Spring 2006 accoladesaccoladesUNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS UAA CULINARY ARTS AND HOSPITALITY FROM THE CHANCELLOR accolades Ford Foundation selects the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University for $1,000,000 grant Recipe for Success After a national competition in undergraduate education that 4 UAA culinary arts program drew more than 675 proposals, the Ford Foundation has selected Dear Friends, a partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University as one of 26 recipients of a $100,000 PROGRESSIVE We are pleased to announce the completion of our first-ever Many of you will consider giving $1,000 each year to grant for projects that promote academic freedom and capital campaign. Thank you to the many donors, both UAA because you are alumni and you know that your gift will constructive dialogue. PROGRAMS corporate and private, for your commitment and support in continue the legacy of excellence at your alma mater. But UAA graduate student Christine Byl receives helping UAA to reach well beyond the $12 million goal. many of you attended other universities. Why should you give distinguished thesis award from Western Special thanks to the two co-chairs of the 50th Anniversary to UAA? Leo Bustad and his wife, Jeanne Davis answer that Association of Graduate Schools Discovery extends mammoth The Western Association of Graduate Schools announced that survival 2,20010 years Campaign, Marc Langland and Leo Bustad. This is a question in three simple words: “We live here.” As well as Christine Byl, a UAA masters degree student, is the winner of its collective celebration. assisting their out-of-state alma maters, they want to help annual Distinguished Thesis Award. This marks the first time an Funds raised will support UAA Programs of young Alaskans to have an opportunity for an excellent Alaska student has received this high honor. Byl’s Master of Fine Distinction, Student Scholarships and Opportunities, Arts in Creative Writing and Literary Arts thesis titled,“Breathing UAA Debate Team travels Under Water: Artist’s Heart, Artist’s Mind” was described by the to international competition Faculty Excellence, and Facilities. The impact of selection committee as “exceptional.” campaign gifts is already being felt by those who live, work, and study on this campus. Students now have UAA Kicks off 1,000 Giving $1,000 the opportunity to apply for newly endowed This sustained annual giving program of at least $1million will 15 fund student, teacher and community programs and scholarships scholarships; faculty can avail themselves of award that will make an immediate and lasting impact on the university. and program opportunities; and soon the entire UAA’s promise, in return for each gift, is a report next year on campus community will have opportunities to gather how your dollars were used and the impact to our students, faculty and programs. Students learn broadcasting skills in the new Alaska Native Science and Engineering through corporate16 partnership Program Building. College of Education receives full While many gifts were important parts of this national accreditation THE UAA COMMUNITY campaign, we find it especially meaningful that it was The University of Alaska Anchorage College of Education’s commitment to excellence in producing quality teachers for our an estate gift (a gift included in a will) that put us nation’s children was recognized in Nov. 2005 when it received over the top. The legacy of that generous bequest, full national accreditation under the performance-oriented Eileen Thompson arranged more than 20 years ago, will live on in the standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Saradell Ard Teacher Education (NCATE). endowed, needs-based scholarship and engineering 18 professorship it created. Similarly, we are planting UAA Accolades seeds today to broaden UAA’s enduring tradition of discovery, education. They want Anchorage to be a great city with a Spring 2006 learning, and achievement. great university providing cultural and intellectual events. Volume 5, Number 1 Supporters of Seawolf Athletics also are making an impact They want UAA’s community campuses throughout Published by the UAA Office of Development on campus. A campaign to raise $1 million to endow student Southcentral to strengthen their regions and to enhance this Editors: Megan Olson, Heather Resz Libby Roderick athletic scholarships is underway. You will find additional Great Land. Graphic Design: David Freeman details about the Seawolf Legacy Campaign inside this Many thanks to all for your ongoing engagement with this Photography: Clark James Mishler, Michael Dinneen Ed and Cathryn20 Rasmuson magazine. vital, growing university. Mort and I are proud to say with all What’s next? We are off to a great start with the 1,000 of you, “We live here.” For more information about stories included SEAWOLF Giving $1,000 campaign. Our