Arctic Leadership Initiative

Developing leaders for a rapidly changing Arctic

The Arctic Leadership Initiative (ALI) is a University of Alaska-wide program that prepares students, faculty, and partners to lead across disciplines, cultures, and communities in the Arctic. ALI supports people who are curious, collaborative, and willing to engage complexity, whether in science, policy, Indigenous knowledge, education, business, or public service.

ALI is a priority of the University of Alaska President and Board of Regents (Priority Strategy: Building Arctic Leaders).

Spring 2026 Highlights

ALI marked a season of milestones this spring: the close of its inaugural two-year faculty cycle, a system-wide retreat in Anchorage alongside the Arctic Encounter Summit, and the announcement of the next cohort of students, faculty, and engagement awardees who will carry the initiative forward.

Read the full Spring 2026 recap →

What's New

New 2026-27 ALI Student Cohort. 25 students from across UAF, UAA, and UAS selected for the next leadership year.
- Meet the cohort →
New UA President's Arctic Professors. Eugenie Euskirchen (UAF), Raghu Srinivasan (UAA), and Eran Hood (UAS) succeed the founding professors.
- See the appointments →
New Early Career Faculty Fellows. Mariah Seater (UAF), Seoyeon Kim (UAF), Amy Cross (UAA), and Xiaofei Song (UAS) join for two-year terms beginning Summer 2026.
- Meet the new fellows →
2026-27 Arctic Engagement Awards + Ambassador Travel Awards. Eight new projects supporting community partnerships, policy engagement, and circumpolar exchange.
- See the awardees →

Coming for AY27-28

Application cycles for the next round of ALI opportunities (Student Cohort, Early Career Faculty Fellows, Arctic Engagement Awards, and Ambassador Travel & Residency Awards) will open in late winter 2027. To be notified, contact the ALI administrator at ali-info@alaska.edu.

The Ambassador Travel + Residency Award is on a rolling cycle. The next deadline is July 27, 2026.

Thanks to a generous $5 million gift from Rasmuson Foundation, this strategic endeavor is intended to reshape Alaska’s role in the Arctic while promoting innovation and economic development. ALI is creating a powerful network of Alaska-trained Arctic leaders, advocates, and scholars who can make a global-scale impact in the Arctic, support Indigenous communities, address climate change, and responsibly pursue economic opportunities.

How ALI works

Students build leadership skills and networks through seminars, applied work, and retreats.
Faculty mentor students and strengthen Arctic collaboration and leadership capacity across the UA system.
Partners help shape real-world “problem and opportunity sets,” engage with cohorts, and support internships and applied learning.

Why ALI

The Arctic is changing faster than any other region on Earth. ALI helps cultivate leaders who can move between disciplines, listen deeply, and work across difference.

Faculty and peer/colleague encouragement matters: many strong applicants apply because someone took the time to say, “You should consider this.”

For more information contact Nate Bauer.