of words didn’t hesitate. newsrooms grappling with the Naqenaga Niłnghazdlu is a Dena’ina phrase that “It seemed fun,” he says. “It Bison Bob same issues. means “our words (or language) brought together.” Stories, seemed like a lot more fun than “I think a lot of journalists dictionaries, photographs, recordings and other material He died some 40,000 years ago, but Bison Bob’s a big going mining. It was like an go to Alaska for the adventure documenting the language and culture of the Denai’na and beauty to UAF researchers Pam Groves and Dan Mann. adventure.” and then they stay,” says Libby other Alaska Native peoples have been brought together They were paddling by an eroding bank on a northern “Because Alaska is so rich with Casey, who now works as a host in the recently dedicated Michael E. Krauss Alaska Native Alaska river on an assignment for the Bureau of Land stories, I think young journalists and producer for C-SPAN’s Management when they spotted the skull of a steppe Get the UAF Mobile app Language Archive in the Rasmuson Library. Moving the are getting a chance to cover Washington Journal. “ ere are bison sticking out of the mud. For four days, they exca- in the App Store. materials from the Alaska Native Language Center to the library will allow for better preservation of and access to vated a nearly complete skeleton of the animal, which these important resources. still had some of his reddish-brown fur preserved in the frozen muck. Read more at http://bit.ly/bisonbob.

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 15 FULL Frame

Starvation Gulch, a fall tradition on the Fairbanks campus going back to 1923, was the inspiration of Charles E. Bunnell, the university’s first president. Students built a mock town to serve as an entertainment facility by day and fuel for enormous bonfires by night. Bunnell wanted the fires to symbolize the passing of the torch of knowledge.

Students nicknamed the town “Starvation Gulch,” an ostensible poke at the pioneers who first settled in Fairbanks. It became the official name of the annual festival and has served since then as an icebreaker of sorts to welcome new people into the college fold. Student groups build monuments that the chancellor sets alight to heat up the cold September night.

Relive your memories of college. You can order a reprint of this TM photo and many others at www.photos.uaf.edu.

POWER SHIFT ENERG CIVILI ATI N By Doug Reynolds, illustrations by Harrison Carpenter

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE n Janu ary 1991, Saddam Hussein, the But counting on adaptation to respond to president of Iraq, proclaimed that a crisis is 100 percent reliable. Adapt and IS ADAPTED FROM THE the struggle to control Kuwait would thrive. So, I decided to adapt ahead of time PROLOGUE TO ENERGY be “the mother of all battles.” But and nd the most successful strategy to use Hussein’s words rang hollow, as it less oil, partly as a research experiment, CIVILIZATION, PUBLISHED took a mere 100 hours for Iraq to lose partly to make a signi cant lifestyle change Kuwait to the U.S.-led forces. However, at my own pace, and partly to explore a new IN BY DOUG REYNOLDS, Hussein’s words may have had more future. PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS Imeaning than expected. During the famous Fairbanks is a perfect place to carry out Iraqi retreat some 700 oil wells were torched, such an experiment because the Fairbanks WITH THE SCHOOL OF and it took eight months to extinguish them. economy is intensely dependent on oil. Nearly a billion barrels of crude oil were lost, ere is a major oil pipeline and a re nery MANAGEMENT. THE BOOK the equivalent of $100 billion, which does not near town, and the majority of residents use EXPLORES HISTORICAL include the cost of the e ort to extinguish the fuel oil to heat their homes and gasoline to res or of the war in the rst place. Given the drive their cars. However, contrary to what ECONOMIES RELATIVE TO expense of the Gulf War and the subsequent you might expect in an oil-producing state, invasion of the coalition into Iraq — actions Fairbanksans pay more for gasoline than ENERGY SUPPLIES. that involved the security of oil supplies — most Americans, even with a re nery nearby. you might say that oil is the mother of all Additionally, the town is heavily dependent resources, and may indeed be worth more on tourism and mining for employment, than one war. industries that rely on oil to transport In the 1970s, I knew energy was the key tourists, employees and machinery. Finally, to the world’s future, and I assumed, like according to the weather service, we have 100 most economists, that new technology would percent probability of snow on Christmas. So, come to the rescue. A er all, we know that how to adapt? necessity is the mother of invention. I have On a cold day in Fairbanks, it can reach 40 now come to a very di erent conclusion: below zero and be pitch dark. e sun doesn’t rather than invention, necessity is the mother rise until midmorning. In spite of this, I have of adaptation. Counting on technology to managed to bicycle to work nearly every day solve a crisis is at best a 50-50 proposition. to save fuel and money. I wish I could tell

18 Aurora | spring 2013 POWER SHIFT ENERG CIVILI ATI N By Doug Reynolds, illustrations by Harrison Carpenter

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 19 Conserve before consume of gasoline equivalent, coal is about $1.50 per options available are those that pollute — WHAT IF ALMOST EVERY FAMILY IN FAIRBANKS WERE FORCED GGE. Even though the coal does not burn wood or coal. I’ve spent several years living in Europe, so I as e ciently as fuel oil, it still saves half the e question for the committee was, what know Europeans are greatly concerned over BY THE HIGH COST OF ENERGY TO RELY ON WOOD OR COAL HEAT? energy cost of fuel oil. So I bought a coal- red if almost every family in Fairbanks were energy conservation. hydronic boiler for my backyard. forced by the high cost of energy to rely on A lot of buildings now have very good is coal system automatically feeds coal wood or coal heat? Clearly, the particulate you of the beautiful scenery I pass on the her kids to preschool in winter here, but “time-waste” factor since I could have covered insulation and tight doors and windows. to a burning chamber every time the house matter would be horrendous. e entire town bike path and along the river, of the way a for most people bicycling just isn’t a viable the same distance in fewer than 10 minutes by But when you have a lot of insulation and calls for extra heat. It was expensive, well sits on the front lines of the world’s energy simple black spruce looks covered in snow, alternative to a car. car. Instead, I came to realize that e ciency little ventilation, you get humidity and mold, over $15,000 dollars a er all the installation, and environmental crises. e committee for of how the snow makes even a dark morning One winter, I did some consulting in wasn’t about how my environment caters to causing as many health problems as bad air. but the reduction in fuel costs has made up energy options advocated bringing natural seem brighter, but really it’s a tough ride. I downtown Fairbanks. I had to be in several my needs, or about nding technology that So one of the habits I noticed all across for that. I eventually added an insulating gas to town. ree options were vetted. One wear heavy snow pants, a parka, gloves, boot places around town during the week, which adapted to what I needed. It was more about Europe was to open windows for at least 15 shell around the boiler to reduce the need was the construction of a small-diameter gloves, a face mask and a helmet tted for ear meant I couldn’t ride my bike as easily. I how I adapted to my environment and the minutes a day, even in the dead of winter. to ll the coal bin and haul away the ash as natural gas bullet pipeline from Prudhoe Bay warmers. I also have studded bike tires, which ended up taking the bus to the university, one existing technology. O en I’d end up talking Back in Alaska, I added insulation and o en, and I heightened the chimney to make to Anchorage, which would go past Fairbanks cost more than studded automobile tires. I downtown and sometimes yet another one with other passengers. Sometimes I got work sealing to my home. Sure enough, my it more e cient and even cleaner burning. and provide relatively cheap natural gas for have two front headlights, one on my helmet back to the university before going home on a done on the bus and sometimes not, but there humidity level indoors skyrocketed, and I ose changes made the boiler about twice as both major metropolitan areas. at could and one on my bike handlebars, front and fourth bus. was a sense of community that in many ways got iced windows and the beginnings of mold e cient and half as smelly. take six years from start of construction to back blinkers, and re ective tape all around. First I would go out and wait for the rst made up for the downside. problems. So I intentionally reinstalled air I sat on a committee for energy options in nish. Another option was to put super- Yet still drivers do not always see me. bus from my home, wearing all my winter leaks, with a heat recovery ventilator. HRVs Fairbanks in 2008 to discuss these looming cooling lique ed natural gas modules on e cold is o en so bitter, my tires begin clothing. ere was about a 40-minute delay are used in Fairbanks and elsewhere, but they concerns of expensive heating fuel oil coupled the North Slope, turn the North Slope’s to atten as the cold reduces tire pressure, so between the bus to campus and the next bus cost thousands of dollars to install and use with extremely cold temperature inversions natural gas into LNG and then truck the I have to make sure they’re fully in ated. My to downtown, so I would run to my o ce, energy themselves. in the winter. e inversions cause coal LNG to Fairbanks, which would take two breath freezes on my face until ice builds up check my email and try to take care of Although I added insulation and and wood burning particulates, as well as years to develop. A third option was to drill around my eyes, but I can’t wear goggles or campus business before I ran — fast participated in weatherproo ng programs pollutants from vehicle exhaust, to remain for natural gas and build a small, eight-inch glasses because they fog up instantly and I — to the next bus to get to my o ered by the state, quite frankly, in close to the ground, where we breathe them pipeline from the drill site to Fairbanks. at can’t see. (One of my graduate students found consulting o ce. Fairbanks that just isn’t enough. Most people in. ( e downtown coal power plant has a would take three years, if they found natural a solution, though — snorkeling gear.) It’s fair During the 25-minute ride in Fairbanks use oil, a very expensive fuel, scrubber to remove the particulates.) e gas, which they haven’t. to say I look strange as I come in from the downtown, I read reports, to heat their homes. e bills are dragging particulates can be as small as 2.5 Another idea was to use heat from the cold with ice all over my face. graded papers or wrote many folks under. I wanted microns, which has been shown downtown coal- red power plant to warm I don’t ride my bike to the store or take my analyses. I could have something cheaper. to be unhealthy. But with fuel homes and businesses — district heating. kids in my bike trailer in the winter. Beside focused on the Luckily, there is a oil so expensive and natural gas Already, hot steam and hot water from the the potential of being hit by a car or getting world-class coal mine 100 unavailable in Fairbanks, the only power plant is piped around the Fairbanks frostbite, my kids would complain the whole miles southwest of town. cheap heating downtown area to heat houses and buildings, way. I do know a mom who manages to bike While fuel oil is delivered a system o en called cogeneration. More at around $4 per gallon houses could use that heat source if more

