By Ellie Ruel

Summit, the UAS academic research journal, will officially launch Thursday, April 17, in Egan Library. The event will include guest speakers and student essay readings.

This is the journal’s sixth edition, and the fourth one to be physically printed. Summit was created by former Writing Specialist Allison Neeland, with Writing Center student tutors producing and editing student submissions. Current Writing Specialist Jessy Goodman said submissions can be any academic (not creative) piece written for spring, summer, or fall semester classes at UAS. 

Summit receives about 15-20 submissions per year. Each paper is evaluated and scored by a faculty panel and often student judges. This year’s panel was solely professors from the Juneau and Ketchikan campuses: Heather Batchelder, Education; Melissa Dolese, Psychology; Geoff Kirsch, English; Sarah Niecko, Behavioral Health; and James Ryan, Writing and Communication on the Ketchikan campus. Writing Center student tutors say most of their work comes after judges make their selections.

“The editorial process considers all kinds of formatting, grammar check, and other decision-making processes that make sure the author’s pieces look good in print,” said Madelynne Brehmer, a Writing Center tutor and Outdoor Studies major from Fairbanks. 

Ian Jensen is also a Writing Center tutor, who is majoring in English literature. In an email to Whalesong, he noted that while tutors do a portion of the editing, they want to maintain the integrity of the piece.

“Writing Center tutors handle minor copy edits, focusing on punctuation, verb tense, and other small changes. We want the work that is presented in the journal to be as close to the students’ original work as possible,” Jensen said.

All of the tutors expressed enthusiasm about the journal’s content this year. In an email to Whalesong, English major Sophia Gimm said the breadth of topics and their connections to each other were notable. 

“My favorite part of putting Summit together is seeing the connections between each paper, no matter how small–it’s amazing to see students coming together to share what is important to them, and the topics are often related in some way,” she said.

Gimm said some of this year’s journal submissions have thematic connections. 

“I see a trend this year regarding environmental activism and spreading awareness about mental health. Summit writers (in my observation) are a passionate group of students that are typically more science-oriented in their studies. That’s not to take away from our amazing English students who have carved their place in the journal as well,” she wrote.

Jensen said Summit provides a place for the university to encourage “open discourse in turbulent times.”

Goodman said the breadth of topics covered is unique to the university.

“There aren’t a lot of journals where you will find anything from literary analyses to marine biology papers and everything in between,” she said. “I learn so much for our students, and I get to know new ones through their work if I haven’t already met them in the Writing Center.”

She encourages all students to submit to Summit, no matter what education path they’re on. As long as the work was written for a UAS class, the Writing Center will consider it for publication.

“If a student is writing a paper for a class, any class, we would love to consider it for publication–even if the student writer doesn’t think it’s a typical topic that readers would be interested in. Our judges love to see new perspectives on all kinds of topics, and we’d like to honor the many different paths of education UAS students pursue,” Goodman said. 

The journal is a great way for undergraduates to get their work published, according to tutors and Goodman. 

For the tutors, the most satisfying part of the publication is seeing everything come together after months of collaboration. Brehmer noted the community aspect of the process.

“I love seeing everything come together during the last stages. The launch is such a great community event and a real beautiful experience to get introduced into the publishing world–not to mention how satisfying it is to see everything laid out before publishing,” Brehmer said.

The 2025 UAS Summit will be unveiled in the meeting area of the lower floor of Egan Library at 5 p.m., April 17.