Oct. 22, 2008 (Photo)

Notice released by the Alaska Humanities Forum:

HUMANITIES AWARD RECIPIENTS AND ALASKA HISTORY TEACHER OF THE YEAR NAMED

An accomplished Alaska Native lecturer and author, and an eminent UAA professor and scholar are the recipients of this year’s Distinguished Service to the Humanities awards.

The awardees confirmed by Gov. Sarah Palin are Dr. Rosita Worl, an anthropologist and president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, and Dr.  James Muller, a political science professor and co-founder of UAA’s Forty-Ninth State Fellow Program. 

Dr. Worl’s work with several different Native organizations is a reflection of her Tlingit heritage and her teaching in anthropology. She received her B.S. from Alaska Methodist University her M.S. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard.  

Dr. Muller, also a Harvard graduate, has taught at UAA since 1983. He founded, with Professor Stephen W. Haycox, the Forty-Ninth State Fellows Program.  It offers opportunities and challenges to exceptional students who study the foundations of free government in America in preparation to take their places as the next generation of leaders for Alaska.

The honors will be presented during the 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities on Thursday, October 23 at the Anchorage Downtown Marriott Hotel beginning at 6 p.m.

The Alaska History Teacher of Year award is also part of the program.  This year’s recipient is Raymond Voley, a high school social studies and technology teacher at Kenny Lake School in the Copper River School District.  His students have produced award-winning films, including a 90-minute documentary on the history of the Kennecott mine. They are currently producing a documentary about the 1898 Valdez Gold Rush that will premiere in April 2009.

Contact the Alaska State Council on the Arts at 907-269-6610 to make reservations.  The cost is $75 per person or $1,000 for tables of 10.