Necessity is the mother of adaptation. Counting on technology to solve a crisis is at best a 50-50 proposition.

But counting on adaptation to respond to a crisis is 100 percent reliable. Adapt and thrive. Conserve before consume of gasoline equivalent, coal is about $1.50 per options available are those that pollute — WHAT IF ALMOST EVERY FAMILY IN FAIRBANKS WERE FORCED GGE. Even though the coal does not burn wood or coal. I’ve spent several years living in Europe, so I as e ciently as fuel oil, it still saves half the e question for the committee was, what know Europeans are greatly concerned over BY THE HIGH COST OF ENERGY TO RELY ON WOOD OR COAL HEAT? energy cost of fuel oil. So I bought a coal- red if almost every family in Fairbanks were energy conservation. hydronic boiler for my backyard. forced by the high cost of energy to rely on A lot of buildings now have very good is coal system automatically feeds coal wood or coal heat? Clearly, the particulate you of the beautiful scenery I pass on the her kids to preschool in winter here, but “time-waste” factor since I could have covered insulation and tight doors and windows. to a burning chamber every time the house matter would be horrendous. e entire town bike path and along the river, of the way a for most people bicycling just isn’t a viable the same distance in fewer than 10 minutes by But when you have a lot of insulation and calls for extra heat. It was expensive, well sits on the front lines of the world’s energy simple black spruce looks covered in snow, alternative to a car. car. Instead, I came to realize that e ciency little ventilation, you get humidity and mold, over $15,000 dollars a er all the installation, and environmental crises. e committee for of how the snow makes even a dark morning One winter, I did some consulting in wasn’t about how my environment caters to causing as many health problems as bad air. but the reduction in fuel costs has made up energy options advocated bringing natural seem brighter, but really it’s a tough ride. I downtown Fairbanks. I had to be in several my needs, or about nding technology that So one of the habits I noticed all across for that. I eventually added an insulating gas to town. ree options were vetted. One wear heavy snow pants, a parka, gloves, boot places around town during the week, which adapted to what I needed. It was more about Europe was to open windows for at least 15 shell around the boiler to reduce the need was the construction of a small-diameter gloves, a face mask and a helmet tted for ear meant I couldn’t ride my bike as easily. I how I adapted to my environment and the minutes a day, even in the dead of winter. to ll the coal bin and haul away the ash as natural gas bullet pipeline from Prudhoe Bay warmers. I also have studded bike tires, which ended up taking the bus to the university, one existing technology. O en I’d end up talking Back in Alaska, I added insulation and o en, and I heightened the chimney to make to Anchorage, which would go past Fairbanks cost more than studded automobile tires. I downtown and sometimes yet another one with other passengers. Sometimes I got work sealing to my home. Sure enough, my it more e cient and even cleaner burning. and provide relatively cheap natural gas for have two front headlights, one on my helmet back to the university before going home on a done on the bus and sometimes not, but there humidity level indoors skyrocketed, and I ose changes made the boiler about twice as both major metropolitan areas. at could and one on my bike handlebars, front and fourth bus. was a sense of community that in many ways got iced windows and the beginnings of mold e cient and half as smelly. take six years from start of construction to back blinkers, and re ective tape all around. First I would go out and wait for the rst made up for the downside. problems. So I intentionally reinstalled air I sat on a committee for energy options in nish. Another option was to put super- Yet still drivers do not always see me. bus from my home, wearing all my winter leaks, with a heat recovery ventilator. HRVs Fairbanks in 2008 to discuss these looming cooling lique ed natural gas modules on e cold is o en so bitter, my tires begin clothing. ere was about a 40-minute delay are used in Fairbanks and elsewhere, but they concerns of expensive heating fuel oil coupled the North Slope, turn the North Slope’s to atten as the cold reduces tire pressure, so between the bus to campus and the next bus cost thousands of dollars to install and use with extremely cold temperature inversions natural gas into LNG and then truck the I have to make sure they’re fully in ated. My to downtown, so I would run to my o ce, energy themselves. in the winter. e inversions cause coal LNG to Fairbanks, which would take two breath freezes on my face until ice builds up check my email and try to take care of Although I added insulation and and wood burning particulates, as well as years to develop. A third option was to drill around my eyes, but I can’t wear goggles or campus business before I ran — fast participated in weatherproo ng programs pollutants from vehicle exhaust, to remain for natural gas and build a small, eight-inch glasses because they fog up instantly and I — to the next bus to get to my o ered by the state, quite frankly, in close to the ground, where we breathe them pipeline from the drill site to Fairbanks. at can’t see. (One of my graduate students found consulting o ce. Fairbanks that just isn’t enough. Most people in. ( e downtown coal power plant has a would take three years, if they found natural a solution, though — snorkeling gear.) It’s fair During the 25-minute ride in Fairbanks use oil, a very expensive fuel, scrubber to remove the particulates.) e gas, which they haven’t. to say I look strange as I come in from the downtown, I read reports, to heat their homes. e bills are dragging particulates can be as small as 2.5 Another idea was to use heat from the cold with ice all over my face. graded papers or wrote many folks under. I wanted microns, which has been shown downtown coal- red power plant to warm I don’t ride my bike to the store or take my analyses. I could have something cheaper. to be unhealthy. But with fuel homes and businesses — district heating. kids in my bike trailer in the winter. Beside focused on the Luckily, there is a oil so expensive and natural gas Already, hot steam and hot water from the the potential of being hit by a car or getting world-class coal mine 100 unavailable in Fairbanks, the only power plant is piped around the Fairbanks frostbite, my kids would complain the whole miles southwest of town. cheap heating downtown area to heat houses and buildings, way. I do know a mom who manages to bike While fuel oil is delivered a system o en called cogeneration. More at around $4 per gallon houses could use that heat source if more

Necessity is the mother of adaptation. Counting on technology to solve a crisis is at best a 50-50 proposition.

