Board of Directors
Current board members are listed below.
To view the job description for the ARCUS Board of Directors, click here.
Vera Alexander, President
In 2004, Vera Alexander retired as Dean and Professor in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is now Professor and Dean Emerita. She serves as a Marine Mammal Commissioner and as immediate past Chairman of PICES, the North Pacific Marine Science Organization, as well as on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Census of Marine Life. Dr. Alexander spent 40 years conducting research on the fresh waters and marine systems of Alaska and teaching and mentoring graduate students. She holds a Ph.D. (University of Alaska, 1965), an M.S. (University of Wisconsin, 1962) and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Hokkaido University.
Richard Coffin (Term ends 2014)
Marianne Douglas, Executive Committee Member-at-Large (Term ends 2015)
Marianne Douglas is the Director of the Canadian Circumpolar Institute and a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. She holds degrees from Queen's University (BSc 1985; MSc 1989; PhD 1993). Following a two year Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, she joined the Department of Geology, University of Toronto in 1995. In 2003 she moved to the University of Alberta and currently splits her time between Edmonton and Whitehorse, YT. Her primary research uses limnological and paleolimnological techniques to track environmental change in the Canadian High Arctic. She is currently serving as chair of the Canadian Committee for Antarctic Research.
Jay Gulledge, Treasurer (Term ends 2014)
Mark Ivey (Term ends 2015)
Leslie King, Executive Committee Member-at-Large (Term ends 2013)
Leslie A. King is Vice-President Academic at Vancouver Island University. She was Professor and Founding Dean of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources at the University of Manitoba in 2003. In 1995, Dr. King held the position of Founding Chair of Environmental Studies at UNBC where she designed and administered both undergraduate and graduate programs and served as Chair of the Northwest Region for UNBC to create their first stand-alone regional campus. In 1991-92 Dr. King was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Zimbabwe and has filled academic positions at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, St. Lawrence University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Northern British Columbia. At the University of Vermont, Dr. King took a leadership role in developing both undergraduate and graduate (master’s and PhD) environmental programs.
Dr. King is a graduate of York University, and The London School of Economics where she earned her Master of Environmental Studies and PhD respectively. Dr. King serves on a range of national and international organizations, pursuing her research interest in sustainable healthy communities and the institutional dimensions of global environmental change, as well as a commitment to interdisciplinary research and programming.
Timo Koivurova (Term ends 2013)
I specialize in international environmental law in the Arctic but I am interested in other international law issues relevant in the Arctic. I am of the opinion that many times it is exactly the international aspects of arctic problems that are not easily comprehended by the public.
Dr. Koivurova defended his thesis "environmental impact assessment in the Arctic; a Study of International Legal Norms" in 2001 at the University of Lapland Finland. He has published 6 scientific articles, mainly about arctic issues and he has written a large number of newspaper articles.
The Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law and Dr. Koivurova himself, are dedicated to increasing the level of knowledge about arctic issues to different stakeholders in the Arctic. To further this philosophy, Dr. Koivurova has taught in the Arctic Studies Program at the Arctic Center for two years, lecturing to students all over the world.
Dr. Koivurova is an experienced presenter, having given presentations at several conferences and seminars. He is interested in speaking to all potential audiences of the Arctic Visiting Speaker Series but he is generally unavailable around Christmas and in the summer months.
His lecture titles include:
- International environmental law in the Arctic
- Environmental impact assessment in the Arctic
- International law of physical space in the Arctic
Mark Nuttall (Term ends 2015)
Michael Retelle, Secretary (Term ends 2013)
Michael J. Retelle is a Professor of Geology at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Dr. Retelle did his undergraduate studies at Salem State College (BS, 1976) prior to working as a field geologist on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1976. He did his graduate work in Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (MS, 1979 and PhD, 1985). His primary research interests are in glacial and post-glacial environments on lakes in Maine, New Hampshire, and in the Canadian arctic. He's also part of an interdisciplinary geoarchaeology project in Shetland studying settlement disturbance in the Little Ice Age. Most recently he's participated in a National Science Foundation sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates studying modern glacial and lacustrine processes and climate change in Svalbard.
Peter Schweitzer (Term ends 2013)
John Tichotsky (Term ends 2014)
John Tichotsky specializes in international and regional economic development and natural resource economics. Since 2001, John works as an international policy advisor to Roman Abramovich, former Governor of Chukotka. John is also a consultant and businessperson, and has experience in Arctic research and organization, as well as teaching and developing curriculum at the university level. John has a double major from Dartmouth College in economics and Russian (1988) and completed a Master’s degree (1993) and Ph.D. (1997), Jesus College, Cambridge. John was fortunate to study with Dr. Terence Armstrong at Cambridge, the scholar who defined the “Russian North” for the West. John wrote The Republic of Sakha: Russia’s Diamond Colony – a study about regional economy and the Russian diamond mining industry. John was a senior analyst at Fitch IBCA, the international rating agency. He conducted research on natural gas markets with Dr. Arlon Tussing, a US and Alaska energy expert. John lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with his wife, Mary Core, two children, Marilla Jane (4) and Anne Elizabeth (7 months) and three German shorthaired pointers– all avid skijorers.
Johannes Verlinde (Term ends 2014)
Johannes Verlinde is an Associate Professor of Meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds degrees from the universities of Pretoria, R.S.A. (BSc, 1980 and BSc [Hon], 1982) and Colorado State University (MS, 1988 and PhD, 1992). His primary research interests are clouds and cloud processes in the Arctic, and how these impact climate. He serves as the Site Scientist for the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Climate Research Facility at Barrow on the North Slope of Alaska.