Please join me in congratulating Kelcie Ralph, the first UAA and University of Alaska student to be awarded a Marshall Scholarship, one of the most prestigious educational awards available to American undergraduates. A UAA economics major and student in UAA's Honors College, Kelcie plans to use the Marshall Scholarship to study at the London School of Economics. Kelcie's accomplishment, along with our Truman scholars -- four in the last five years -- are wonderful examples of the success UAA students are having earning prestigious national scholarships and demonstrate the positive impact of our Honors College.

November at UAA is synonymous with the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, now in its 31st year. We are delighted to be able to spend our Thanksgiving week watching our Women and Men's Seawolves teams compete with some of the best teams in college basketball. Last night's game was a terrific start with our Women Seawolves' 72-44 win over Cal State Northridge. I hope you have a chance to catch some of the games!

Paula Williams was selected as our new Director of Sustainability. Paula will be working with the Sustainability Council to help us move forward in our sustainability and environmental practices. One effort already underway is our partnership in the U-Med District. In October we signed an agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage, Providence, Alaska Pacific University, the Anchorage School District, Green Star, Southcentral Foundation, Alaska Psychiatric Institute and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to collectively find ways to practice and improve waste reduction, energy conservation and pollution prevention. Today we had the first meeting of all the partners to determine the best ways to accomplish these goals. Stay tuned for updates on how we are working together to reduce our impact on the environment.

I hope you've had a chance to attend at least one of the events this month in celebration of Alaska Native/Native American Heritage Month. Student discussions, lectures, movies, plays, potlucks, drum making, and fry bread socials are just a few of the many activities coordinated by the UAA Diversity Action Council and the Alaska Native/Native American Heritage Month Planning Committee. Thank you to organizers for all your hard work and many opportunities to celebrate diversity at UAA! For a list of events the rest of this month go to www.alaskanativeheritagemonth.org.

It’s not too late to catch UAA Theatre’s production of "Godspell." The musical continues until December 7.

And, SAVE THE DATE for the Chancellor's Winter Holiday Celebration on Thursday, December 11 from 3-5p.m. in the Student Union Den. Please join us for food, music, and fun!