But counting on adaptation to respond to a crisis is 100 percent reliable. Adapt and thrive. pipes were laid, but the technological breakthrough or commission determined this the perfect hydrogen fuel cell car, HIVE OF INDUSTRY alternative to be too expensive. it is better to start right now to Another alternative, which I saw change your lifestyle. Prepare to used in the former Soviet Union, change your job, or accept lower Sometimes they come before you’ve even built was to put pipes above ground wages, or live with other families, it. In the last 10 years, enrollment in the College rather than underground, all or use alternative transportation, of Engineering and Mines has doubled, to 749 over the city. It’s ugly but cheap. or use coal to heat your home. students in fall 2012, but the space for them to learn e Soviets did it o en. Just don’t prepare for the easy life has stayed the same. [ e committee also explored that technologists have promised. “Right now we are breaking classes up into three alternative-energy options, and Ultimately, people will make Reynolds o ers an analysis of do. We were made to adapt. or four sessions,” says Billy Connor, director of some alternative energies in the Now people will have to manage CEM’s Institute of Northern Engineering. “[The book.] again, and with environmental introductory class] is a good example. We have no A recommendation for problems to boot. When I taught classroom for 80 students.” the two-year LNG option in Kazakhstan, a student told me, Lab and research space are other commodities was pushed, but because the “It could be fun for everyone to in short supply. But a proposed engineering commercial interests needed live in a yurt.” And so it could time and incentive to try their be. Just remember to wear your building between Duckering and Bunnell will options, nothing was done re ective gear and snorkel. give more room for everyone, from classrooms to with the recommendation, and research facilities. Placing the structure between Fairbanks continues to head Doug Reynolds, professor of oil the traditional homes of CEM and the School of into greater environmental and energy economics, has been Management holds potential for collaboration and economic decline. But that at UAF since . He has done between engineering and business majors. (The is typical. Energy transitions research in oil and natural gas supply, by their nature are divisive, natural gas pipeline projects and School of Management’s enrollment has increased expensive and economically nonrenewable resource scarcity. 88 percent this past decade, to 635 students). devastating. ere are no easy He has studied energy issues in “Engineering now is much more interdisciplinary technologies, no cheap solutions, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Norway, Russia than it’s ever been,” says Connor. “We need to no clear path — only extremely and Poland, and has done energy understand what people want, communicate with di cult and painful adaptations. consulting for the State of Alaska. them and provide what they are looking for.” ere are no easy answers to high energy costs. People will Artist Harrison Carpenter was born Alaska could theoretically import its engineers simply have to pay more for in Fairbanks and raised in Delta and businesspeople, but as Doug Reynolds points energy, including electricity, Junction, Alaska. He will graduate out in Energy Civilization, the 49th state has speciﬁ c and will have less money for from UAF this spring with a BFA in physical constraints and requirements that require vacations, consumer goods, even art. He is particularly interested in the speciﬁ c structural and business expertise. necessities. Rather than waiting urbanization of landscapes. That’s prompted companies like BP, for that man-on-the-moon ConocoPhillips Alaska, Kinross Fort Knox, Shannon & Wilson Inc., Shell Exploration and Production, Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Teck Alaska Inc., and Usibelli Coal Mine to donate to UAF more than $3 million over the last two years alone. Dan Snodgress, who manages operations at Kinross’ Fort Knox Mine, outside Fairbanks, likes hiring UAF graduates. “They’re used to an arctic environment. It is much di erent working in an arctic environment versus other areas or other countries around the world.” UAF’s practical approach is also a big plus. “I believe that makes a good engineer: somebody who’s got a little mud on their boots now and then,” he says. “So when they get back in the o ce making their plans, they’ve got a little empathy for the individuals carrying out those plans.”

22 Aurora | spring 2013 Runner’s Glory pipes were laid, but the technological breakthrough or commission determined this the perfect hydrogen fuel cell car, HIVE OF INDUSTRY alternative to be too expensive. it is better to start right now to The good race Another alternative, which I saw change your lifestyle. Prepare to By Ned Rozell used in the former Soviet Union, change your job, or accept lower Sometimes they come before you’ve even built was to put pipes above ground wages, or live with other families, it. In the last 10 years, enrollment in the College rather than underground, all or use alternative transportation, of Engineering and Mines has doubled, to 749 As we rolled through the parking lot, 100 steps from over the city. It’s ugly but cheap. or use coal to heat your home. students in fall 2012, but the space for them to learn the grassy field where the Equinox Marathon ends e Soviets did it o en. Just don’t prepare for the easy life has stayed the same. and begins, the starting cannon boomed. It was not [ e committee also explored that technologists have promised. “Right now we are breaking classes up into three the first time I had arrived late for the Equinox start, alternative-energy options, and Ultimately, people will make but everything else was different that morning. My Reynolds o ers an analysis of do. We were made to adapt. or four sessions,” says Billy Connor, director of little blondie, 3-year old Anna, was there with me. some alternative energies in the Now people will have to manage CEM’s Institute of Northern Engineering. “[The She was in her Chariot stroller, with a blanket over book.] again, and with environmental Rozell. Ned of courtesy Photo introductory class] is a good example. We have no her feet. A recommendation for problems to boot. When I taught classroom for 80 students.” I was following a compulsion to do the race any the two-year LNG option in Kazakhstan, a student told me, Lab and research space are other commodities way possible. With Anna’s mom, Kristen, up ahead was pushed, but because the “It could be fun for everyone to in short supply. But a proposed engineering in the pack, and us with no babysitter, the Chariot commercial interests needed live in a yurt.” And so it could was a means for me to cover the miles. Expecting time and incentive to try their be. Just remember to wear your building between Duckering and Bunnell will a 3-year-old to sit still for nine hours was nuts, and options, nothing was done re ective gear and snorkel. give more room for everyone, from classrooms to selfish, but I wanted to honor my lifetime bib. And As we climbed up the big hill through spruce and Ned and Anna with the recommendation, and research facilities. Placing the structure between I wanted to share the experience with my little girl, aspen, another Equinox memory nudged me. There, Rozell show off Fairbanks continues to head their finisher’s Doug Reynolds, professor of oil the traditional homes of CEM and the School of because my Equinox Marathon memories (includ- in my mind’s eye, was Paco, a friend from college, into greater environmental patch after and energy economics, has been Management holds potential for collaboration ing first meeting Kristen at the race) go back half sitting down right there on the trail, eating berries, and economic decline. But that at UAF since . He has done completing the between engineering and business majors. (The my life. resting for another push with a punchy smile on his is typical. Energy transitions 2009 Equinox research in oil and natural gas supply, With smoke curling from the cannon, the crowd face. He was trying to once again complete the race by their nature are divisive, School of Management’s enrollment has increased Marathon. natural gas pipeline projects and bobbed up the hill ahead of us. I suppressed a com- without training. Paco, a UAF photography student expensive and economically 88 percent this past decade, to 635 students). nonrenewable resource scarcity. ical urge to pass people, and shoved the Chariot up from Mexico, loved the Equinox. Learning of his devastating. ere are no easy He has studied energy issues in “Engineering now is much more interdisciplinary the first steep hill of the Equinox. My eyes watered murder in Fairbanks one day in October almost technologies, no cheap solutions, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Norway, Russia than it’s ever been,” says Connor. “We need to while ascending the old UAF ski slope, a bit over- 20 years ago was some of the most shocking news no clear path — only extremely and Poland, and has done energy understand what people want, communicate with whelmed that I was healthy/lucky/alive enough to I’ve ever received. I thought of him — that gentle, di cult and painful adaptations. consulting for the State of Alaska. them and provide what they are looking for.” again run the race. smiling soul — and mouthed another thank you for ere are no easy answers to Twenty-one years earlier, I had started up this my blessings. high energy costs. People will Alaska could theoretically import its engineers Artist Harrison Carpenter was born same hill in a T-shirt and nylon shorts. I wished I The richest blessing was the little girl with me. simply have to pay more for and businesspeople, but as Doug Reynolds points in Fairbanks and raised in Delta had more insulation when it snowed on Ester Dome She entered the scene a few years ago, blowing the energy, including electricity, Junction, Alaska. He will graduate out in Energy Civilization, the 49th state has speciﬁ c that day, but I made ’er home in 4 hours, 18 minutes. walls off the me-centered box I’d constructed and and will have less money for from UAF this spring with a BFA in physical constraints and requirements that require Not a great time, but at that moment it was the maintained for 43 years. With her, everything was vacations, consumer goods, even art. He is particularly interested in the speciﬁ c structural and business expertise. most impressive thing I had ever done. new again, from the hoot of a great horned owl to necessities. Rather than waiting urbanization of landscapes. That’s prompted companies like BP, I’ve run this race most of the years I’ve lived here, the crunch of little boots on fresh snow. for that man-on-the-moon ConocoPhillips Alaska, Kinross Fort Knox, Shannon with an intact streak since 2001. I was trained up The miles with Anna did not drag that day. She for my best ever time in 2000. But then my dad died napped, she walked some, she never complained & Wilson Inc., Shell Exploration and Production, that August, and I was back East during race time. and she looked forward to the cookies at the aid Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo, Teck Alaska Inc., and Since then, I’ve thought of him, and the tennis tiger stations before devouring them. Usibelli Coal Mine to donate to UAF more than $3 who was my mom, during the hours it takes me to Nine hours into that glorious day, with Anna on million over the last two years alone. cover the 26.2 miles up, on and over Ester Dome. my shoulders as we closed in on the finish line, a Dan Snodgress, who manages operations at That’s the part where I get misty, and thankful my woman ran past us. We had seen her before, several Kinross’ Fort Knox Mine, outside Fairbanks, likes carcass can still move that far. times; she had been checking on friends who, like us, On this chilly September morning, it was time were the true back of the pack. As she had several hiring UAF graduates. “They’re used to an arctic to show my girlie the miles that are such a part of times before, the woman yelled words of encour- environment. It is much di erent working in an my life. I’m not sure if Anna will be a runner, or agement. They were the perfect summation of our arctic environment versus other areas or other even an athlete, but she was going to see the crowd new, extra-slow and extra-meaningful version of countries around the world.” that comes out to cheer everybody on beneath the the Equinox. UAF’s practical approach is also a big plus. “I yellow and orange trees, wrinkle her nose at the “Watching you two today has been beautiful.” believe that makes a good engineer: somebody musk of highbush cranberries, and feel the heartfelt smiles and hand slaps of the old friends we passed who’s got a little mud on their boots now and then,” Ned Rozell, ’90, is a science writer at UAF’s Geophysical on the out-and-back. She would breathe in the spirit Institute. he says. “So when they get back in the o ce making of the day. their plans, they’ve got a little empathy for the individuals carrying out those plans.”

