Friday Focus: Bright start to 2025
Julie Queen, vice chancellor for administrative services
Jan. 24, 2025
— By Julie Queen, vice chancellor for administrative services
Happy New Year and happy new spring semester! Although the Arctic chill could arrive again at any time, the warm weather and beautiful snowy conditions are making our entry into 2025 one for the books. I hope everyone was able to enjoy a restful winter break and return ready to hit the ground running. It is always a pleasure to see students returning to campus, eager to make a final push through to May’s graduation celebration.
Earlier this month, the chancellor and core cabinet members were able to welcome a new group of UAF staff council representatives. It is always a worthwhile experience to hear a Robert’s Rules of Order tutorial from Staff Council President, Derek Bastille, and meet the new reps. I am so impressed that this team of representatives is so engaged and optimistic about UAF’s future, and is actively thinking about how best to contribute. Getting to know each other and creating a forum for dialogue about what staff care about will help our leadership team make informed decisions with those (and more) important perspectives represented. Thank you so much for your service, and I look forward to working with you.
For those interested in more professional development opportunities in 2025, I am proud to sponsor another series of leadership courses. In partnership with Cordis Enterprises, Administrative Services is providing three Leading at Level courses. The courses - Leading Others, Leading Other Leaders, and Influence Leaders - are open to front-line supervisors, people who supervise other supervisors, and for subject matter experts, research or technical leaders who have leadership components of their roles. This is open to all staff and faculty and is a great way to get engaged with a small cohort of UAF peers in similar roles across our campuses. Don’t delay! Applications for this program are due by today, January 24; please to apply. To help make these courses more accessible, 50% of the program fee for UAF units will be covered by Administrative Services. Another great way to start a new year - by making time to grow professionally, meet new people, and learn something new!
Building on bright beginnings in 2025, this week is also the start of the in Juneau, Alaska. So far, the university’s budget is in a strong starting position for fiscal year FY26, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves to advocate for UAF’s priority areas, showcasing how much the university contributes to Alaska’s students, employers and communities. UAF’s requests under consideration by the legislature and Governor this year are focused on: supporting UA employees with competitive compensation; encouraging new student enrollment, student retention, and improving graduation rates; research; athletics; improving public safety; technology enhancements; addressing fixed costs and facilities modernization; supporting UAF’s Research/Vessel Sikuliaq at its home port in Seward, Alaska; and contributing to Alaska’s workforce and innovation in key industry areas like drones, energy, and agriculture. These requests are forward focused and build on a series of UAF actions to remove or renovate obsolete facilities, streamline business processes for students and employees (making it easier to enroll at UAF or support students and research activities at UAF), and generating additional revenues to support a more modern and transformative student experience. I encourage you to learn more about these UAF initiatives and be part of the process in the coming months. UAF advocacy resources will be added to the chancellor’s website as the session progresses, and university-wide advocacy materials are .
What a great time to be part of an organization that has so much positive impact in Alaska, and beyond. I wish you the best in 2025 - welcome back, Nanooks!
Friday Focus is written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week.