Winter Lectures

OLLI Winter Lectures The first Fridays of December, January and February 3:00 – 4:30 pm in the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center Theatre FREE and open to the public—registration is not required. Invite a potential new member! December 6, 2019 January 3, 2020 February 7, 2020 Digging Dinosaurs in Alaska: Transformed by Reindeer An Interdependent People: the Pleasures and Pitfalls of by Jane Atkinson Community, Conflict, and Fossil Collecting in the Far One never knows what life will throw Change in Alaska North at you! When my daughter insisted on by Rev. Leslie Ahuvah Fails by Patrick Druckenmiller getting reindeer and did all the work to Alaskans are a people with an independent Alaska is home to amazing fossils, make that happen I had no idea what was streak like none other. Hundreds of including the northernmost dinosaurs in store for my life. A little side business thousands of Americans tune into that ever lived. Safely accessing and during the midst of a career change reality programs showcasing our ability collecting those fossils in Alaska presents completely transformed my life and to “do it ourselves,” off the grid, in spite unique challenges, but also opportunities. allowed me to reach many dreams I never of extreme cold and isolation. Yet—as In this talk, paleontologist Dr. Patrick knew were possible. Come listen to my anyone who has ever stood in front of an Druckenmiller describes what it takes to story about how reindeer transformed eerily vacant dairy case at the store after reach remote field sites and dig up those my life. As a friend told me, “See what a delayed grocery shipment can testify— fossils, and how these hard-earned finds happens when you won’t let your daughter to live in Alaska means to be uniquely contribute amazing new information have a pony!” dependent upon the functioning of about life in ancient Alaska. infrastructure and the well-being of one’s community. What does it mean to be an Patrick Druckenmiller interdependent people? What wisdom is Director of the do we have to offer ourselves that will University of Alaska strengthen our minds and hearts in the Museum and Professor years ahead? of Geology at the University of Alaska Rev. Leslie Ahuvah Fairbanks. He received Fails is the minister his BA at the University of the Unitarian of Wisconsin Madison, his MS at Montana Universalist Fellowship State University Bozeman, and his PhD of Fairbanks. She at the University of Calgary, Alberta. Pat’s earned her Masters of research focuses on Mesozoic marine reptiles Divinity (M. Div) from and dinosaurs, particularly those from high the Starr King School latitudes. He oversees numerous field- for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, based projects across Alaska, particularly and served as a trauma response chaplain on Arctic dinosaurs from the North Slope at the University of Virginia Medical Center and in Denali National Park and Preserve. in Charlottesville, Virginia. The focus of her He is also a collaborator on several marine Jane Atkinson is a life-long Alaskan with ministry is fostering resilience in the face of reptile projects at various international many career paths, including teacher, nurse, trauma, crisis, and uncertainty. She lives in sites, including Svalbard, Norway and, mother, and entrepreneur. Always a lover of Fairbanks with her husband and daughter. more recently, China. In 2018, Pat took on all things living, she has found her calling directorship of the UA Museum, which hosts working with reindeer. As part of that she ten diverse research collections, provides has even made peace with petunias, her least important educational opportunities, and favorite flower. welcomes nearly 90,000 visitors annually. Online registration opens 9:30 am Wednesday August 21 (see p. 34) 27.

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