Arctic Visiting Speakers Series | 2006 Visiting Speaker Tours

Host:
William C.G. Burns
wburns@scu.edu

Dennis Dowling
d-dowling@sbcglobal.net

Host Institution:
Santa Clara University School of Law
http://www.scu.edu/law/

Wilcox High School
http://wilcox.ca.campusgrid.net/home

Visiting Speaker:
Patricia Cochran
Alaska Native Science Commission
pcochran@aknsc.org

Presentations: In late September, Patricia Cochran, Executive Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission, traveled to California to lecture at Santa Clara University and Wilcox High School as part of the Arctic Visiting Speakers Program. Her university-wide presentation at the Santa Clara University School of Law covered Native perspectives on western science and environmentalism. At Wilcox High School she talked with Environmental Studies students about the impact of climate change on Alaska Native communities.

Host:
Keni Sturgeon

Host Institution:
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

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photos from this tour.

Visiting Speaker:
Bill Fitzhugh
Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution

Presentations: In mid-September, Bill Fitzhugh, Director of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution, traveled to Rhode Island to present lectures focused on “The Lure of Providence: Vikings, Romance, and Archaeology.” His talks were part of a public mini-festival entitled “The Vikings Return!”. The goal of the festival was to explore the history and culture of the Vikings, Viking Age exploration in North America and the North Atlantic region, and the roles Canada, New England, and Rhode Island played in the development of Americans’ understanding of and preconceptions about the Viking Age.

Fitzhugh also spoke with Brown University students and faculty about current research on Vikings in North America.

Hosts:
Karen Williams-Clarkson
kmwilliamsclarkson@apexmail.com

Host Institutions:
Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators
http://www.pacname.org/

Visiting Speaker:
Larry Merculieff
Seven Generations Consulting
lmerculieff@netscape.net

Presentations: In July 2006, Larry Merculieff participated in the Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators (NAME) Conference, which was held in Seward, Alaska. As part of his tour, Merculieff spoke about Elder wisdom, traditional ways of knowing, global climate changes and their effects on the Bering Sea and Arctic, and traditional wisdom about relationship to the environment. This discussion covered the who, what, and where of traditional knowledge, traditional ways of living, the importance of subsistence and survival, and meaningful applications of traditional knowledge. He also talked about marine mammals in the context of climate change and industrialized fishing.

In addition to his participation in the NAME conference, Merculieff spoke to a public audience about his own life experiences and traditional relationship to birds, fish, marine mammals, the sea, and the Earth.

Hosts:
Lisa Shon Jodwalis
jjodwalis@gci.net

Brian M. Barnes
ffbmb@uaf.edu

Host Institutions:
Bureau of Land Management,
Arctic Interagency Visitor Center
Phone: 907-678-5207

Institute of Arctic Biology,
University of Alaska Fairbanks
http://www.iab.uaf.edu/about.php

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photos from this tour.

Visiting Speaker:
Todd Sformo
rfts@uaf.edu

Presentations: Todd Sformo is a graduate student at University of Alaska Fairbanks in the labs of Drs. Brian Barnes (University of Alaska Fairbanks) and Jack Duman (University of Notre Dame). His research interests lie in how high latitude insects face the challenge of extreme cold. In early July, Sformo held a lecture at the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center in Coldfoot, Alaska, on "Insects' Over-wintering Strategies in Alaska's Arctic" as part of the Dalton Visitors Service Program. The event was open to the public. Sformo has conducted much of his research in this area and was happy to present his findings at the visitor center to show his gratitude to the Wiseman community for their help in his project.

Hosts:
Eila Rimpilainen
eila.rimpilainen@inari.fi

Lassi Heininen
Lassi.Heininen@ulapland.fi

Host Institutions:
Municipality of Inari
www.inari.fi

University of Lapland
www.ulapland.fi

Visiting Speaker:
Lee Huskey
aflh@uaa.alaska.edu

Presentations: Lee Huskey, a professor of economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage, participated in the Calotte Academy 2006, a forum focusing on northern issues held annually since 1991. This year’s meeting was held both in Finland and Norway in late May.

The North Calotte is a region of the European Arctic shared by the Nordic countries and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Inari is a municipality in northern Finland that falls within this region.

While in Finland, Huskey spoke as part of a themed session focusing on the geopolitics of North Calotte and the state of human development in Inari. He also contributed to a session on multiculturalism in Lapland and participated in a meeting of the Nordic-Russian Research Project to discuss northern Eurasian geopolitics. At the conclusion of these events, Huskey participated in a press conference launching the Finnish version of the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR).

