SFOS Newsletter
Fall 2008
Greetings from the Dean
by Denis Wiesenburg, Dean
UAF School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences
The 2008-2009 academic year will be one of significant change for the faculty, students and staff of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. A big change is the addition of seven new faculty, five in Fairbanks and two in Juneau. These new faculty will help us improve and expand our fisheries degrees in both Fairbanks and Juneau and position us as the lead institution in the development of an ocean observing system in Alaska. We will also add five additional faculty members in the coming year.
Besides great people, our school needs quality space to undertake our teaching, research and service missions. We obtained a new teaching laboratory and completed the Vera Alexander Learning Center, a high-tech seminar room and distance learning facility in Fairbanks. And finally, after many years of waiting, the Lena Point Fisheries Facility has been completed in Juneau. We are beginning to move our Juneau faculty into this 30,000 sq. ft. building which is adjacent to NOAA's Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute.
A point of pride for SFOS this past year has been the success of our faculty in securing large programs through the National Science Foundation. We are currently undergoing final design review with NSF for the construction and operation of the Alaska Region Research Vessel. In partnership with the Alaska Ocean Observing System, the Alaska SeaLife Center, and others, we were successful in bringing a NSF-funded Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence to Alaska. We also received an NSF award for $3 million to fund a new Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program on Marine Ecosystem Sustainability. These large, competitive initiatives reflect well on the ability of our faculty to organize major programs and to compete nationally for funding.
Click on the image to download the entire Fall 2008 newsletter as a PDF (2.15MB).
We are proud of the accomplishments of our faculty and students as they work together to gain knowledge and make the discoveries that advance fisheries and marine science in Alaska's waters and oceans around the world. I hope you will enjoy reading about their many accomplishments in this newsletter.
NEWS STORIES
Rural students, oceanographers team up for science
Schoolchildren from a village on the west coast of Alaska are helping University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists learn where young salmon go when they enter the ocean. Read more....
SFOS introduces seven new faculty
Read more....
STANDOUTS Faculty and Staff News...
Featured faculty
Ginny Eckert, Fisheries Division, Juneau
Generosity's ripple effect
by Theresa Thompson, SFOS Developement Officer
SPOTLIGHT
Marine Advisory Program
by Paula Cullenburg, MAP leader and Sea Grant Interim Director
COSEE comes to Alaska
Thanks to a $2.5 million grant from NSF, Alaska will be getting its own Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence.
Read more...
Featured Photo courtesy Peter-John Hulson
FEATURED STUDENT
Kevin Fraley, B.S. Fisheries
STANDOUTS
Student News...
Congratulations to our Summer Graduates!
Alumni News
Where are they now?...
FEATURED PHOTO
by Peter-John Hulson
This photo was taken prior to the Sitka Pacific herring fishery in 2007.