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 23 Equinox Marathon: 50 years running

Running or hiking the 1963 The Equinox Marathon is founded by UAF ski coach Jim Equinox Marathon Mahaffey and UAF skiers Nat Goodhue, ’65, and Gail Bakken, ’65, among others. The inaugural race features 143 and Relay in September starters and 69 finishers. Goodhue in 3:54:22 and Bakken in 6:08:00 are the winners. The race begins and ends, as it has is a rite of seasonal every year since then, in front of the Patty Center. passage for many 1964 The Equinox is the largest marathon in the world, and will be Fairbanksans, and the again in 1966 and 1967. patch that only full 1969 With no entry fee, a record 1,630 people register. There are 1,160 marathon finishers starters (260 runners and 900 hikers) and 821 finishers. Entry receive is a badge of fees of $1 for hikers and $2 for runners are instituted the next year, and fewer people sign up. honor. It’s reckoned by

Out and back A l 1972 The Boston Marathon, begun in 1897, allows women to run d many to be among the e Top of Ester Dome r

officially for the first time. The Equinox has allowed women to c h 2,400 u toughest marathons in n t compete from its inception. ve e ha r l l the country. U

l 1984 Stan Justice, ’75, runs 2:41:30 to set a record that still stands d e UAF’s involvement has been integral to r

and has never been seriously threatened. t r

i the Equinox from its inception. The course l begins and ends in front of the Patty Center, 1990 A two-person team relay race, quickly a popular option, and miles of the route wind over UAF’s ski is added. The next year it is bumped up to a three- trails. Like many sporting events, maybe all person relay. of them, the Equinox has many layers and many stories. You can compile quite a list of startling statistics over 50 years of 26.2 miles, and some deeply personal observations, such

as those shared by Ned Rozell on page 23. levation (feet) levation E

The original Equinox Marathon finisher’s

patch, designed by Gail Bakken, one of the UAF photo by Samuel Winch. UAF photo by Maureen McCombs. race’s founders. The coveted patch today remains virtually unchanged and e “M m is still handed to every person o u s D r k e who finishes within 10 hours. o t x s f E a f r o m Bottom ” e h U t U A l l A o F i t t F r h a t k i a ra c ls g ils a u B l e B 400 Start 26.2 miles

24 Aurora | spring 2013 1992 The race is not officially held due to heavy snowfall, 2009 For those for whom a marathon just isn’t quite long enough, but several dozen runners complete the course race organizers add a 50-kilometer/31.2 mile ultramarathon. anyway. Counting that year, the Equinox is one of the longest continuously held marathons in 2010 Steve Bainbridge, ’93, retires as the longest-serving Equinox the country. race director; he first took over as RD in 1995. John Estle and Susan Kramer step in as co-directors. (Estle also served as RD 1995 Race fans can demonstrate their dedication by from 1985 – 1989.) purchasing a lifetime bib, which means they have a guaranteed prepaid race entry every year; 2011 The ultramarathon distance increases to 64 kilometers/40 miles. by the 2012 race, 50 lifetime bibs have been sold. Fans can also pay for sturdy metal signs used as route or milepost markers. Many of these are 2012 The 50th Equinox sees 1,251 entrants, exceeding 1,000 purchased by families or friends to commemorate participants for the first time since 1969. A record 825 people deceased runners. (counting one for each relay team) finishes. Eric Strabel is the fastest man in 2:45:15, and Emily Routon is the fastest woman in 3:25:40. The last official hiker comes in at 9:36:00. Five women 2002 Susan Faulkner, ’95, breaks the women’s record and 27 men complete the ultramarathon: Ivaylo Benov is the by more than three minutes in 3:18:16. Her record men’s winner, in 5:36:02; Stephanie Kuhn is the first woman, in still stands. 6:45:20. The youngest marathon finisher is Alexander Greene, 9; the oldest is Phyllis Church, 77. Finishers are from 29 Alaska communities, 14 states and four other countries — Canada (3), Out and back A England (2), Germany (1) and Japan (5). ld e Top of Ester Dome r

c h

u n t ve e 2013 The Equinox is inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. ha r l l Sources: Matias Saari, Steve Bainbridge, John Estle and www.equinoxmarathon.org

l d e Learn more about one of the world’s toughest marathons at r

r a www.uaf.edu/aurora/. i l Equinox Marathon course profile

Fairbanks artist Kes Woodward created this limited e edition giclee print to commemorate the 50th Equinox “M m o u s D r Marathon. k e o t x s f E a f r o m Bottom ” e h U t U A l l A o F i t t F r h a t k i a ra c ls g ils Ba lu e B

