Cold Wind, Overlapping Roles, University Boosters Caucus, Blogging

I saw on BASIS that the new UAA Chancellor Tom Case was going to be in Juneau today.

(S)UNIVERSITY BOOSTERS CAUCUS OTHER COMMITTEE *
Feb 28 Monday 4:00 PM CAPITOL 106
Special Legislative Briefing:
Welcoming Chancellor Brian Rogers of UAF,
Outgoing Chancellor Fran Ulmer and Incoming
Chancellor Tom Case of UAA, and Chancellor
John Pugh of UAS
Final Update from Chancellor Ulmer and
Celebration of her Career in Public Service

Being a blogger sometimes puts me in conflict with other roles I have.  With my children, it's clear.  They are mentioned only when necessary, not by name, briefly, and if more than that, with their permission.   But I've been blogging about the UAA chancellor search that picked Tom Case.  As a former faculty member at UAA who served under then Dean Tom Case, I was in a potentially awkward position.  I didn't hesitate to identify my relationship with Case and the fact that my experience suggested his integrity was not something I questioned.  But I hadn't talked to him since last March (or April)  and I did feel the need to talk to him about all this.



So, I took off into the piercing downtown Juneau wind - it got colder and windier since I posted the video of Saturday's wind.  But whatever loose snow there was to make that Saturday video convincing has been blown away.  Sunday we were going to walk the seven or eight blocks to the Nickelodeon to the see the Academy Award nominated animated shorts, and the wind was so strong, we turned back and drove.  It wasn't as bad today, but it still is a factor to calculate as you take each step.   



I did get to see Tom Case and we did get to spend some 'quality time' together and affirm our respect for each other and I got to identify my concerns - which he indicated he'd already read.  I don't think there is much to blog about here.  I did say I was talking to him in various capacities.  More it was a private checking-in between two people who haven't talked for a while and making sure we were both still ok with things.  I know he learned a lot as dean and I know that he was already more sensitive to academic culture than President Gamble has so far proven to be.  He also assured me that President Gamble has learned a lot in the last month. 

For *Photo Details See Below

The Booster Caucus is basically Senators and Representatives who support the University - mainly from the three main campus sites of Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage.  Today's main activity was to honor outgoing UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer.  Ulmer's career has included being city council member and mayor of Juneau, state legislator from Juneau, Lt. Gov., head of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at UAA, and Chancellor of UAA.  But that's just a list.  She is one extremely smart, efficient, and personable person who has impressed me since I first met her.  If only the world had seen Fran Ulmer as a representative of Alaska instead of a certain former Governor, they would have seen a one of the many extremely talented women leaders whose hard work in support of Alaska has helped make us as good as we are.

You don't have to take my word for this. You can see Ulmer for yourself wearing yet another hat - member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - when she spoke in the Capitol today at lunch.  




*Photo Details:  From right to left - Sen. Linda Menard, UAS Chancellor John Pugh, UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer, UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers, incoming UAA Chancellor Tom Case, Rep. David Guttenberg, and Rep Sharon Cissna

(OK, I had a couple of pictures.  One close and one with more people in it.  The close one wasn't as clearly focused as this one.  So, instead of having two of the same picture, I opted to cut most of the others out so you could see the four chancellors up close.  But, it turned out that Sharon Cissna was on the edge of this.  Since I've done several posts on her this week already, I didn't think I needed her in this one as well.  But cutting her out would have cropped the picture too closely.  Now that I've said all this, I guess I should show you what the original picture looked like before I cropped it.

The extra people on the left (excluding the photographer) are Sen. Joe Thomas and  Rep. Bill Stoltz and on the right side (l-r) Reps. Pete Petersen, Tammie Wilson, Anna Fairclough, and Sen. Johnny Ellis.)