Friday Focus: UAF is vibrant - and that is no accident!
Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management
Sept. 13, 2024
— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management
Over the past couple of weeks, many people have told me that the campus feels more vibrant than they can remember. We have all been seeing this, but when I walked into Arctic Java around lunchtime on Tuesday, it was downright packed! I don’t recall the last time I saw so many gathered in our central oasis of coffee and snacks. It is great to feel the surge of energy that accompanies the start of a new academic year, and it is great that our classrooms and buildings are teeming with the voices, footsteps, and laughter of students returning to UAF. Fall is in the air and we are back!
This is the time when our campus truly comes to life, and it is easy to be reminded of the purpose behind everything we do: building opportunities for our students to explore and thrive. We eagerly anticipate this transformation every year, but it doesn’t happen by chance. This vibrancy is created by those who work hard to ensure that every student feels welcomed each day of their experience with us and beyond. For the new students, this is the work of so many including the result of thousands of admissions phone calls, literally thousands, of advising conversations with students and their families. From the tireless work of our recruiters and advisors to the planning and preparation of our orientation teams, to the warm, supportive presence of Residence Life staff, and the seamless coordination of facilities and grounds teams, it’s clear that UAF is more than just a university — it’s a community. And as a community, we pull together to make this happen.
This year, we have great reason to celebrate; our residence halls have 250 more students compared to last year and total enrollment at the Troth Yeddha’ campus is up almost 5%! This growth is significant, not just as a reflection of numbers, but as a testament to how the community we are creating resonates with students, both current and potential. It’s because of the thoughtful, deliberate, and purposeful work of faculty, staff, and administrators that our campus is a place where students choose to live and learn.
The creation of the UAF student experience is one of the many ways, perhaps it is the most important way, that we are masters of our own destiny. Every day we make choices about the environment we create for our students, and in the investments we make toward our future. Our decisions and actions of the past led directly to the crowd in Arctic Java earlier this week and the general throng of students filling our campus this fall. The growth in our enrollment and in our residence hall occupancy didn’t happen by chance; it was driven by hard work and a shared commitment to building a better future for our students and our institution, and through persistent efforts to make ongoing improvements. Through that same intentionality, we will continue to grow, flourish, and build our future. Our actions today determine the nature of our tomorrow.
Thank you to all those who work each day to make UAF more engaging, more welcoming, more thought-provoking, more challenging, more inclusive, and more fun. Thank you to all those who work hard to make UAF ...UAF!
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of UAF's leadership team every week.