dave Davis / NL Students and student leaders meet with applicant Susan Kelly, March 9. Topics discussed included the budget and tuition increases. The Chancellor Search Committee will submit a recommendation to university president, Mark Hamilton.   bob martinson / NL The Chancellor Search Committee is hosting open forums with each of the chancellor applicants so students can ask questions.

Chancellor candidates cruise campus

By Tara Sims
Special to the Northern Light

The Chancellor Search Committee has narrowed the candidates to four individuals who have passed two stages of screening, interviewed by telephone and will now undergo on-campus interviews.

Each candidate visits the University of Alaska Anchorage for a busy two-day stay, which gives students, staff and the community a chance to meet them.

The first two candidates, Susan Kelly and Judith Ramaley, found they had a full schedule as they rushed from one event to the next during their visit. Kelly visited March 8-9 and Ramaley visited March 10-11, giving both of them their first Alaska experience.

“I’m not sure which is better: the wonderful way people act with each other and a newcomer or just the fact that it’s a place I’ve never been and always wondered about and it’s nice to see it for myself,” Ramaley said.

Kelly said the key component is UAA’s future.

“I really like the city, the people and the physical surrounding,” Kelly said.

dave Davis / NL The first of four chancellor considerations, Susan Kelly, who hails from Australia, met with students in the Administration Building March 9. Two more applicants will visit campus the week of March 15.   getting to know the candidates.... Susan Kelly What was/were your major(s) and/or minor(s)? Double major: psychology and English literature. Why did you choose them? My passion was/is applied psychology and I wanted to be able to work in that area–as I did for 19 years in one form or another. I chose English literature as my other major because it gave me a second string to my ‘vocational bow.’ I figured I could always get work as an English teacher and it turned out to be true. I do still love Shakespeare so it was a good fit with my interests as well. What was your favorite college class? Why? Philosophy 101–it just changed the way I saw everything. It was very liberating. Also, economic history–it combined two of my great interests and gave me a real foundation for understanding the world today. What advice do you have for college students? Hang in there. It’s worth it. Make time for other non-study activities, especially friends. Get involved in student politics. Really work to make a difference. Eat less pizza and get more sleep, but that’s the mother in me speaking. What is your favorite… Book? When I was in my twenties it was “The Lord of the Rings.” But my favorite works of fiction in recent years have been “The Shipping News” by Annie E. Proulx and “Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stegner. The non-fiction book I draw on most is Steven Covey’s “Principle Centered Leadership.” Magazine? I read so many. I read “Psychology Today” from cover to cover, enjoy “The Smithsonian Magazine,” “Oprah,” “Mother Jones,” “National Geographic,” “Australian Geographic,” “Ireland of the Welcomes” and a few more. Website? BBC online Actor and/or Actress? Brian Dennehy and Susan Sarandon Type of Music/Artist? I’m an unrepentant Rolling Stones fan. But I also enjoy Gordon Lightfoot, Enya, Men at Work, the Beatles and Mozart. Dessert? Rich chocolate soufflé with fresh cream. Food? Fresh Italian, Lebanese, Greek and Spanish. Restaurant? In Milwaukee; Café Siciliano. In Melbourne; Walter’s on the Yarra River. But I really enjoyed Orso’s in Anchorage. Hobby/Hobbies? Travel, gardening, spending time with my twin daughters, reading magazines and more travel.   bob martinson / NL Chancellor candidate Judith Ramaley, currently employed by George Washington University, answers questions at an open forum held March 11.   getting to know the candidates.... Judith Ramaley What was your major? Zoology, with a minor in psychology. Why did you choose them? I have always been fascinated by human nature and natural history. What was your favorite college class? Why? Fine Arts–the instructor loved the subject and made it come alive for the class. What advice do you have for college students? Take as much advantage as you can for the time you have for your education–what you are really doing is learning how to keep on learning for a lifetime What is your favorite… Book? Too hard to choose–what ever I am reading at the moment. I read about science and history. I also like … good contemporary fiction. Right now, I am reading “The Piano Tuner” by Daniel Mason. Magazine? “American Scholar” Website? www.weather.com Actor and/or Actress? Katherine Hepburn in “The African Queen.” Type of Music/Artist? Chamber music. Dessert? Anything with chocolate in it. Food? Fresh fruit. Restaurant? Seafood restaurants. Hobby/Hobbies? Bird watching, singing.

Each candidate had her own reasons for applying to the university chancellor position.

Kelly liked that UAA is the biggest in-state university and in Alaska’s largest population center, yet also had a community college origin. She compared Alaska to her home in Australia.

