UAF Alumni Association

Mark your calendar for an exciting event at the University of Alaska Fairbanks!

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will join us for a free evening conversation on Tuesday, July 14 at 7 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall.

Hosted by longtime Alaska radio journalist Robert Hannon, this is a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the nation’s highest judicial leaders right here in Fairbanks.

▪️Tickets are required and expected to go fast
▪️Reservations open June 15 at 10 a.m. through UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning.
▪️Advance registration, ID matching, and security screening required (no bags permitted)

Don't miss this unforgettable event!

Sunshine, flowers and 70 degrees in Fairbanks? We’re soaking up every minute of it!

It’s flower planting day at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and our Alumni Relations Storytelling Manager, Katie Straub, is hard at work making the flowerbed in front of our building look beautiful.

Campus is blooming, spirits are high, and this magnificent Alaska summer day is one to celebrate!

Live streaming update for tonight's UAF Legacy Lecture. No livestream will be available tonight. Please plan to attend in person or watch the recording when it's available in approximately two weeks.

An Evening with Lenny Kamerling, Monday, June 1 at 7pm, your attendance is requested in the University of Alaska Museum of the North Auditorium on UAF Campus. We will be honoring distinguished alumni Lenny Kamerling, with a reception to follow.

The Legacy Lecture and all our other free events will be livestreamed at uaf.edu/summer/events/upcoming.php

Leonard ‘ Lenny’ Kamerling, a native New Yorker whose father was a film distributor and whose mother was an artist, came to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer in the 1960s. He spent his first year in a Yup’ik village in southwest Alaska, where he made his first Alaskan film, People of Tununak. Teaming up with Sarah Elder, they developed a style of ethnographic filmmaking that emphasized collaboration with the Alaska Native villagers who were the subjects of their films, beginning with A Time of Whaling. Over the course of 50 years of service to the University, he became a creative force within our community, the state, and nationally and internationally. After completing his MFA, he taught English courses focused on film writing, as well as courses in anthropological and ethnographic film production, documentary journalism, and education. In 2005, he received the College of Liberal Arts Excellence in Teaching Award. From 1990 to 2020, Lenny served as Curator of Film for the University of Alaska Museum of the North. An award-winning cinematographer, he crafted some of the most powerful documentary films about Alaska Native culture. His best-known film, The Drums of Winter, is included in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, and twenty-two of his films have received international distribution. Not limited to Alaskan subjects, he also has a long-standing interest in Japanese culture, which resulted in his 1998 film Heart of the Country, as well as media production for the National Museum of Japanese History. In more recent years, he collaborated with Peter Biella on several films documenting Maasai family life and culture in Tanzania. Chenga Revisited examines the life of a Maasai tribesman over the course of 30 years. Lenny was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to Norway in 2018–2019 at the University of Tromsø, where he continues to serve as a guest lecturer and film supervisor in visual anthropology. In 2020, upon his retirement from the University, he was honored as Professor of English and Curator of Film, Emeritus.

Please join us in welcoming UAF alum Dr. Larry Hinzman ’90 as the new interim chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, effective May 31, 2026.

Dr. Hinzman, a former UAF vice chancellor for research, currently serves as director of the UA Arctic Leadership Initiative, where he coordinates the initiative’s design and implementation across the UA system.

We thank Dr. Hinzman for stepping into this important leadership role through Sept. 8, 2026, when Chancellor-designate Colonel Russell “Russ” Vander Lugt, Ph.D., begins his tenure as UAF chancellor.

Please join us in thanking Mike Sfraga for his leadership and service to the University of Alaska Fairbanks during this year of transition.

A proud UAF alumnus and longtime member of the Nanook family, Ambassador Sfraga returned last fall to guide the university with steady leadership and deep institutional knowledge following a distinguished 31-year career as a faculty member and administrator.

We’re grateful for his support of UAF alumni activities and pleased he will continue to serve the UA and UAF community in an advisory role focused on Arctic and national security strategies.

Thank you, Mike, and best wishes in your next chapter. Go Nooks!!!

Today is Ice Cream Thursday on the UAF Troth Yeddah' campus! UAF Student Support Services will be scooping from Noon to 2 p.m. in front of UAF Wood Center. Stop by for a sweet treat - $1 per scoop.

We are very excited to announce that UAF alum Colonel Russell “Russ” Vander Lugt, Ph.D., has been selected to serve as the next chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Chancellor-designate Vander Lugt will begin leading Alaska’s flagship university on Sept. 8.

Until then, UAF alum Dr. Larry Hinzman, current director of the UA Arctic Leadership Initiative, will serve as interim chancellor. We look forward to this exciting new chapter for UAF!

Monday, June 1, 2026 at 7 pm
Join veteran journalist Robert Hannon for the 2026 Legacy Lecture featuring Leonard “Lenny” Kamerling — award-winning filmmaker, educator, and UAF alum whose 50-year career helped preserve and share Alaska Native stories with the world. From The Drums of Winter to international collaborations across Japan, Tanzania, and Norway, Lenny’s impact on film, culture, and education is extraordinary. Reception to follow.

The lecture will be livestreamed on the Summer Sessions event page and will be available later on their YouTube Channel.

Presented by Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning in cooperation with the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

Class of 2026: It's Your Moment!
Commencement is finally here this Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m. The UAF Alumni Association is incredibly proud of everything you’ve achieved, and we can’t wait to officially welcome you into the forever family of Nanooks.

Whether you're walking across the stage at the Carlson Center or cheering from afar, remember that you’ll always have a home here at UAF. Go Nooks!

Travel to the Arctic this summer! UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning is offering four exciting opportunities to visit the Arctic this summer. Choose between four field courses at Toolik Field Station, 170 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Whether you’re a bird lover, artist, rock hound, or natural history enthusiast, there’s a trip for you to Toolik this summer. Register opens today, Friday, 12/12 at 10 a.m. Classes fill quickly, so don't wait to save your spot.
https://www.uaf.edu/summer/travel/upcoming.php
Photo provided by UAF Summer Sessions & Lifelong Learning. Students gather around Klara Maisch during an art class at Toolik Field Station in 2024.