Start 26.2 miles

spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 25 FESTIVAL OF NATIVE ARTS 2013

. Celebrating1974 – 201340 years

See more of thePhotos th by Todd festival Paris, JR Ancheta at and www.uaf.edu/festival/ courtesy of FNA. FESTIVAL OF NATIVE ARTS 2013

. Celebrating1974 – 201340 years

See more of thePhotos th by Todd festival Paris, JR Ancheta at and www.uaf.edu/festival/ courtesy of FNA. class notes Terese Kaptur, s ’ , ’, and Mark Rich Koenig, ’, ’, is the Phil Summers, ’ — “It’s o cial, our emergency preparedness and response, and Sherman, ’, director of Washington State new company is up and running! Logic climate change sectors. I still maintain Bill Holman, ’, ’ — “While continuing University Extension. His stated Healthcare is a game changer in the health- research a liations with the Institute of to take classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning ’, were married goal is to reach out to farmers. care IT industry! It has been a long road with Arctic Biology and the UA Museum of the Institute at the University of Alabama in the university many sleepless nights and many days without North. You might want to check out my Chris Simon, ’, ’, is the rural educa- Huntsville and the Huntsville Senior Center, seeing my family, but I am very happy to ‘Dance your PhD’ video, which was entered in fi re hall. tion coordinator for the Alaska Department I am also teaching classes at both venues. I present our company, www.logichealth- a competition sponsored by Science magazine, of Education. His job, based in Fairbanks, o er a Russian class at both facilities and a care.com.” at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/videos/.” Joe’s Consciousness Illuminated course at OLLI. includes improving the department’s drawing accompanied his thesis abstract. What we attempt to do in the Consciousness outreach to rural communities and Native Phoebe Bredlie, ’, Illuminated courses is to utilize the breadth organizations, promoting the governor’s joined the Fairbanks Katlin Hanson, ’ — “I continue to work of many pre-existing outlooks (of class education priorities to prepare students for o ce of R&M as a eldwork supervisor at test sites utilizing members) in a forum (not lecture) to discuss college and job-training success, building a Consultants Inc. in the deep vadose zone remediation technologies various prominent books in order to shed rapport with legislators, and identifying new airport engineering with Glen Chronister for the CH2M Hill more light on the subject of consciousness ways to improve the delivery of education group in September. Plateau Remediation Co. and the Department and thereby increase the depth of our respec- in rural Alaska. He is married to Letha Bredlie was previ- of Energy at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Chimegalrea Simon, ’, ’ near Richland, Wash. e rst full-scale tive understandings.” s acknowledges members who have attained , and they ously employed by the eminence in the petroleum industry or the have three children. Alaska Department of plutonium production reactor, B reactor, George Schaller, ’, ’, is vice president Bernadette Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimpfl e, academic community, and/or who have Transportation and Public Facilities and has was constructed in eight months in 1943 at of Panthera and a senior conservationist Khalid Al Subai, ’, is a research director ’, ’, was appointed to the Alaska Native made unusually signi cant contributions to 13 years of general civil design and construc- Hanford, and the plutonium from this reactor at the Wildlife Conservation Society. His at Qatar Foundation and leads the Qatar Language Preservation and Advisory Council SPE. Shirish is internationally recognized as tion engineering experience. was used in the Fat Man bomb detonated over book Tibet Wild: A Naturalist’s Journeys Exoplanet Survey, a group of scientists by Gov. Parnell. She is the Eskimo Heritage a leading expert in the areas of natural gas Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. I have been on the Roof of the World was published researching the possibility of other life Program Director at Kawerak Inc. and hydrates and improved oil recovery. working at Hanford since September last fall by Island Press. Read a review at forms in the solar system. Read more 2009 and was a buyer technical repre- an Inupiaq instructor at UAF’s Northwest at www.arabianbusiness.com/star- http://nyti.ms/ZBVVBj. Campus in Nome. Je Roach, ’ — “On May 24, I com- sentative/ eldwork supervisor for the pleted the U.S. Air Force Air War College at gazing-462982.html. CHPRC deep well drilling group from s Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Ala. I am an 2009 to 2011. See the chapters of the Alaska Army National Guard lieutenant col- s Hanford story at www.hanford.gov.” onel. I received a master of strategic studies Mary Jane Fate, ’, received the degree and met the educational requirements Shirley Demientie Award for advocacy s to be promoted to general o cer in the U.S. on behalf of Alaska Native women and military. To accomplish the Air War College Carol Gering, ’, ’, was named children from the Alaska Federation of mission, students demonstrate mastery of executive director of UAF’s eLearning Natives in October 2012. Earlier in the dual challenges — academic enhancement and Distance Education in September year she received the Citizen of the Year and professional development through course Joe Dudley, ’ — “I am currently work- 2012 a er serving as interim director for two award from Doyon. work, independent research and international ing for Science Applications International months. Corp. providing scienti c and technical travel. To meet these challenges, the college Jackie Baker, ’ — “I moved from Mona Jensen, ’, retired from the State Todd Paris, ’, showcased his services to the U.S. Department of Health develops the knowledge, skills and attitudes Fairbanks in ’93 to the D.C. area and of Alaska in Februrary 2012 and moved to photography in a First Friday exhibit in and Human Services and other federal in its students that are signi cant to the operate a small nonpro t preschool, Arizona in July. Fairbanks in October 2012. View his work at profession of arms with emphasis on air and which was rated a top preschool in the agency clients. My major subject matter focus http://parispub.smugmug.com. space power and its application in joint and Northern Virginia area. Our website is is currently in the public health, emerging Ty Keltner, ’, ’, was featured as a diseases ecology/epidemiology, disaster bigfoot investigator on Legends Of on the India Spartz, ’, became director of spe- multinational war ghting. I was one of 245 www.classroomofdiscovery.org.” Patricia Evans Olson, ’ — “I wrote Travel Channel. Watch the trailer at www. cial collections for the University of Arizona students in the class of 2012. I conducted a collection of stories from my experiences travelchannel.com/video/alaskas-legends. Libraries in April 2012. Prior to that she research on national sovereignty in the Arctic living cross-culturally in nine countries and traveled to the Philippines and ailand was senior archivist at Harvard University’s Irma Goodwine, ’, was reappointed by from 2002 – 2010. Available at amazon.com, to meet my regional studies requirement.” Frogs in the Loo and Other Short-Term Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Gov. Parnell to the Statewide Independent Missions Tales chronicles the journey my Ethnology. She is a member of the Society Linda Thomas, ’, is vice chair of Alaska Living Council. Goodwine, who lives in husband, David B. Olson, ’, and I took of American Archivists and the Academy of Paci c Bancshares’ board of directors. She is Bethel, has been director of the Association as we worked in Christian radio around the Certi ed Archivists. a CPA and vice president and chief operations of Village Council Presidents’ vocational rehabilitation program since 2000. globe. We are now semiretired and living in Shirish Patil, ’, ’, ’, was awarded o cer for Alaskan Brewing Company. Lancaster, Pa.” the Society of Petroleum Engineering’s Stephen Walkie Charles, ’, ’, was David Abrams, ’ — “My debut novel, Terese Kaptur, ’, ’, director of the Distinguished Member award in October appointed to the Alaska Native Language Fobbit, was recently published by Grove/ Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and 2012. Distinguished membership is limited Preservation and Advisory Council by Gov. Atlantic. Fobbit is a dark comedy about Mark Sherman, ’, ’, were married in to 1 percent of SPE professional members and Parnell. Walkie is an assistant professor of the Iraq War and has been hailed by February 2012 in the university re hall. ey Yup’ik at UAF. Publishers Weekly as ‘an instant classic.’ met at UAF while students in the mid-70s For more information about the book, visit Bernice Joseph, ’, ’, was named when Mark was a re ghter. eir rst date www.davidabramsbooks.com.” Citizen of the Year for 2012 at the Alaska was a tour of the re hall. Federation of Natives convention in October. Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower, ’, ’, Zeljko Runje, ’, is vice president for Read more and listen to an interview with her became president of Ilisagvik College in June o shore projects at Rosne , a Russian oil and at http://bit.ly/josephnews. Jackie Baker, 2012, a er spending three months as interim gas company. Before that he was vice presi- ’, operates a president. She had served as dean of students dent at Exxon Mobil Russia. and institutional development before that. small nonprofi t Ilisagvik College is the only federally recog- preschool in nized tribal college in Alaska. Virginia.