In Norway, Huskey contributed to a session entitled “New Northern Security: Climate Change, Flows of Globalization, Environmental Conflicts, Competing Hunt for Hydrocarbons and Borderless Space”, as well as another session focused on multiculturalism in Lapland. He participated in press conferences and interviews as part of this event as well.

Hosts:
Tom Crumrine
tcrum@csd.k12.nh.us

Host Institutions:
Concord High School
170 Warren Street
Concord, NH 03301

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Visiting Speaker:
Donie Bret-Harte
ffmsb@uaf.edu

Presentations: In early May, Dr. Syndonia Bret-Harte traveled to Concord High School in New Hampshire to lecture about her work on tundra plants and climate change. The primary focus of her tour involved interactions with Mr. Tom Crumrine’s students. Last summer, Crumrine traveled to Alaska to work with Bret-Harte and learn about the research she is conducting. Drawing on these experiences, made possible by the TREC program, Crumrine has worked with his students on projects that mimic what Bret-Harte does in the arctic. This tour provided a chance for Crumrine’s students to present what they have learned to Bret-Harte; it also allowed her to visit the plots that they set up so that she could provide feedback on their research. Additionally, Bret-Harte spent time speaking with students who have an interest in pursuing science as a career providing an opportunity for them to ask questions about her work.

Hosts:
Roland Kallenborn
roland.kallenborn@unis

Host Institutions:
Norwegian Institute for Air Research
http://www.nilu.no

University Centre in Svalbard
http://www.unis.no

Visiting Speaker:
Jesse Ford
jesse.ford@oregonstate.edu

Presentations: Dr. Jesse Ford of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University traveled to Norway in March 2005 to lecture about the environmental fate of trace metals in the Arctic. During her tour, Dr. Ford visited the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and presented a talk on the priorities and future challenges for monitoring trace metals in Arctic environments. At the Norwegian Polar Environmental Center in Tromsø, Dr. Ford gave two public lectures:

“The Potential Role of K–12 Classrooms in Contaminant Monitoring During the International Polar Year”

“Contaminant Monitoring During the International Polar Year: Potential Linkages with Arctic Indigenous Organizations, Institutions, and Communities”

At the University Centre in Svalbard, Dr. Ford gave a general introduction to trace metals in the Arctic; most audience members were graduate and postgraduate students in Arctic Environmental Technology.

Hosts:
Yvon Csonka
yvcs@ilisimatusarfik.gl

Frank Sejersen
sejersen@hum.ku.dk

Host Institutions:
Ilisimatusarfik—University of Greenland
http://www.ilisimatusarfik.gl

University of Copenhagen
http://www.ku.dk/english/

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photos from this tour.

Visiting Speaker:
Robert Wheelersburg
wheelersburg@etown.edu

Presentations: Dr. Robert Wheelersburg of the Anthropology Department at Elizabethtown College traveled to the University of Greenland and the University of Copenhagen. At both universities he held lectures about the Saami (Lapp) portrayals in popular media and on the Saami perspective on Swedish compliance with European community requirements for indigenous resource use rights.

During his visit, Dr. Wheelersburg also taught a lesson in the bachelor level course "Inuit Cultures" providing a comparative perspective of the Saami as an indigenous people of the Arctic. Additionally he conducted a workshop on developing teaching activities about North American Indians who live outside the arctic culture area.

Hosts:
Keni Sturgeon
Keni_Sturgeon@brown.edu

Douglas Anderson
Douglas_Anderson@brown.edu

Host Institutions:
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/

Brown University Department of Anthropology
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/

Visiting Speaker:
Noel Broadbent
BroadbentN@si.edu

Presentations: Noel Broadbent traveled to Rhode Island where he held lecture at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and Brown University. At the museum, he presented a public lecture entitled:

“Archaeology, Forensics, and the Mystery of the Andree Ballooning Expedition to the North Pole in 1897”

On 11 July 1897, S. A. Andree and two Swedish companions left the island of Svalbard attempting to reach the North Pole and cross the Arctic Ocean in a hydrogen balloon. Shortly thereafter, they disappeared. Their fate was unknown until 1930, when their camp and bodies were found on White Island in eastern Svalbard. Their diaries and amazing photographs, recovered from rolls of undeveloped film found at the site of their deaths, chronicle their journey. In 2000, Broadbent led an archaeological expedition to White Island, seeking to discover how and why they died.

Broadbent’s talk was followed by a reception and the audience was able to speak with him about his lecture.

At Brown University, Dr. Broadbent spoke to the anthropology department graduate students about NSF proposals and arctic research and also to the campus community and general public on his current research in northern Scandinavia.