Faculty

 Directors

Brandon Boylan, Ph.D.

Brandon Boylan, Ph.D.

Director of Arctic and Northern Studies

Professor of Political Science

GRUE 613 B

Courses taught by Dr. Boylan:

  • ACNS 601 - Research Methods/Sources in the North
  • ACNS 652 - International Relations of the North
Dr. Boylan advises the M.A. and Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. programs.

 

Tyler Kirk, Ph.D.

Tyler Kirk, Ph.D.

Assistant Director of Arctic and Northern Studies

Assistant Professor of History

Courses taught by Dr. Kirk:

  • HIST 102 Western Civilization Since 1500
  • HST 316 Europe since 1945
  • HIST 434 Topics in History
  • HIST 464 Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia
  • HIST 600 Perspectives on the North
Dr. Kirk advises the B.A. and Graduate Certificate programs.

View Curriculum Vitae

 

  

 Affiliated Faculty

 

Walkie Charles, Ph.D.

Walkie Charles, Ph.D.

Director of Alaska Native Language Center

Associate Professor of Yup'ik

Courses taught:

  • Yup'ik 101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 415

Research specialties and interests: 

Dynamic Assessment, Sociocultural Theory, Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Pedagogy, Second/Foreign Language Assessment (Classroom-based assessment), Theories of Second Language Acquisition, Indigenous Knowledges

 

Daryl Farmer, Ph.D.

Daryl Farmer, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of English

Courses taught:

  • Intermediate Fiction and Nonfiction Writing
  • Introduction to Creative Writing
  • Nature and Travel Writing
  • Graduate Writing Workshops
  • Forms of Nonfiction

Research specialties and interests:

Nonfiction and fiction writing and Literature of the US West.

John Heaton, Ph.D.

John Heaton, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Courses taught:

  • History of Alaska Natives
  • American Film history

Research specialties and interests:

Native American economics and culture, Native American history

Eric Heyne, Ph.D.

Eric Heyne, Ph.D.

Professor of English

Courses taught:

  • Alaskan and Northern Canadian Literature
  • Images of the North

Research specialities and interests:

Alaskan and northern Canadian literature, American literature and critical theory

Alexander Hirsch, Ph.D.

Alexander Hirsch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science

Courses taught:

  • Comparative Indigenous Rights 
  • US Environmental Politics

Research specialties and interests:

Indigenous decolonization in Western Settler States, critical theory, transitional justice

 

Zo毛 Marie Jones, Ph.D.

Zo毛 Marie Jones, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Art

Courses taught:

  • Visual Images of the North
  • Alaskan Field Artists

Research specialties:

20th Century art, immigrant artistic communities, art created in times of conflict

Michael Koskey, Ph.D.

Michael Koskey, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Studies

Courses taught:

  • Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights 
  • Field Research Methods
  • Documenting Indigenous Knowledge
  • Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Education and Socioeconomic Change
  • Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Wellbeing

Research specialties and interests:

Oral history, traditional knowledge, ethnohistory, culture change, decolonization, resource use and allocation, community-based participatory research, cultural and intellectual property rights, and indigenous cosmology/mythology.

Yoko Kugo, Ph.D.

Yoko Kugo, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher/Term Faculty Center for Cross-Cultural Studies

Courses taught:

  •  

Research specialties and interests:

 

Amy Lovecraft, Ph.D.

Amy Lovecraft, Ph.D.

Professor of Political Science

Courses taught:

  • Science, Technology and Politics
  • Government and Politics of Canada

Research specialties and interests:

Policy research: wildland fire, sea ice, marine mammals, freshwater systems & transnational environmental regimes; Environmental political theory addressing rapid change and the far North.

Leslie McCartney, M.A.

Leslie McCartney, M.A.

Associate Professor Library Science, Curator of Oral History

Courses taught:
  • The Oral Tradition:  Folklore and Oral History
  • Dene Peoples of Alaska and Adjacent Canada
  • Independent Studies in Oral History Methodology
Research specialties and interests: 
Oral History, Gwich'in Elders (Northwest Territories Canada) lifestories

 

Chanda Meek, Ph.D.

Chanda Meek, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science

Courses taught:

  • Arctic Politics and Governance
  • Comparative Indigenous Rights and Policies
  • US Environmental Politics

Research specialties and interests:

Resilience of Northern social-ecological systems, natural resource & environmental policy & politics, human dimensions of wildlife management, indigenous-state power-sharing arrangements, cross-scale policy implementation                                  

Jennifer Schell, Ph.D.

Jennifer Schell, Ph.D.

Professor of English

Courses taught:

  • Northern and Environmental Literature
  • Images of the North

Research specialties and interests:

Circumpolar literature and film, ecogothic and ecohorror, critical animal studies, extinction studies, climate writing, and environmental justice.                                        

                                   

 Walter Skya, Ph.D.

Walter Skya, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History

Courses taught:

  • Modern East Asia & the Arctic (HIST F697)
  • Modern Japan
  • Modern China
  • East Asian Civilization
  • Political Economy of Modern East Asia

Research specialties and interests:

Modern Japanese Intellectual History, Political Economy of Modern East Asia, East Asian Nationalisms                                     

Jeremy Speight, Ph.D.

Jeremy Speight, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science

Courses taught:

  • Comparative Environmental Politics
  • Political Economy of the Global Environment
  • Thesis Writing Workshop 

Research specialties and interests:

Comparative politics, resource governance, political violence, research methods.
 
 

 

Philip Wight, Ph.D.

Philip Wight, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of History

Courses taught:

  • ACNS 201: The Circumpolar North: An Introductory Overview 
  • HIST 411/ ACNS 611: Environmental History 
  • HIST 453/ ACNS 653: Fire, Ice & the Fate of Humanity: A History of Energy & Climate Change
  • HIST 461/ ACNS 661: History of Alaska 
  • HIST 483/ ACNS 683: 20th Century History of the Circumpolar North

Research specialties and interests:

History of Alaska, energy and environmental history, political economy of resource extraction, social movements, infrastructure and mobility. 

Professor Emeriti

Mary F. Ehrlander, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita

Judith S. Kleinfeld, Ph.D..

Professor Emerita

David Koester, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Gerald (Jerry) McBeath, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

William Schneider, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Terrence Cole
Remembering Terrence Cole

Photo by Artem Zhdanov