228 AURORAAurora | | spring 2013 2013 2013 | AURORA3 class notes Terese Kaptur, s ’ , ’, and Mark Rich Koenig, ’, ’, is the Phil Summers, ’ — “It’s o cial, our emergency preparedness and response, and Sherman, ’, director of Washington State new company is up and running! Logic climate change sectors. I still maintain Bill Holman, ’, ’ — “While continuing University Extension. His stated Healthcare is a game changer in the health- research a liations with the Institute of to take classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning ’, were married goal is to reach out to farmers. care IT industry! It has been a long road with Arctic Biology and the UA Museum of the Institute at the University of Alabama in the university many sleepless nights and many days without North. You might want to check out my Chris Simon, ’, ’, is the rural educa- Huntsville and the Huntsville Senior Center, seeing my family, but I am very happy to ‘Dance your PhD’ video, which was entered in fi re hall. tion coordinator for the Alaska Department I am also teaching classes at both venues. I present our company, www.logichealth- a competition sponsored by Science magazine, of Education. His job, based in Fairbanks, o er a Russian class at both facilities and a care.com.” at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/videos/.” Joe’s Consciousness Illuminated course at OLLI. includes improving the department’s drawing accompanied his thesis abstract. What we attempt to do in the Consciousness outreach to rural communities and Native Phoebe Bredlie, ’, Illuminated courses is to utilize the breadth organizations, promoting the governor’s joined the Fairbanks Katlin Hanson, ’ — “I continue to work of many pre-existing outlooks (of class education priorities to prepare students for o ce of R&M as a eldwork supervisor at test sites utilizing members) in a forum (not lecture) to discuss college and job-training success, building a Consultants Inc. in the deep vadose zone remediation technologies various prominent books in order to shed rapport with legislators, and identifying new airport engineering with Glen Chronister for the CH2M Hill more light on the subject of consciousness ways to improve the delivery of education group in September. Plateau Remediation Co. and the Department and thereby increase the depth of our respec- in rural Alaska. He is married to Letha Bredlie was previ- of Energy at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Chimegalrea Simon, ’, ’ near Richland, Wash. e rst full-scale tive understandings.” s acknowledges members who have attained , and they ously employed by the eminence in the petroleum industry or the have three children. Alaska Department of plutonium production reactor, B reactor, George Schaller, ’, ’, is vice president Bernadette Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimpfl e, academic community, and/or who have Transportation and Public Facilities and has was constructed in eight months in 1943 at of Panthera and a senior conservationist Khalid Al Subai, ’, is a research director ’, ’, was appointed to the Alaska Native made unusually signi cant contributions to 13 years of general civil design and construc- Hanford, and the plutonium from this reactor at the Wildlife Conservation Society. His at Qatar Foundation and leads the Qatar Language Preservation and Advisory Council SPE. Shirish is internationally recognized as tion engineering experience. was used in the Fat Man bomb detonated over book Tibet Wild: A Naturalist’s Journeys Exoplanet Survey, a group of scientists by Gov. Parnell. She is the Eskimo Heritage a leading expert in the areas of natural gas Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. I have been on the Roof of the World was published researching the possibility of other life Program Director at Kawerak Inc. and hydrates and improved oil recovery. working at Hanford since September last fall by Island Press. Read a review at forms in the solar system. Read more 2009 and was a buyer technical repre- an Inupiaq instructor at UAF’s Northwest at www.arabianbusiness.com/star- http://nyti.ms/ZBVVBj. Campus in Nome. Je Roach, ’ — “On May 24, I com- sentative/ eldwork supervisor for the pleted the U.S. Air Force Air War College at gazing-462982.html. CHPRC deep well drilling group from s Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Ala. I am an 2009 to 2011. See the chapters of the Alaska Army National Guard lieutenant col- s Hanford story at www.hanford.gov.” onel. I received a master of strategic studies Mary Jane Fate, ’, received the degree and met the educational requirements Shirley Demientie Award for advocacy s to be promoted to general o cer in the U.S. on behalf of Alaska Native women and military. To accomplish the Air War College Carol Gering, ’, ’, was named children from the Alaska Federation of mission, students demonstrate mastery of executive director of UAF’s eLearning Natives in October 2012. Earlier in the dual challenges — academic enhancement and Distance Education in September year she received the Citizen of the Year Joe Dudley, ’ and professional development through course — “I am currently work- 2012 a er serving as interim director for two award from Doyon. work, independent research and international ing for Science Applications International months. Corp. providing scienti c and technical travel. To meet these challenges, the college Jackie Baker, ’ — “I moved from services to the U.S. Department of Health Mona Jensen, ’, retired from the State Todd Paris, ’, showcased his develops the knowledge, skills and attitudes Fairbanks in ’93 to the D.C. area and and Human Services and other federal of Alaska in Februrary 2012 and moved to photography in a First Friday exhibit in in its students that are signi cant to the operate a small nonpro t preschool, agency clients. My major subject matter focus Arizona in July. Fairbanks in October 2012. View his work at profession of arms with emphasis on air and which was rated a top preschool in the is currently in the public health, emerging http://parispub.smugmug.com. space power and its application in joint and Northern Virginia area. Our website is Ty Keltner, ’, ’, was featured as a diseases ecology/epidemiology, disaster bigfoot investigator on Legends Of on the India Spartz, ’, became director of spe- multinational war ghting. I was one of 245 www.classroomofdiscovery.org.” Patricia Evans Olson, ’ — “I wrote Travel Channel. Watch the trailer at www. cial collections for the University of Arizona students in the class of 2012. I conducted a collection of stories from my experiences travelchannel.com/video/alaskas-legends. Libraries in April 2012. Prior to that she research on national sovereignty in the Arctic living cross-culturally in nine countries and traveled to the Philippines and ailand was senior archivist at Harvard University’s Irma Goodwine, ’, was reappointed by from 2002 – 2010. Available at amazon.com, to meet my regional studies requirement.” Frogs in the Loo and Other Short-Term Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Gov. Parnell to the Statewide Independent Missions Tales chronicles the journey my Ethnology. She is a member of the Society Linda Thomas, ’, is vice chair of Alaska Living Council. Goodwine, who lives in husband, David B. Olson, ’, and I took of American Archivists and the Academy of Paci c Bancshares’ board of directors. She is Bethel, has been director of the Association as we worked in Christian radio around the Certi ed Archivists. a CPA and vice president and chief operations of Village Council Presidents’ vocational rehabilitation program since 2000. globe. We are now semiretired and living in Shirish Patil, ’, ’, ’, was awarded o cer for Alaskan Brewing Company. Lancaster, Pa.” the Society of Petroleum Engineering’s Stephen Walkie Charles, ’, ’, was David Abrams, ’ — “My debut novel, Terese Kaptur, ’, ’, director of the Distinguished Member award in October appointed to the Alaska Native Language Fobbit, was recently published by Grove/ Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and 2012. Distinguished membership is limited Preservation and Advisory Council by Gov. Atlantic. Fobbit is a dark comedy about Mark Sherman, ’, ’, were married in to 1 percent of SPE professional members and Parnell. Walkie is an assistant professor of the Iraq War and has been hailed by February 2012 in the university re hall. ey Yup’ik at UAF. Publishers Weekly as ‘an instant classic.’ met at UAF while students in the mid-70s For more information about the book, visit Bernice Joseph, ’, ’, was named when Mark was a re ghter. eir rst date www.davidabramsbooks.com.” Citizen of the Year for 2012 at the Alaska was a tour of the re hall. Federation of Natives convention in October. Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower, ’, ’, Zeljko Runje, ’, is vice president for Read more and listen to an interview with her became president of Ilisagvik College in June o shore projects at Rosne , a Russian oil and at http://bit.ly/josephnews. Jackie Baker, 2012, a er spending three months as interim gas company. Before that he was vice presi- ’, operates a president. She had served as dean of students dent at Exxon Mobil Russia. and institutional development before that. small nonprofi t Ilisagvik College is the only federally recog- preschool in nized tribal college in Alaska. Virginia.

