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Feb. 6, 2024
Daylight 7:29:10

Week 4!

Congratulations! You are doing great. If you’ve been in Alaska lately, you made it through the big freeze of 2024. In Fairbanks, we didn’t set any long-term records, but we sure logged a lot of great images of students in front of the °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ time and temperature sign with temps much colder than 40 below! This was one heck of a cold snap!Ìý

You weathered it just fine. Way to go! Coming through that cold snap into much warmer weather and into the bright sunshine of February is nothing short of transformative. It took some endurance to get through it and each day was a bit of a trial, but the other side is (comparatively) all sunshine and warmth!Ìý

°®ÎÛ´«Ã½ is all about transformative experiences. In fact, a whole bunch of °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ faculty, staff, and students developed a statement to capture our institutional vision. We settled on “Excellence through transformative experiences.â€

There are lots of different kinds of transformative experiences. Some student experiences look like trying ordeals to outsiders. Our student-athletes work amazingly hard at school, travel across the country, compete at the highest levels, and then pop back to Fairbanks, carrying the work of their classes all the while. This takes amazing endurance and determination. Other student experiences involve doing research in far-flung parts of Alaska and the world. Others are working full-time, taking classes and raising a family – all at the same time. Others will have amazing classes, build friendships, and learn lessons that will last a lifetime.

Sometimes it is the little experiences that you don’t expect to remember. As a °®ÎÛ´«Ã½ student many years ago, my roommate and I were residents of 818 Bartlett for two years. We had a lofted bed with a living room setup beneath it with a VCR and TV. It was very posh in a grungy bachelor sort of way. This cold weather reminded me of how a group of us would pile into my friend’s Ford Fiesta and trek through the ice fog down to the Southside Video store on South Cushman. We would pick out too many movies and too much comfort food and make the trip back up to the top floor of the highest tower on the hill. We then piled in and proceeded to eat all of the comfort food and watch way too many movies. It was our version of a ‘home theater.’ It was all overindulgence and it was great. That was my first ‘home’ outside of my childhood home. I learned the joys of entertaining and the joys of shared experiences within the bounds of my own space. I also learned the human limits of Ho-Hos mixed with barbecue potato chips and Dr. Pepper. Seriously. Even more seriously, we were all finding out who we were away from home and family. That was indeed transformative.

Does any of this resonate with you? Are you seeking and finding the transformative experiences you dreamed of?

Have you:

  • Gone for a walk under the night sky

  • Viewed the northern lights ()

  • Tried a new food

  • Joined

  • Said hello to someone new

  • Applied for a

  • Gone to a new event (a lecture, a movie, or a social event on campus)

  • Have you done something nice for yourself or someone else

  • Joined an

  • Found a tutor for a class in which you are struggling

  • Planned new study habits for your coming midtermsÌý

Things to do:Ìý

Each spring, the Student-Faculty Awards Committee solicits nominations for the annual Outstanding Graduating Student Awards to an outstanding graduating woman, man, and non-traditional student. Please submit your nominations!Ìý

  • Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award, Outstanding Bachelor Degree Candidate

  • Joel Wiegert Award, Outstanding Associate Degree Candidate

  • Gray Tilly Memorial Award, Outstanding Graduating Non-Traditional Student

Transformative experiences are a big deal here at UAF. I’m curious to hear about your experiences, the experiences you would like to have, and the experiences you think we should create! Let me know at obguthrie@alaska.edu.

— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management

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°®ÎÛ´«Ã½ is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, educational institution and provider and prohibits illegal discrimination against any individual: .