BLaST Steering Committee

The BLaST Steering Committee (BSC) serves as the primary governing board for the BUILD cooperative agreement. The committee’s role is to develop recommendations for uniform procedures and policies necessary to meet the goals of the BUILD initiative and the Diversity Program Consortium. The BSC consist of experts and professionals in biomedical research and university program development, and includes expertise in Alaskan biomedicine and higher education. The BSC provides annual summary input regarding the activities of BLaST, coordinates with the NRMN and CEC, and meets the goals of the BUILD initiative. The committee makes specific recommendations regarding the overall program performance, student research and learning outcomes, research environments, and the progress of outreach and recruiting. The BSC was established with a teleconference in May 2015 and met in person on 6/8/2015.

Michael Castellini

Ph.D.

 

Email: macastellini@alaska.edu

Phone: 907.474.6825

Office:  C/O Graduate School, 202A Eielson Building, PO Box 757560, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7560

Position: Interim Dean of Graduate School

Affiliation: University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Michael Castellini earned his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1981 and has been a faculty member at the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 1989.  He was the founding Science Director for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, the Director of the Institute of Marine Science, Associate Dean and then Dean for the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Dr. Castellini is now the Interim Dean for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Graduate School and a member of the UAF Center for Arctic Policy Studies team.

Kathy Etz

Ph.D.

 

Email: ketz@nida.nih.gov

Phone: 301.402.1749

Office: C/O NIH - NIDA, 6001 Executive Blvd, Room 5213, MSC 9561, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

Position: Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs to the Principal Deputy Director

Affiliation: NIH and Director of Native Programs, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

 

Dr. Etz has been serving as the Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs in the NIH Office of the Director for the past year, where she has primarily focused on establishing the inaugural Tribal Consultation Advisory Committee and on developing the first NIH Tribal Consultation session. During this time she has also continued in her work at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, where she serves as the Director of Native Programs and also directs three programs of research focused on: (1) American Indian and Alaska Native substance abuse epidemiological research, (2) the inter-relationships between drug use/abuse/addiction, social/physical environment factors, and human development, with emphasis on individual, social relational, and environmental mechanisms that underlie these relationships; and (3) sharing of social science substance abuse data.

Karsten Hueffer

 Ph.D., FHEA, Tierarzt (DVM equiv.)

 

Email:  khueffer@alaska.edu

Phone:  907.474.6313

Office:  C/O Dept of Veterinary Medicine, 2W02/185 Arctic Health Research Building, PO Box 757750, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7750

Position:  Associate Professor of Microbiology Department of Veterinary Medicine; BLaST Principal Investigator

Affiliations:  University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Karsten Hueffer, Tierarzt (DVM equivalent), Ph.D., earned his veterinary doctorate from the School of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, Germany and Ph.D. from Cornell University in Comparative Biomedical Science. Following a postdoctoral position at Yale University, Dr. Hueffer joined the UAF faculty. His research focuses on infectious diseases. He has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students in research. He served as Associate Director of the office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activities

Birgit Meany

Ed.D.

 

Email:  birgit.meany@ilisagvik.edu

Phone:  907.852.1818

Office: C/O Ilisagvik College, 100 Stevenson Street, PO Box 749, Barrow, AK 99723

Position:  Dean of Instruction and Workforce Development

Affiliations:  Ilisagvik College

 

Birgit Meany, Ed.D., is the current Dean of Instruction & Workforce Development at Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska. Prior to this position she was an instructor at the college and has been a resident of Barrow for a decade. Her professional experience includes high school teaching and administration. Dr Meany has extensive familiarity working with UAF having received her BA and MA from that university. She received her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership/Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Phoenix

Evon Peter

M.A.

 

Email:  espeters@alaska.edu

Phone: 907.474.1865

Office: C/O CRCD Vice Chancellor's Office, 402 Brooks Building, PO Box 756500, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6500

Position:  Vice Chancellor for College of Rural, Community and Native Education

Affiliations: University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Evon Peter was appointed Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in July 2014. A UAF alumnus with a B.A. degree in Alaska Native Studies and a M.A in Rural Development, Peter is Neetsaii Gwich'in and Koyukon from Arctic Village. In his home village, he served three years as the tribal Chief, and currently serves as a board member to the Gwich'in Council International. His international work includes participation in the United Nations forum and locally has focused on implementing behavioral health, leadership and workforce development projects.