2 AURORA | 2013 spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 2013 | AURORA293 class notes

Lynn Burkett, ’, married Richard Earl H. Beistline, ’, ’, ’ honorary Emily Lou Golden, ’, Jan. 7, Boise, Idaho Austin S. Post, ’ honorary degree recipient Kimball in September 2012. Lynn is the degree recipient, and dean and professor emer- Arnold Griese, professor emeritus, Feb. 1, , Nov. 12, 2012, Dupont, Wash. planning and resource development manager itus, Dec. 14, 2012, Fairbanks Fairbanks Andrew Quainton, former museum sta member for Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Kristen Rathman Bradley, ’, Nov. 30, 2012, B.L. “Nick” Hackenberger, ’, Aug. 8, 2012, , Dec. 24, 2012, Fairbanks Washington in Spokane, where the couple Fairbanks Tigard, Ore. Robert L. Rausch, ’ honorary degree lives. recipient Max C. Brewer, ’ honorary degree recipi- Dolores M. Heine, ’, Sept. 29, 2012, , Oct. 7, 2012, Seattle, Wash. ent, Sept. 21, 2012, Anchorage Sara Harriger, ’ — “For our current Redmond, Wash. June Mary Reuben, ’, Oct. 7, 2012, Santa project at www.47japanesefarms.com, our David C. Brickell, ’, Sept. 18, 2012, Fairbanks Edward R. Hollifi eld, former Facilities Cruz, Calif. goal is to visit, before the end of 2015, each of Joyce Renee Brown, ’, Dec. 19, 2012, Services sta member, Aug. 16, 2012, Roberta L. Rice, ’, Jan. 15, Fairbanks Japan’s 47 administrative districts, or todou- Fairbanks Fairbanks Michael A. Romano, ’, Dec. 2, 2012, fuken (sort of like a county or a state, but not Sheldon A. Clark, ’, Feb. 3, Towanda, Pa. Kenneth J. Huseby, ’, Jan. 24, Anchorage Statesville, N.C. as autonomous as the latter), and do a farm Howard H. Cloud, ’, Dec. 6, 2012, Homer David J. Jacobson, ’, Sept. 16, 2012, Alfred Dennis Ru , ’, ’, Oct. 16, 2012, stay with a local family or farmer in each one. Fairbanks Alamogordo, N.M. Robert Theodore Cooney, professor emeri- We trade our labor for room, board, Japanese tus, Feb. 14, Choteau, Mt. Jeannene Je ress, ’, Dec. 8, 2012, Greer, S.C. Freda Ann Russell, ’, Oct. 9, 2012, Fairbanks practice, and learning about local culture and Miles L. Coverdale, ’, Jan. 19, Anchorage Mary C. Kerner, ’, ’, Dec. 28, 2012, John I. Schumacher, ’, Dec. 6, 2012, Grand attitudes about farming. We look at farming Fairbanks Junction, Colo. as a commercial and as a subsistence activity, Enid Cutler, matriculate and widow of James W. Matthews, professor emeritus Peter B. Schust, ’, former trustee and I anticipate we will also look at hunting Chancellor Emeritus Howard Cutler, Dec. 28, , , Nov. 18, Jan. 28, Fairbanks 2012, Paradise Valley, Ariz. and shing subsistence activities and com- 2012, Royersford, Pa. mercial activities in the course of our project. Ron Dupee, Facilities Services sta member, David Eric McDowell, ’, Aug. 13, 2012, Juneau Paul L. Scott, ’, Oct. 14, 2012, Palmer We have also started a small oral history Jan. 1, Fairbanks Frederick P. McGinnis, ’ honorary degree Dennis D. Southworth, ’, ’, Nov. 27, 2012, project to record interviews with survivors of Kimberly I. Farnsworth, ’, Oct. 29, 2012, recipient, Sept. 2, 2012, Austell, Ga. Fairbanks the 3-11 disasters in Tohoku.” Sparks, Nev. Betty Jean McKinny, ’, Sept. 5, 2012, John Lorenson Stephl, ’, Dec. 16, 2012, Statesboro, Ga. Wasilla April Gale Laktonen Counceller, ’, Theodore F. Fathauer, ’, former trustee, Jan. 20, Fairbanks John F. Moses, ’, Jan. 3, Emmonak Eileen M. Stout, ’, July 14, 2012, Ceres, Calif. ’, was appointed to the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council Emma A. Freeland, ’, Nov. 21, 2012, Spokane Veronica Nicholas, ’, Nov. 3, 2012, Cantwell Gordon E. Stryken, ’, Jan. 22, Fairbanks Valley, Wash. by Gov. Parnell. She is an assistant professor Richard “OD” L. Odsather, ’, Nov. 28, 2012, Joseph M. Tremarello, ’, ’, Sept. 12, 2012, of Alutiiq language and culture at Kodiak Willa Jean Frey, ’, ’, Nov. 29, 2012, Fairbanks Fairbanks Fairbanks College and the language manager at the Four former Nanooks were inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in Frank M. Parr, ’, Aug. 15, 2012, West Judith L. Watt, ’, Jan. 18, Richmond, Ind. Marion Rast Gillespie, ’, Nov. 29, 2012, Alutiiq Museum. October : John Estle (cross country/Nordic skiing coach, – , Columbia, S.C. Harry A. Wilson, ’ Lewisburg, Pa. , Dec. 16, Arlington, Wash. Heidi Rader, ’, published Alaska Farmers represented by his nominator, Anne-Berit Smith), Ellen Hannan, ’, Stephen John Peters, ’, Jan. 2, North Pole Market Cookbook, a collection of recipes (basketball, – ), Pavla Havlova, Matric., (cross country/Nordic skiing organized by season. She is the tribes exten- – ) and Heather Harrison, ’, (volleyball, – , represented GOOD SPORTS sion educator with the Cooperative Extension Service and Tanana Chiefs Conference and by Sheena Cummings, director of athletics development). Read more at The – sports season is over. Here’s how the Nanooks fi nished in conference  Men’s basketball: th in conference; teaches agricultural skills in remote areas of http://bit.ly/alaskananookshallo ame. or NCAA championship competition. What you won’t see here is the number of Mick Durham named conference coach the state. Read more and purchase her book at weights lifted, miles run, ibuprofen taken, and airplanes boarded to get it done. Also of the year www.heidirader.com. not shown: blood, sweat, tears and cheers, regardless of the fi nal standings.  Women’s basketball: th in conference Brittany Dykstra Davies, ’, ’,  Men’s hockey: th in conference; won Governor’s Cup for th straight year received her MD degree from the University Matriculates  Men’s cross country: th in conference of Washington School of Medicine in June Patrick Knight — Brianna Reagan “Attended UAF military displayed her art project  Women’s cross country: th in 2012. She is a resident of internal medicine at extension sites at Eielson and Elmendorf/ WORD in a First Friday exhibit in Fairbanks conference the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Ft. Richardson 1980 – 1986. Graduated UAA in September 2012. Find out more about her 1988. Went on to law school at the University and her art at www.briannareaganart.com.  Men’s skiing: Team placed nd at NCAA s of North Dakota (1993 – 1996). Just published regionals; Michael Fehrenbach won K rst novel, Race Against Global Warming, classic, Logan Hanneman placed nd Peter Flaig, ’, is a geologist at the under nom de plume omas Martin in University of Texas at Austin. Each summer dedication to my grandfather. New series of  NCAA regional team he spends about a month in northern Alaska Women’s skiing: political environment books coming out in champions; Alyson McPhetres regional with his wife, Dolores van der Kolk, studying December 2012.” rocks, rock faces and stratigraphy in rivers champion in K classic and K freestyle and shorelines. Read more at http://bit.ly/  nd-place team fi nish in smallbore a i g g e o l o g i s t . Rifl e: PLEASE JOIN US! at NCAA championship; th overall Kendall Christine Bethune, ’, married Jordan Charles Ross, ’, in June NANOOK  Women’s swimming: At NCAA 2012. ey live in Anchorage where Jordan championship, Bente Heller won Alaska’s is attending medical school at the University fi rst-ever individual swimming national of Washington through UAA, and Kendall is title and was rd in another event; Margot pursuing a master’s degree at UAF. Adams placed nd in an individual event Oceana Francis, ’, was o ered a tenure  th in conference track position as an assistant professor in UAF ALUMNI REUNION Women’s volleyball: civil and environmental engineering at the Photo by Jason Colquhoun. University of Hawaii. SEPTEMBER 19 – 21, 2013 Catch up on all the Nanook news at www.alaskananooks.com.

