Dr. Kristie L. Ebi is an independent consultant (ESS, LLC) who has been conducting research on the impacts of and adaptation to climate change for more than a decade. Dr. Ebi has worked with WHO, UNDP, USAID, and others on implementing adaptation measures and adaptation assessments and has edited four books on aspects of climate change and has published more than 80 papers.

Dr. David Stevenson, Director of UAA Creative Writing and Literary Arts Dept., leads a discussion about mountaineering literature with Clare Chesher, literary critic from the Department of English, UAA; Charlie Sassara, climber and owner of Alaska Rock Gym; and Bill Sherwonit, author of Living With Wildness and numerous nature books.

Larry Merculieff was born and raised with a traditional upbringing on St. Paul Island. In 2003, Larry was instrumental in gaining both federal and state recognition of Alaska Native subsistence rights to harvest halibut throughout coastal Alaska. Recently he founded Seven Generations Consulting. His focus for the discussion is the process of connecting with others. Dr. Christine Gehrett is an associate professor in Education. She teaches foundation courses in education, serves on the advisory board for the Alaska Educational Innovations Network (AEIN), on the Chevak advisory board, and on the Center for Community Engagement and Learning advisory council. Her focus for the discussion is peace from within. Dr. Greg Kimura is President and CEO of the Alaska Humanities Forum. A fourth generation Alaskan from Chugiak-Eagle River, he holds a M.Div from Harvard University, where he wrote a thesis on Zen Buddhism and Western philosophical thought, and a PhD from Cambridge University in the philosophy of religion. His focus for the discussion is the ontological state of being.

Alaska mystery writer, Mary Ann Poll, presents her new book Raven's Cove.

UAA History and Political Science Departments present: The Civil War, 150 Years Later. Scott Gavorsky: Basic overview of certain issues relating to the Civil War. Songho Ha: The institution of antebellum slavery. Stephen Haycox: American politics leading to the secession movement. James W. Muller: Lincoln and his role. William Jacobs: The military innovations/consequences of the war. Elizabeth James: Reconstruction and the lingering effects of the Civil War.

This will be a fascinating look at how the contributions of indigenous knowledge and ways of thinking can benefit people today. Larry Merculieff was born and raised in a traditional upbringing on St. Paul Island. In 2003, Larry was instrumental in gaining both federal and state recognition of Alaska Native subsistence rights to harvest halibut throughout coastal Alaska. Recently he founded Seven Generations Consulting.

I learned to fly at age eighteen and have degrees in aviation, history, and northern studies. The Map of My Dead Pilots is based on my experiences as lead dispatcher at a Part 135 (commercial) air carrier based in Fairbanks. The "Company" had bases in multiple bush locations and flew single-engine, multi-engine, and twin turbine aircraft carrying everything from scheduled passengers and mail to convicts and sled dogs. There were incidents and accidents, moments of Pythonesque absurdity and brain-numbing hard work. It was never the profession I learned about in the classroom nor the glory stories so popular in modern mith. It is the story of the people who worked at one Alaskan commuter airline and the culmination of my efforts to understand how commercial pilots live and die in the Last Frontier.

Rashmi Prasad and two graduate students, Monica Emerton and Mikhail Gorshunov present research on destructive leadership behavior.

Many of us are familiar with Fran Ulmer's service in Alaska--being a mayor, legislator, two terms as Lieutenant Governor, director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research, UAA Chancellor, and currently UAA's Arctic Research Scholar. Fran Ulmer also served as a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill and Offshore Drilling, and is the chairperson of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and co-founder of Oil Spill Commission Action.

Howard Weaver was born in Anchorage and began writing for the Anchorage Daily News during his junior year at East Anchorage High school in 1967. He worked at the Anchorage Daily News 1972-1995, as a police reporter, court reporter, legislative correspondent, daily columnist, managing editor, and held full editorial responsibility for the paper in 1983. Twice he led the Anchorage Daily News to Pulitzer Prizes: in 1976 for coverage of the Alaska Teamsters Union during construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and in 1989 for coverage of alcoholism and suicide among Alaska Natives. His accolades include service as a Pulitzer Prize Juror, being a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and acting as co-chair of the international association of northern editors, the Northern News Service. In 1998 he was named by an Alaska Public Radio Network survey as one of the 40 most influential Alaskans in the state's first 40 years of history. Write Hard, Die Free is his just released memoir. This event is sponsored with the Alaska Press Club.