“(They are both) a very large land mass with a relatively small number of people who have to be more adventurous,” Kelly said.

While Kelly found advertisements for the chancellor position through online newspapers, Ramaley received an anonymous nomination for the position. She was attracted to UAA because of the school’s mission and fresh outlook.

“This institution wants to be an engaged university, meaning it really wants the work of its faculty, students and staff to be a value to the community and to advance the interests of the community while building the institution and its capacity at the same time,” Ramaley said.

Both future-focused candidates offered ideas to help UAA overcome recent obstacles such as the budget cut.

“It would be important to employ the three R’s…revenue, redesign and cost reduction,” Ramaley said.

UAA can diversify revenues and design new ways to research and deliver instruction that is cost effective. The university can reduce expenditure as well.

“What you don’t want to do when you have a series of difficult years is to just squeeze across all units and take over percentage cuts. You have to think about what’s important to your future,” Ramaley said.

Kelly said she has aided three organizations out of budget cut problems and sees UAA’s difficulties as fixable. She wants to expand the number of international students by using graduate programs that appeal worldwide as well as strengthening summer programs to increase revenue.

“Just slashing and burning and cutting costs does (not do) anything other than lower morale,” Kelly said. “It’s much better that the university grow its way out of the problems.”

Both candidates said UAA is not the only school with a rise in tuition; it is taking place across the country.

“The cost of delivering the educational services is going up most especially because the cost of technology goes up,” Kelly said. “The chance of (tuition) going down … is next to zero. The chances of it staying about the same for a while very much depend on things like whether there’s a state income tax, whether there’s a sales tax and whether money can be found from other sources.”

These sources include community and alumni gifts, grants and gifts from federal sources and the growth of out-of-state and out-of-country students, which will put less pressure on tuition being a main source of income.

“I think the fact that tuition is low by national standards is a reflection of the university’s understanding of the need to students for it to be low,” Kelly added.

Due to budget cuts, Ramaley said, many institutions are increasing tuition but also trying to find a cure. Some approaches she suggests include: fundraising, blending education and work so that students can support themselves in college, making financial planning assistants available to students and allot a specific amount of revenue from tuition increases to allow the campus more financial flexibility.

“You just don’t increase tuition,” Ramaley said. “You think a lot about what effect it has on the students.”

Kelly looks at the already strong research record of our university and sees it continuing. Graduate programs could strengthen and become known for intensive summer programs. She also sees a lot of growth with the university’s partnerships with alumni, the legislature and colleges worldwide, as well as the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Ramaley said UAA is becoming a very exciting place because it’s an engaged institution, which is developing its curriculum, research mission and new partnerships.

“I see it, in the next five years, becoming a real model of an institution that addresses community and develops knowledge that supports community needs that others will begin to develop and learn from,” Ramaley said. “It will change people’s ideas of what’s possible at a university.”

The candidates believe communication will be very important for the future chancellor.

Working with government representatives is important to Ramaley as well as having formal gatherings with staff, students and community members. She said she loves to teach and hopes to do so at UAA not only in her own classes, but also as a guest speaker so she will have more opportunities to interact with students.

“A university doesn’t exist as a bunch of buildings, it’s a network of people,” Ramaley said.

Kelly too supports communication through face-to-face contact with not only UAA, but also with the connecting campuses. She favors setting up forums with students, regular meetings with the faculty and staff departments and creating events to interact with alumni. She believes using the student newspaper to address students and answering e-mails will help her connect to the campus.

“It’s hard to imagine a very successful university that is alienated from its students,” Kelly said.

The two remaining candidates, Elaine Maimon, Ph.D., and Herman Lujan, Ph.D., will soon make their visits to UAA.

Maimon will be on campus March 15-16. She is currently provost and chief campus executive officer at Arizona State University West.

Lujan, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at California State University in Los Angeles, will visit March 18-19.

During their stay, all of the candidates tour UAA and visit either the Mat-Su or Kenai Community Colleges. In addition they have four set forums; one each for staff, faculty and the community, and an open forum for students. Through the information collected at these forums the search committee will make its final recommendation to President Mark Hamilton who, with the approval of the Board of Regents, will select UAA’s next chancellor.

‘Just slashing and burning and cutting costs does (not do) anything other than lower moral. It’s much better that the university, grow its way out of the problems.’

Chancellor candidate Susan Kelly, Ph.D.

‘You just don’t increase tuition. You think a lot about what effect it has on the students.’

Chancellor candidate Judith Ramaley, Ph.D.