goal is to create and maintain a in UAA Accolades, to make a gift to UAA or to order additional copies, please contact: SPORTS base of donors at the $1,000 level, thereby ensuring a sustained $1 million in annual contributions for long-term University Advancement support of student scholarships and programs of excellence. Elaine P. Maimon, PhD University of Alaska Anchorage Cross country teams: 3211 Providence Drive . Anchorage, AK 99508 reaching new heights Chancellor Phone: (907) 786-4847 e-mail: [email protected] 22 On the Cover: University of Alaska Anchorage senior Michelle Stummer. To learn more about UAA, visit www.uaa.alaska.edu Accolades 3 FORFOR Generations of graduates prepare fare around town at a meal in a restaurant anywhere in Alaska and chances are good it was prepared by someone who learned the trade in the University of Alaska Anchorage E Culinary Arts and Hospitality Division. Construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline fueled demand for qualified people to work in the culinary arts, according to Tim Doebler, director of the culinary arts, hospitality, dietetics and nutrition programs at UAA. In 1972, when the program began, it was very much focused on institutional cooking, Doebler said. That changed in 1993 with the opening of the Lucy Cuddy Center dining room. The Renaissance Project renovated UAA’s Lucy Cuddy Center and the Center's Hospitality and Culinary Arts curriculum. Now another major fund-raising campaign will renovate the program’s instructional laboratories. One of the Cuddy Center’s two kitchens will be closed during May 2006 for renovation. Doebler said the two-year long, $300,000 capital fund drive will replace some equipment that has been in use since the program began in 1972. Students in the Culinary Arts program, from left: DeeDee Fowler, Aurora Wilson, Stephane Kendall, Niki Foreman, Ramon Peralta, and Amy Voss. 4 Accolades Accolades 5 “When the student leaves here, the graduate needs to be ready for work,” he said. That means making sure the equipment they are trained on in the Cuddy Center kitchens matches what industry is using. Combined, First National Bank of Alaska, UAA and the culinary arts department raised $300,000. “I can’t say enough good things about First National Bank,” Doebler said. “They want to make sure that the facility is maintained.” Doebler joined the department in September 1986. He had planned to study accounting in college. That’s what his parents had in mind. But his plans changed when a high school teacher noticed his interest in cooking and told him about career options in culinary arts. At the time, the field of culinary arts was a fairly novel career choice, he said. “My mother thought it odd that I would get a degree in cooking,” Doebler said. Left: Stephane Kendall and Pastry Chef Instructor Vern Wolfram decorate a cake. Above: Ixchel Carroll, Amy Voss and Alice Landers, front row, smile for the camera. Middle row is, Rebecca Leslie, Grace Huhndorf and Melissa Magnus. Back row is Mercedes Horton, John Layton, Sonya Irwin, and Niki Foreman. However students find their way into the programs he operates at UAA, many are choosing culinary arts as a second career, Doebler said. The average age of students in the program is 28. Doebler told the story of one man who had always enjoyed cooking and when he retired from Fish and Game, enrolled in UAA’s culinary arts program. Student Jeffrey Hughes called the program one of Alaska’s best-kept secrets. “The distinguished instructors promote a hands-on learning environment that allows each student to develop his or her potential, and exposes students to the many possibilities that exist within the culinary profession,” he said. 6 Accolades Accolades 7 Another group of students comes to the program through culinary Learning hands-on arts programs at Alaska Vocational Technical Center, the Matanuska- The Cuddy Center’s dining room offers service and food equal to any Susitna Borough School District, Kenai Peninsula Borough School fine dining establishment in Anchorage, but under brighter lights. The District and the Anchorage School District’s King Career Center. dining room is open Tuesdays through Fridays for lunch only. High school students in Mat-Su, Kenai and Anchorage districts But in this restaurant the waiter who served the meal and the chef also can earn UAA credits for the class, Doebler said. who prepared it are in class. Industry demand for formally educated culinarians is increasing “This is a service class you are in right now,” Doebler said while across the U.S., he said. sharing a meal at the Cuddy Center with this reporter. “The bakery, Student Dasha King said she continues to benefit from the real- kitchen and this dining room are all instructional laboratories.” world skills she learned at UAA. The idea is that students who complete the two- or four-year "I will always use the techniques they taught me," she said.