Snow was laid through the streets the night before from downtown Anchorage to the Sullivan Arena for the Ceremonial Start of the 53rd Iditarod on Saturday, March 1.

Out of the 33 teams, an astounding 16 of them are rookies this year. Spectators followed the race down the Chena River along the road system to the town of Nenana, where the racers took their first rest before jumping onto the Tanana River.

“The Last Great Race” is officially into the Alaskan wilderness and on the trails. 

A large group of protestors assembled outside the Fairbanks office of the University of Alaska President Pat Pitney on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in a show of opposition to the university’s decision to scrub all references to diversity, equity, and inclusion on the university’s website and other publications.

A Bering Air flight from Unalakleet to Nome with ten onboard, including the pilot, went missing on Thursday, February 6. The last contact with the plane was at 3:18 pm. Bering Air’s David Olson said the plane is considered missing. The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said they are in active search.

Workers also enter their first full semester under the new labor contract between UAF and the Alaska Graduate Workers’ Association. The contract, which came into effect on July 1, includes pay increases for all Graduate Workers, just-cause employment measures, and other benefits that help guarantee a fair and secure working environment for UA graduate students.

Over the summer, a team of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers arrived in Nome to launch the third year of a study that seeks to study sea ice retreat and chart phytoplankton in the northern Bering Sea. The Arctic Airborne Investigations and Research mission, AIR for short, aims to collect data that, among other research objectives, will help predict harmful algal blooms (HABs for short).

This past month, two long-awaited renovation projects have been completed at UAF: the new Student Success Center on the top floor of the Rasmuson Library and Bartlett Residence Hall. These building updates provide significant improvements for students on campus. I was lucky enough to get a tour of both new spaces, and I’m here to share the details!

On March 29th, the recently established labor union of UA graduate workers, AGWA-UAW, concluded its Strike Authorization Vote. Of 296 votes, 95% voted “yes” to authorize a potential graduate worker strike.

With Fairbanks-area local, Jeff Reid, finishing under the Burled Arch in Nome on March 16th, the 2024 Iditarod is complete with twenty-nine of the original thirty-eight mushers finishing the entire race. This year was an eventful race with more than one record broken, tragic dog deaths on the trail for the first time in years, snowmachine harassment of the mushers, and a competitive race full of veterans and rookies.

Negotiations between university representatives and the graduate student union came screeching to a halt last week when the university canceled two and a half days of bargaining. The university’s decision came after graduate students met with state senators in Juneau on February 20th to discuss the university’s R1 status.

Hoping to get a photo in front of the iconic UAF temperature sign the next time it drops below -40°F? You might have to prepare yourself for a bit of a wait.

With the spring URSA award deadline passing and new awardees being announced, I decided to interview staff and three past URSA awardees about their student research. This article contains student stories of working with URSA, a summary of what URSA does for UAF, and advice for future students that want to participate in URSA in the future.

The UAF AISES Chapter received the Cultural Practice Award during the 46th annual American Indian Science and Engineering Society National Conference in Spokane, WA. The award, the very first given this year, recognizes chapters that demonstrate the use of cultural practices that help students preserve their Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing through chapter meetings and activities.

On November 14th, 2023, around 3:30pm, the fire alarm went off in the Stevens Dorm Hall on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

On Oct. 3, Fairbanks North Star Borough residents voted in favor of Proposition 2, which will exempt some farmers from paying property taxes on their buildings.

We live beside pristine nature and are aware that, by most measures, our state is feeling the effects of global warming four times faster than elsewhere in the world, all while funding this existence by pumping gas and oil. But the first step in addressing these problems is to be informed, so I wanted to share my research regarding our current state of affairs in this petrostate we call home. And between the approval of the Willow Project last spring, followed this fall by reneging of permits and the implementation of protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) this fall, there’s a lot to catch up on.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in charge of issuing permits for roads that cross federal land. That includes the permits for the Ambler Road, a contentious road that will connect a proposed open pit mine in the Ambler Mining District to the Dalton Highway. Since this is a federal process, all U.S. citizens can let their thoughts be known about this road. Click the link below to make your thoughts known to the government before time runs out. The public comment period for this project ends soon, December 22nd, 2023.

After a two-week online voting window, the vote is in: graduate student workers at UA have overwhelmingly voted to form a union. UA Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, Research Fellows, and hourly employees who are students at the graduate level will be represented by AGWA-UAW.

UAF celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 9th, 2023. It is recognized yearly on the second Monday of October as a day to honor Alaska Native people, culture, and knowledge. It was celebrated for the first time at UAF in 2017, after numerous resolutions were made by students, faculty, and staff for the day to be recognized.