UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

The 'University of Alaska Fairbanks', located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the second largest campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as 'UAF'.
UAF is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, as well as participating in the sun-grant program through Oregon State University. It is also the site where the Alaska Constitution was signed in 1956. UAF was established in 1917 as the 'Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines', first opening for classes in 1922.
UAF is home to seven major research units: the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station; the Geophysical Institute, which operates the Poker Flat Research Range; the International Arctic Research Center; the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center; the Institute of Arctic Biology; the Institute of Marine Science; and the Institute of Northern Engineering. Located just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the Fairbanks campus's unique location is situated favorably for Arctic and northern research. The campus's several lines of research are renowned worldwide, most notably in Arctic biology, Arctic engineering, geophysics, supercomputing, and aboriginal studies. The University of Alaska Museum of the North is also on the Fairbanks campus.
In addition to the Fairbanks campus, UAF encompasses seven rural and urban campuses: Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham; Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue; Interior-Aleutians Campus, which covers both the Aleutian Islands and the Interior; Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel; Northwest Campus in Nome; and the Tanana Valley Campus in Fairbanks, UAF's community college arm. Fairbanks is also the home of the UAF Center for Distance Education, an independent learning and distance delivery program.
In fall 2006, UAF enrolled 9,681 students, of which 59 percent were female and 41 percent male; 89 percent were undergraduates and 11 percent graduate students.

Contents

History

Founding

Significant events

Academics

Schools and colleges

Libraries

Athletics

Publishing

Arts

Notes

See also

External links

History

Founding

The University of Alaska was established in 1917 as a college, but its origins lie in the creation in 1906 of a federal agricultural experiment station in Fairbanks, the sixth in Alaska. The station set the tone for the university that developed later, which is strongly research-oriented. In 1915, the U.S. Congress approved funds to establish a school of higher education and transferred land from the station for the purpose. The federal land grant was accepted by Territorial Governor John Strong in 1917. The new institution was established as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines in 1922, offering 16 classes to a student body of six (at a ratio of one faculty member per student). In 1923 the first commencement produced one graduate, John Sexton Shanly.
In 1931, the rest of the Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station was transferred to the college, and the Alaska Territorial Legislature changed the name in 1935 to the University of Alaska. As the university began to expand throughout the state, the Fairbanks campus became known as the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1975; the two other primary UA institutions are the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.

Significant events

The Alaska Constitutional Convention was held on the university campus in November 1955.

Academics

Schools and colleges

UAF has nine academic schools and colleges:

★ the College of Engineering and Mines

★ the College of Liberal Arts

★ the College of Natural Science and Mathematics

★ the College of Rural and Community Development

★ the School of Education

★ the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

★ the School of Management

★ the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences

★ Graduate School
Students can choose from more than 160 degrees and 20 certificates in more than 100 disciplines.

Libraries

★ Elmer E. Rasmuson Library
:—The Alaska Film Archives, housed in the Alaska and Polar Regions section of the Rasmuson Library, hold the largest collection of film-related material about Alaska.
:—BioSciences Library (physically housed in the Institute of Arctic Biology, but administratively part of the Rasmuson Library)

★ Keith B. Mather Library (housed in the International Arctic Research Center)

Athletics

University of Alaska Fairbanks sports teams are the Alaska Nanooks, derived from the Inupiaq "nanuq." The school colors are blue and gold. Alaska Nanooks compete at the NCAA Division I level for hockey and is a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and plays at the 4,500 seat Carlson Center located in Downtown Fairbanks. Alaska Nanooks also have a Division I rifle team which has won nine NCAA National Rifle Championships (1994, 1999-2004, 2006-2007). The men's and women's basketball, cross country running and skiing, and women's volleyball teams are Division II members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the women's swim team is a member of the Pacific Coast Conference. Partly due to their isolation from the lower 48 and lack of dome, they do not currently have a football program.

Publishing

There are several book publishers at UAF, including the University of Alaska Press, the Alaska Native Language Center, Alaska Sea Grant, the University of Alaska Museum of the North, Cooperative Extension Service, and the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. The University of Alaska Foundation also publishes books.
Magazines include ''Agroborealis''^[1], a twice-annual produced by the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences; ''Challenges in Science and Engineering''^[2], an annual produced by the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center; ''Ice Box''^[3], the UAF student literary magazine; and ''Permafrost''^[4], the UAF English department's literary magazine. The alumni magazine, a quarterly, is the ''Alumnus''.
The student newspaper is the ''Sun Star''^[5], a merger of the ''Polar Star'', an independent student paper, and the ''Northern Sun'', the journalism department's student newspaper.

Arts

The university hosts a Fine Arts complex, one room of which is named after long-time local chorister Eva McGown. The art department has a gallery, the UAF Art Gallery, which is used for student art shows, BFA and MFA thesis shows, and (occasionally) combined faculty shows. The complex includes two theatres, the Charles W. Davis Concert Hall and the Lee Salisbury Theatre.
As well as art, UAF offers MFA degrees in music and creative writing. The creative writing program is run by the English Department [1], and offers courses in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. Currently, faculty include Gerri Brightwell (fiction), Derick Burleson (poetry), David Crouse (fiction), Len Kamerling(film/dramatic writing), and Amber Flora Thomas (poetry).

Notes

1. ''Agroborealis'' official site
2. ''Challenges'' official site
3. ''Ice Box'' official site
4. ''Permafrost'' official site
5. ''Sun Star'' official site

See also

★ Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks

External links

★ Official website

★ Nanook Athletics

★ University of Alaska Museum of the North