Class of 2017: UAF graduates SNRE students

Twenty-five students with the School of Natural Resources and Extension completed their studies during the past year and many of them were recognized during the UAF commencement on Saturday.

Dave Valentine congratulates Kelly Schmitz.

During the past year, students received two doctorates, 13 bachelor’s degrees and 10 master’s degrees.

Miho Morimoto was hooded during last year’s commencement but she completed her doctorate in Natural Resources and Sustainability during the summer of 2017. Miho Morimoto’s dissertation is titled, “Past, Current and Future Forest Harvest and Regeneration Management in Interior Alaska Boreal Forest: Adaptation Under Rapid Climate Change.” Her major advisor was Emeritus Professor Glenn Juday. Her dissertation looks at how regeneration has worked on harvested forestlands and how regeneration might be affected by warmer, drier temperatures. It offers adaptive management suggestions.

Jon Skinner, who was hooded on Saturday, received his interdisciplinary doctorate in Polar Geography and Strategic Studies. His  major advisor was Professor Lawson Brigham. Skinner's thesis is titled “Russian Capacity to Develop its Offshore Hydrocarbon Resources in the Kara Sea: Arctic and Global Implications.” The Kara Sea represents the largest unexploited oil and gas potential remaining for Russia. 

Other degree recipients included:

Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management

From left, Zoe Marshall, Lin Barron, Samantha Knutson and Kelly
Schmitz pose before graduation.

Lin Barron

Chad Bear

David Dwyer Jr.

Brandy Flores

Cascade Galasso-Irish

Emily Garrett

Zoe Marshall

Eric Mattek

Kelly Schmitz

Jennifer Sybert

Kirsten Williams

Bachelor of Arts

Samantha Knutson, Rural Subsistence Farming and Management: Interdisciplinary Program

Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences

Brandon Elkins, Conservation Leadership

From left, master's candidates Olivia Lunsford and
 Alice Orlich get ready to walk. Orlich's other credentials
include Belle of the Woods.

Master of Science in Natural Resources Management

Christin Anderson

Shannon Busby

John Krapek

Lauren Lynch

Jacobus Noordeloos

Ronald Strom

Laura Starr

Master’s in Natural Resources Management

Sarah Liben

Tricia Kent

Suzanne McCarthy

Olivia Lunsford and Alice Orlich, who will earn their master's degrees this summer, also participated in the ceremony.

Faculty, from left, include Emeritus Extension Professor Natalie Thomas,
 and Professors Josh Greenberg, Mingchu Zhang, Milan Shipka and
 Meriam Karlsson.

Professor John Yarie, who continued teaching forestry classes for the school despite retiring in 2016, was honored at commencement for receiving emeritus status and for his teaching, research and public service, which began in 1978. Yarie was honored for teaching forestry and nature resource management courses, for his research on boreal forest ecology and productivity and for his public service roles as director of the Forest Soils laboratory, department chair and chair of the regional section of the Society of American Foresters.

Ph.D recipient Jon Skinner is hooded on Saturday by Doug Reynolds
 and Provost Susan Henrichs.