430 AURORAAurora | | spring 2013 2013 In Memoriam

4 AURORA | 2013 spring 2013 | www.uaf.edu/aurora/ 31 IN MEMORIAM NANOOK NOOK The innocent eye: A remembrance of Adrina Knutson White Moon on Black Water By John Smelcer; illustration by Larry Vienneau By Leonard Kamerling

I’ m looking at a portrait of an African man. His eyes blaze through the photograph, trans xing my ll of the pews on the groom’s side were full of his relatives — “Please,” the woman pleaded, on the verge of crying. “Oh, please. I stare. e moment of the photograph is perishable in time but decisive in its e ect on the viewer. e parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters, and all want to show you my home.” man looks out from the photograph, questioning us and at the same time revealing secrets about himself. A of their collected families. e newly wed husband was curious. He had never been invited to It’s hard to look away. e more I look at this image the more I sense something of myself in him and e bride’s side was empty. meet her parents. All he knew was that she was an only child. something of him in me. But she was beautiful in her long, white gown. She had dark brown “All right,” he said, looking at his watch. hair, almost black eyes, and she was slender. Sleek even. No one knew Two miles down the backcountry road, they came upon a small e photograph is one of dozens of extraordinary much about her. She had no family and no job. e groom’s father had lake. A loon was swimming on the far side, and the sun was just above images from Africa taken by Adrina Knutson. Adrina was to give her away. But what she the treetops. It would be dark a senior in the UAF lm program when she was killed in a lacked in history, she made soon. e man recognized car accident while working on the Maasai Migrants Film up for in love. She loved the it as the place where they Project in rural Tanzania in August 2012. ( e project is young man standing before had rst met. He had been run by San Francisco State University.) her, so ly holding her hands, shing when she stepped wet Adrina had what photographers and lmmakers call and he loved her with all his and naked from the forest, “an innocent eye,” an ability to see beyond the obvious, to heart. explaining that she had see deeply into the humanity of her subjects and trans- “I do,” the groom said, loud been skinny-dipping and late what she saw into powerful, evocative images. If you enough to be heard in the something had carried o asked her about the origin of one of her photographs she’d back row. her clothes. say something like, “I met these two guys xing a bicycle,” Within minutes the e woman stepped from or, “I played with a bunch of kids coming home from wedding was over, the the car. She stood before her school.” For Adrina, photographs were not just images handfuls of rice tossed, and husband, still in his tuxedo, but indelible records of relationships and trust. the pews emptied. and slipped the long, white Adrina had an enormous natural talent that was “How much do you love dress from her lithe brown encouraged, honed and disciplined through her studies at me?” the new wife asked body. She walked to the UAF. She was fully engaged in her education and all it had as they drove away to their edge of the lake and turned to o er. She was the kind of student who brought out the Maasai people and transcend the huge gulf of culture “Adrina trusted her honeymoon two counties around, motioning for the best in teachers, who made them excited about teaching. and language. She gave her trust freely and openly and place in the world, over. man to follow. en, she In Tanzania I watched her as we began our work in received trust in return. You can see this in every photo- and in turn was “Honey, you know I love dived into the cold, dark trusted by others,” remote Maasai villages and was so taken with how at graph and video image she created. you more than anything,” the water. When she emerged, wrote Maya home she seemed. Although it was her rst experience Adrina and her lmmaking partner, Daniel Chien, man replied, leaning over to she was an otter. She was an Salganek, assistant with eldwork, she was able to forge friendships with were working on a lm, Darkness to Light, about a Maasai kiss her. professor of fi lm. otter woman, the very last family and the coming-of-age journey of their young “She approached “Would you give up your one. She had le the lake to son. ey spent a great deal of time at the family’s rural life with wonder, job to be with me?” she asked nd a mate. homestead, learning their way in the Maasai world and and wonder anxiously. She oated close — discovering the lm that lay before them. surrounded her; “Baby, that’s crazy,” the e ortless, watching, waiting. As the potential for their story opened, Dan asked the mundane man said with a smile. “We e man stood on the Adrina to consider being the cinematographer for their seemed gotta live.” shore until it was dark, until lm. She was moved by his con dence in her but worried magnifi cent.” e young wife didn’t speak stars began to shine and the that her production and camera skills might not be for a while. moon oated on the black adequate. She turned to her journal to work it out. She Sensing her hurt, the surface of the lake like a wrote, “Just make it beautiful, Adrina. You know how to husband tried to make amends. “Sure, honey. I’d do anything to be white lily pad, until everything he knew became like the night and he do that.” with you. Hell, we can live on love.” stepped, naked, into the uncertain water. “Do you promise?” she asked, smiling, her dark eyes gorgeous in Adrina Knutson will receive a posthumous the sunset. “Oh, do you promise to love me no matter what?” lm degree in May 2013. A scholarship John Smelcer, ’, ’, published “White Moon on Black Water” in his most She reached over, took his free hand and held it tight. for lm students is being established in recent short story collection, Alaskan: Stories from the Great Land, which won “Sure,” he replied. “No matter what.” her name. To nd out more, email naomi. a gold medal in the eLit Books Awards. Several miles later she spoke again. [email protected] or call 907-474-6464. “Turn le there,” she said, pointing to a dirt road ahead. Larry Vienneau was an associate professor of art at UAF from – . “But, baby, we have reservations.” He has illustrated numerous books on Native American oral traditions. He Leonard Kamerling, ’, is curator of fi lm at the UA Museum of continues to teach art at Seminole State College in Florida. the North and a professor of English at UAF. He has produced numerous award-winning documentary fi lms on northern and indigenous cultures. e Nanook Nook showcases the talent of our alumni and students. If you have an original poem, essay, short story, artwork or photograph(s) you would like to share with our readers, contact [email protected] for submission guidelines.

632 AURORAAurora | | spring 2013 2013 IN MEMORIAM NANOOK NOOK The innocent eye: A remembrance of Adrina Knutson White Moon on Black Water By John Smelcer; illustration by Larry Vienneau By Leonard Kamerling

6 AURORA | 2013 UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS P.O. Box 757505 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7505

CENTENNIAL

Yesterday’s News Online journalism has dramatically a ected the ways that journalism has always been a risky venture, as news is paid for and delivered. In the last decade, attested to by this photo of the Tanana News, which newspapers across the country have gone out of only published between May and October 1913. Flip business, reduced their coverage or moved entirely to page 10 to see what the information landscape is online. But nervous newshounds should recall like in Alaska today.

Curtis R. Smith Photographs, ca. , UAF-- - , Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks.