Earlier this summer, Interior Alaska wildfires were so widespread, Fairbanks resident Nettie La Belle-Hamer had to prepare a go-box in case the flames encroached too closely on her home.
Navigating the world of Financial Aid can be a daunting task for students of all backgrounds. Staying up to date with available programs and resources is vital in times where the landscape of educational funding is shifting.
As the University of Alaska prepares for the start of the 2025-26 school year, interim chancellors will be at the helm of two of its flagship campuses.
Cheryl Siemers, University of Alaska Anchorage interim chancellor, and Mike Sfraga, University of Alaska Fairbanks interim chancellor, are both looking to the future.
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Fairbanks on Thursday, August 14, in protest of Friday's upcoming visit to Alaska by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The demonstration, marked by music, handmade signs, and passionate people, sent a clear message: these politicians are not welcome in Alaska.
On July 29 at the Experiment Farm, UAF’s Agricultural Institute hosted a field day for the farmers, researchers, and gardeners of the Interior. Despite the pouring rain which continued through most of the day, dozens of people braved the elements to see the various educational talks and discuss agriculture related questions with researchers.
Bagpipes, kilts and cheers filled the air Saturday, Aug. 9, as the Alaska Dog Mushers Association field on Farmers Loop Road hosted the inaugural Midnight Sun Scottish Highland Games.
And just like that, a brand-new year is here at UAF! Whether you’re stepping onto campus for the first time, meeting new friends, finding your way, or you’re returning to UAF, let me be among the first to say, welcome.
Starting your first semester at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is a bit like stepping into a whole new climate – and not just because of the freezing temperatures. UAF is more than a campus; it’s a tight-knit community surrounded by Alaska’s wilderness.
New semester, new professors and a new stack of overpriced textbooks. Let’s be honest, $144+ to rent an eBook for six months? Seriously? It’s not even a physical book. No physical pages to flip through, no highlighting with a real pen, just the privilege of scrolling through a time-limited digital version on your device of choice. Whether that be a laptop, smartphone, or a tablet, each comes with its own set of limitations: eye strain, screen glare, battery limitations, and a general lack of authentic engagement.
On Wednesday, April 9, University of Alaska Fairbanks and wider Fairbanks community members came together for a teach-in and rally in support of Palestinian liberation and the constitutional right to free speech and assembly. The chant “Money for jobs and education, not for bombs and occupation” was one of many chants that could be heard across UAF’s lower Troth Yeddha’ campus.
On March 14, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “EO 14238: Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” This is just one of many executive orders that he’s signed in the past months, but it’s one that needs to be brought to attention. This executive order destroys multiple government agencies, including but not limited to: The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees government-funded news outlets, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services , which funds grants to libraries and museums across the country. This targeted attack on news outlets, libraries and museums is strategic and has the potential to have devastating effects on our communities.
The Alaska Historical Society’s letter to the Board of Regents in response to their diversity action.
The University of Alaska Board of Regents passed a motion on February 21, 2025, to gut the University of Alaska’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Regent Albiona Selimi was the only member of the Board of Regents to show humanity, compassion, and a moral compass by voting no.
TikTok isn’t the real world. Social media isn’t real. If you find yourself scrolling and thinking everyone else has it together, remember most of what you see is staged. Perfectly edited photos. Fake trips. "Curated" lifestyles.
Have you considered studying abroad? The thought may have crossed your mind, but the task seems impossible or too big to accomplish. The UAF Study Away Office is the perfect place to get your foot in the door with any questions you may have. As I tell you about my experiences abroad, don’t be afraid to explore your options and reach out to the UAF Office Study Away with any questions you may have.
In late February, the university walked away from the table and canceled several days of bargaining after UAF students went to Juneau to gain funding for the university’s pursuit of R1 status. Achieving R1 status benefits the university because it attracts more funding. To achieve R1 status, the university must graduate a certain number of PhD students each year. The university is not meeting that number because it struggles to recruit, retain, and support students.
In preparation for fall athletics, University of Alaska Fairbank’s Assistant Cross Country Coach Conrad Haber sat down with The Sun Star to recap the previous season’s highlights and a look at what is to come with this season.
The Nanook den had an intense atmosphere during the men's basketball game on February 20. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks faced the Seattle Pacific University Falcons, who were up with a 10 to 8 score at the start of the game.
On February 22nd, the Nanook’s Women's Basketball team competed against Montana State Billings (MSUB) in an exciting matchup. Prior to the game, a heartfelt ceremony was held to honor the team’s graduating seniors.
Near Nome, Alaska, in the vast arctic landscape of Game Management Area 22, a SuperCub airplane traces the sky. In one of the two seats is Sara Henslee, a UAF Masters student in Wildlife Biology & Conservation. Below her, she sees caribou, ambling bears and of course, her research subject—the wild moose living in the Northwestern part of our state.
On Halloween night, 2003, a young boy named Vincent Ledvina is walking home after a cold midwestern evening of trick-or-treating. He looks up and sees something bright and green shimmering across the sky. “Is that the aurora?” he asks his parents. They aren’t sure. But young Ledvina, having seen the wonders of the upper atmosphere with his own eyes for the first time, is hooked.
Now a second-year Ph.D. student in Space Physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Ledvina studies the aurora borealis. He is working to understand the intricacies of these beautiful—and even life-changing—natural phenomena using both NASA and citizen-sourced data.
Mack Hughes defended his thesis on March 5th, titled “Direct and cascading effects of sea star wasting on rocky intertidal communities.”
In 2013 and 2014, sea star wasting caused a mass mortality event on the coasts from Alaska to Mexico. This phenomenon decimated many populations, affecting twenty species of sea stars.
Lia Ferguson is a third-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction at UAF. Her thesis, a work of prose entitled I’m Riding My Bike in the Dark, is set to be defended this semester. I was lucky enough to talk to Lia recently about her work, writing, and journey to UAF.
Marine Bagnoud is an exchange student from Switzerland studying moose behavior. She is combining her own field data with crowdsourced videos of moose to gain a better understanding of their habits.
Angela Linn defended her Ph.D. dissertation “Preserving Reflections of Ourselves: The Past, Present, and Future of Alaska’s Museums” in October 2023. Read more to learn about her work on the history and future of museums in Alaska.
On Monday, March 20th, 2023, biologist Alex Cornwell successfully defended his M.S. thesis entitled “The role of cystathionine γ-lyase and hydrogen sulfide in glucose transporter GLUT1 expression in macrophages.” His project takes an in-depth look at cellular mechanisms to better understand the role of hydrogen sulfide in immune processes.
We got the chance to sit in on Jessie Christian’s M.S. Thesis defense in Geoscience on Friday morning, February 24th, 2023. Her research project, entitled, “Citizen Science: Shoreline Change Monitoring in Southwest Alaska,” took her to two sites in Dillingham and Chignik Bay where she collected data alongside coastal communities to monitor shoreline erosion and add to our understanding of the effects of climate change.
Akashia Martinez successfully defended her Biological Sciences M.S. thesis titled "Kit-rearing in the far north: Movement behavior and activity patterns of female Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) during the denning season." Her study is part of the Northwest Boreal Forest Lynx Project, which combines efforts here at UAF with research from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife, with the overall goal of providing a better understanding of the relationship between two important species, Canada lynx and their favorite prey, snowshoe hares. Akashia’s impressively thorough work movement behavior and activity pattern of denning mothers provides an important piece of the lynx-research puzzle.
February 16, 2023, Geoscientist Jordan Jenckes successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Variability of Hydrogeochemistry and Chemical Weathering Regimes in High Latitude Glacierized Coastal Catchments.” This is the culmination of four years of research, including field work and data analysis, in the Gulf of Alaska watershed.
Exploring Xochiyolloh Harbison’s thesis exhibition Hysterical and what it has to say about the tampon tax in the United States.
Lauren Sutton is a marine biologist from Washington, who recently defended her Ph.D. Dissertation studying Arctic Epibenthic Communities. She is now a research coordinator at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Homer, Alaska.
When I booked my ticket for “Strike!” at the UAF Salisbury Lab Theater, I promised myself I would not write a review—like everyone else, I'm swamped at this time of year. But I loved it and wanted an excuse to talk to its creator and stage director, Flyn Ludington, about her inspiration.
In a recent KSUA chat with The Sun Star, Todd Johnson, the lead singer of Salem and a documentary filmmaker, shared excitement about bringing his unique mix of music, film, and environmental activism to Fairbanks for a special show at UAF on Wednesday, April 9. A storyteller with a mission, through his work, he uses his platform to bring awareness about the issues that mean the most to him. His latest project, The Risan Project Tour, combines film, music, and a compelling message about climate action.
From February 27 to March 2nd, the Interior Independent Theatre, hosted by The Basement, put on the renowned play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When a Rainbow Is Enuf. The play is a Black theatre piece written by Ntozake Shange, an African American playwright and poet, in 1975. Consisting of twenty to twenty-two poems, For Colored Girls… consists of poetic monologues, choreography with music, and symbolic moments. This is known as a choreopoem. This play became a book by Shange and then a movie re-written, produced, and directed by Tyler Perry in 2010.
How do we wrangle with loss or the breaking apart of something? Dawson Gentleman asks this question over and over in his debut album, Going Nowhere.
With his third album, Just Like You Wanted It, released on February 14, 2025, Casey Smith Project is hitting his stride. The album results from more than a year’s worth of demos, jam sessions, and meticulous attention to the track masters (for a lengthy sit-down with Casey Smith about the album and his tour in Iceland last year, read my two-part interview).
We all know the classic tale of Oz - Dorothy, the Wizard, and the Wicked Witch. But in Wicked, the familiar story is seen through a different lens, delving deeper into the characters' lives we thought we knew.
Daft Punk stopped making music in February of 2021, approximately twenty-eight years after their landmark debut album, Homework (1997). However, their sophomore effort, Discovery (2001), sent them straight into the stratosphere. Appropriately so for a now iconic release, the visual album of Discovery titled Interstella5555: The 5story of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003) was released in a select number of theaters nationwide for one night only.