Friday Focus: Welcome back, Nanooks
Aug. 29, 2025
Last Friday, I stepped onto the stage of the Davis Concert Hall to address a sea of participants in our new student orientation; I looked out at hundreds of students — and family members — as they began their collegiate journey. As I said repeatedly during my comments, “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Our students are here. Our faculty have returned. Our staff worked hard and should be celebrated for all they have done to ensure the semester is off to a great start. Now we have quickly shifted our focus and efforts to the success of our students — inside and outside the classroom.
I was the first person in my family to attend college. When I arrived at UAF as an undergraduate, I needed more support than most to navigate the ins and outs of campus life. I also needed the generous, and nearly endless, academic support of faculty and advisors. Then as now, supporting student success, and having some of the best faculty, staff and researchers in the world, is part of our DNA — it’s who we are.
It’s also why I know this: After more than 100 years, UAF is a university whose time is now.
For over a century, our territory, our state and the communities we serve have helped build America’s Arctic University. Today, UAF is well-positioned to inform, influence and advance Alaska’s role in the new, global Arctic. We are also well-positioned to advance our nation’s interests and place in the region. Our time is now.
Although Alaska has a central role in an ever-evolving Arctic, this global perspective and position is only possible if we remain focused on our core mission: to educate and serve the citizens of our state — no matter their goals, aspirations or location.
UAF is a unique, dynamic and expansive institution of learning, exploration, innovation, research, and adventure. It’s my job, my mission, my passion to help our university build on our current capabilities so that we are in the best position possible to fulfill our responsibilities to those we serve.
I am so happy to be back home at UAF and to learn and experience all you have collectively achieved. In the last decade, you have faced financial uncertainties and made difficult decisions to ensure our institution is in the best position possible, navigated a global pandemic that forced tectonic shifts in the way instruction is delivered and received, and will again be asked to work through the current state of federal financial uncertainty. Yet through past and current challenges, you — our faculty, staff, and students — continue to build and innovate as only Alaskans can. And because of your hard work and dedication, we will be in a better position to meet future challenges and opportunities.
Thank you for playing crucial roles in this great university. I look forward to being a part of your team, your work, and your vision as we continue to build an institution that reflects, in spirit and purpose, our state’s motto: North to the Future.
I look forward to seeing you and sharing more of my priorities for UAF at convocation on Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall.
Until then, welcome back, and enjoy the Labor Day holiday.
-- Mike