Explore Southeast: Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me

Who doesn’t love an old school Grey’s Anatomy reference? In our efforts to help prospective students pick, choose, and love UAS, we’re hosting our first annual EXPLORE SOUTHEAST event on April 1st and 2nd, 2016. This event will bring high school seniors from across the country to UAS to experience life in our little corner of the world. The students will stay overnight in the … Continue reading Explore Southeast: Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me

Study Abroad: Parting Words

 

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Brooke Schlipf

Brooke Schlipf is a UAS student headed to Stirling, Scotland through the API program. Brooke is studying biology at UAS.
How do you think studying away from UAS will help you academically?
-I want to try a different educational environment and coursework, and be exposed to a variety of ecological environments as well. I believe both will broaden my knowledge of biology and in particular the area I am not be able to find here at UAS. I hope to find an internship to broaden my work experience. I think with what I learn and comparing my experiences in Alaska to Scotland will make me an overall more-rounded and better biologist.
What are your personal goals?
-I want to grow as a person, and I believe that being immersed in a new culture and seeing how another society works will do that.
Continue reading “Study Abroad: Parting Words”

Funding Available: URECA

BY ANITA PARRISH
For the UAS Whalesong

If you have a research or creative project that you would like to undertake, the Research and Creative Activity Committee (a Faculty Senate subcommittee) has funding of up to $2500 per student to help you design and complete your project with the guidance of a faculty mentor.

Since 2011, URECA has funded 47 student projects that have made positive changes on our campus and in our communities. Did you know that the vegetable oil kiln used to fire  ceramic projects was created by a URECA grantee? Student Boni Parker with guidance from Jeremy Kane brought that project to fruition, and she has since gone on to graduate work, pursuing her passion. Other creative projects have included play performances, large-scale photography exhibits, and literary collaborations between UAS and the Lemon Creek Correctional Facility. Continue reading “Funding Available: URECA”

On Cultural Appropriation

BY KAYLYN HASLUND
For the UAS Whalesong

With Thanksgiving a week past, it might be good to have a little bit of reality check, though it may be unwelcome, in terms of cultural appropriation during the holidays. It’s a tough truth to face, but it’s important to understand what exactly that all means. It’s especially important when we think about where we live and go to school, in a place that is filled with people who are so culturally rich. It is a sociological concept that views the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as negative. Now, it can be confusing, because what necessarily is appropriation and what isn’t?

Continue reading “On Cultural Appropriation”

Gotta Get Down on Friday

BY ALEXA CHERRY
For the UAS Whalesong

On November 6th, I attended First Friday in downtown Juneau for the first time in my almost 4 years of living and going to school here. Since it was my first time, I honestly had no idea what to expect; I knew that it was supposed to be some kind of gallery walk, but that’s hard to form a mental image of when you’ve never actually been on a gallery walk before. In my mind, I was picturing something that was probably more similar to a set from Owen Wilson’s film “Midnight in Paris;” I imagined a sort of promenade down an entirely fictional boulevard downtown, lined with galleries that would have brought some of their best pieces out to display on the sidewalk while people walked along under twinkling lights strung up overhead and sipped wine set out for sampling and murmured appreciatively while being exposed to culture. Continue reading “Gotta Get Down on Friday”

Tidal Echoes: Remember, Remember the 1st of December

BY CHRYSTAL RANDOLPH
For the UAS Whalesong

If you are an artist, poet, or writer currently living in Southeast Alaska, you should consider submitting your work to Tidal Echoes! Tidal Echoes is the region’s literary and arts journal, produced here in Juneau by a team of the University of Alaska Southeast’s students and faculty. The journal showcases and celebrates the talented community of artists and writers living in Southeast; it strives to bring the vision and voice of these storytellers, carvers, photographers, and many more to the page for everyone to experience. Continue reading “Tidal Echoes: Remember, Remember the 1st of December”

“Never Alone:” Cultural Importance

BY KAYLYN HASLUND
For the UAS Whalesong
Continued from Alexa Cherry’s article.

As Lexi has pointed out in her part of this article, the video game, Never Alone: Kisima Ingitchuna, has brought attention to the Iñupiaq community. The game, made by Upper One Games and published by E-Line Media, was made in conjunction with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council. They worked together with elders to make sure that the game actually fit the culture and stories that they were working to give representation to.  Ernestine Hayes, our one campus one book author, headed the panel at “The Making of ‘Never Alone’: Native Voices and New Media Display.”. They skyped with E-Line Media. Continue reading ““Never Alone:” Cultural Importance”

UAS Students Assist with Killer Whale Necropsy

BY ANNELIESE MOLL For the UAS Whalesong On Thursday, November 13, a killer whale was reported to have stranded near Bridget Cove. Several UAS students (Taylor Stumpf, Apple Aldana, Jonna Vachal, Mathew Stevens, Esteban Rivas, Holly Kelchner) were quick to jump at the opportunity to assist with a necropsy early the following morning. After racing the tide, the whale was moved to the NOAA lab … Continue reading UAS Students Assist with Killer Whale Necropsy

Whalefest 2015

BY ANNELIESE MOLL
For the UAS Whalesong

On November 5th, a group of students taking a ‘Discussions in Marine Mammalogy’ class went to Sitka, Alaska, to attend the 19th annual Sitka Whalefest. Unlike other years, the symposium was held on the Sheldon Jackson campus rather than the Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Many UAS students left early for the conference because they had volunteered to mentor a student from Kenai Peninsula College. When they arrived on the 5th, the UAS student mentors were introduced to their mentees and promptly set out on a whale watching tour. On this tour students and other passengers with cameras were urged to take as many fluke pictures as possible so that students could have an opportunity to practice identifying them.

At the symposium the students and their mentees attended talks that ranged from harmful algal blooms, sea ice ecology, whalefalls, bioluminescent jellyfish, to glaciers. Each day of the symposium covered a different section of the ocean. Day one was shallow apex, the second was deep edge, and the final was frozen border. Continue reading “Whalefest 2015”

Don’t be S.A.D.

BY ALEXA CHERRY
For the UAS Whalesong
Starting around this year, if you haven’t already, you may start hearing people talk about “getting sad.” This sounds perfectly normal, especially for the interim between midterms and leading up to finals. But as we descend into the winter months, and especially here in Alaska, the word “sad” might not actually mean what you think it does. The person speaking could actually be referring to the acronym S.A.D., which stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder.
“What the heck is that?” you might ask. Well, S.A.D. is a mood disorder and type of depression that occurs during the same season every year regularly. It tends to begin and end around the same times, making its occurrence fairly easy to predict, if you know that you have it, or are prone to it. In Alaska and the northern hemisphere in general, people are especially susceptible to S.A.D. because of the cold weather and the lack of daylight. Symptoms include depression, a lack of energy and needing/wanting more sleep than usual, irritability, and a change in appetite. Sometimes, you can have or get S.A.D. and not even know it – so, if you’ve been sad and grumpy and extra-sleepy recently, that might be the reason why. Continue reading “Don’t be S.A.D.”