  Karen Schmidtt

Ph.D.

 

Email:  krschmitt@uas.alaska.edu

Phone:  907.796.6518

Office: C/O UAS, Soboleff Bldg 223, 11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau, AK 99801

Position: Dean School of Arts and Sciences Vice Provost for Research & Sponsored Programs

Affiliations:  University of Alaska Southeast

 

Karen Schmitt, Ph.D., has worked in higher education for more than 17 years and has incredible depth and breadth of academic leadership experience. Dr. Schmitt served as Dean of the School of Career Education at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) and as Dean of the School of Management at UAS.

Sheila Slaughter

Ph.D.

Email:  slaughter@uga.edu
Phone:  706.542.0571
Office: C/O Institute of Higher Education, Miegs Hall - UGA, Athens, GA 30602-6772

Position: Louise McBee Professor of Higher Education Institute of Higher Education

Affiliations:  University of Georgia Athens

 

Sheila Slaughter, Ph.D., is a researcher of the political economy of higher education, trustees, science and technology policy, academic freedom, and women in higher education. She is co-author, with LL Leslie, of Academic Capitalism: Politics, policies and the entrepreneurial university (1997), and with G. Rhoades, of Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, state and higher education (2004), and the author of many articles. She is a Fellow of the AERA, an Erasmus Mundi Fellow, received the AERA award for Lifetime Achievement, the ASHE Research Achievement award, and was a Udall Fellow at the University of Arizona, as well as a Fellow at the Institute for Higher Education Law and Government at the University of Houston. She has been awarded numerous grants from NSF and NIH.

  Marsha Sousa

Ph.D.

 

Email: marsha.sousa@alaska.edu

Phone: 907.474.7931

Office: 202 Honors House

Position: Professor of Biology, Honors Program Director, BLaST Student Training Core Director

Affiliation: University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Marsha Sousa earned her Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics at Colorado State University. Her research interest is reproductive physiology of ungulates; she has studied regulation of the female reproductive cycle in sheep, caribou, reindeer, and muskox. Her primary teaching interest is in physiology and human health. Sousa taught and conducted research at UAF from 1989 – 2010 in the Biology Department and in Health Programs at the Community and Technical College, where she was Director of Allied Health Programs and Associate Dean for Academics. In 2010 she moved to the University of Alaska Southeast as the Dean of Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Research. She returned to UAF in 2014 as Director of the Honors Program and Professor of Biology.

  Arleigh Reynolds

DVM, Ph.D., DACVN.

 

Email:  ajreynolds@alaska.edu

Phone: 907.474.1928

Office: C/O Dept of Veterinary Medicine,182 Arctic Health Research Building, PO Box 757750, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7750

Position:  Associate Dean Department of Veterinary Medicine; BLaST Principal Investigator

Affiliations:  University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Arleigh Reynolds, DVM, Ph.D., DACVN., is Associate Professor of Veterinary Nutrition. He attended Cornell University for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He was a Cornell faculty member where he taught courses and conducted research in the areas of Clinical Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, Metabolic Diseases of Domestic Animals, and Energy Metabolism. Dr. Reynolds has also taught courses at the University of Pennsylvania and the NYS College of Veterinary Medicine as well as conducting research for Purina.

  Sue VandeWoude

DVM, DACLAM

 

Email:  suev@lamar.colostate.edu

Phone:  970.491.7162

Office: C/O CSU, 228 Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, 1601 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1601

Position: Professor of Comparative Medicine and Associate Dean of Research

Affiliations: Colorado State University

 

Sue VandeWoude, DVM, DACLAM, received undergraduate training at California Institute of Technology, and veterinary training at Virginia Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. She is currently Associate Dean for Research, and Professor of Comparative Medicine in Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) and oversees intramural research programs for CVMBS, pre- and post-doctoral veterinary research fellowship training, and provides oversight/support for DVM-PhD training. She has mentored over 35 veterinary students and is a strong advocate for the role veterinarians can play in biomedical research, and has served on national committees and developed workshops to promote this issue.