ALI Marks a Season of Milestones: Retreats, Summits, and a New Cohort of Arctic Leaders

May 1, 2026

Spring 2026 brought the Arctic Leadership Initiative to a moment it has been building toward since its founding: the close of its inaugural two-year faculty cycle, a gathering of the full ALI community in Anchorage, and the announcement of the next generation of students, fellows, and scholars who will carry the initiative forward.

The season's centerpiece was the ALI Spring Retreat + Arctic Encounter Summit, held April 13-17 in Anchorage. The retreat brought ALI's student cohort, Early Career Faculty Fellows, and faculty mentors together at The Den on the UAA campus for two days of working sessions and peer collaboration. UA President Pat Pitney addressed the group on Tuesday morning, opening the floor for direct conversation about the university's Arctic mission. A panel on leadership in transition, featuring UA VP and Chief Academic Officer Brian Smentkowski, Cheryl Rosa of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, and Susan Bell of Huna Totem Corporation, anchored the first day.

From the retreat, the cohort moved downtown to the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, where the Arctic Encounter Summit drew more than 500 attendees from 25 countries across government, business, science, Indigenous leadership, and diplomacy. ALI's three student Arctic Challenge Project teams presented posters at AES—the culmination of a full year spent working alongside communities on permafrost-driven infrastructure failure in Point Lay, food web disruption across Alaska's salmon systems, and landslide risk communication in Southeast Alaska.

The spring season also marked the near-completion of ALI's inaugural two-year faculty terms. The three founding UA President's Arctic Professors—Larry Hinzman (UAF), Jeffrey Libby (UAA), and Erica Hill (UAS)—are completing their appointment cycle, as are ALI's inaugural cohort of Early Career Faculty Fellows, whose research over two years spanned Arctic climate modeling, sea ice dynamics, environmental DNA, critical minerals, Indigenous knowledge systems, and more. Their work has helped establish ALI as a functioning platform, not just a program concept.

Looking ahead, ALI has welcomed the next President's Arctic Professors: Eugenie Euskirchen (UAF), Raghu Srinivasan (UAA), and Eran Hood (UAS). Four new Early Career Faculty Fellows have also been selected for two-year appointments beginning Summer 2026: Mariah Seater (UAF), whose work examines how climate change shapes the health and resilience of Arctic families; Seoyeon Kim (UAF), who is building an international research partnership with the Korean Polar Research Institute; Amy Cross (UAA), focused on Arctic economic research and community-engaged undergraduate scholarship; and Xiaofei Song (UAS), whose research addresses career decision-making among Alaska's seasonal workforce.

Twenty-five students from across the UA system have been selected for the 2026-27 ALI student cohort. From UAF: Emma Daniel, Morrow Duszynski, Alyssa Enriquez, Fernando Escobar, Elizabeth Fernandez, Maddi McArthur, Molly Minick, Moxie Moxie, Nieca Murphy, Chloe Pleznac, Bertha Prince, Adam Schwartz, Genevieve Simono, Serena Solesbee, Naeem Talha, Chase Thompson, and Yan Vyshynskyi. From UAA: Cailan Cumming, Ashley Ihde, Megan Johnson, Charlee Korthuis, Taylor Peace, and AnneMarie Scofield. From UAS: Sean Demello and Shane Williams.

Four 2026-27 Arctic Engagement Awards have been awarded also, supporting projects connecting UA research to communities and policy: Rebecca Moorman (UAA) is developing Indigenous-led vocabulary for Alaska library catalog systems; Donna Hauser (UAF) is activating Indigenous ocean observations into NOAA policy and classrooms; Magnus de Witt (UAF) is building a geospatial framework to map Arctic renewable energy infrastructure risks; and Skylar Bayer (UAS) is partnering UAS students with KTOO journalists to report on UA Arctic science.

Earlier this spring, ALI also selected four recipients for Ambassador Travel and Residency Awards, which support short-term exchanges and international engagement: Pascal Buri, Brandon Boylan, and Magnus de Witt will carry UA’s multifaceted Arctic message to the UArctic Congress in the Faroe Islands; and Katie Craney will lead panel and workshop discussions with Circumpolar artists at the Centre for the North at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Together, these announcements mark ALI's evolution from a bold founding proposition into a system-wide initiative with a growing network of students, scholars, community partners, and circumpolar connections, and the momentum to sustain it.