University of Alaska

In the Tlingit idiom, Elaine Elizabeth Abraham “walked into the woods” early Monday morning. The much-accomplished Tlingit woman from Yakutat died around 1:30 a.m. at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. She was 86.

She was born June 19, 1929, in Yakutat, the daughter of chief of the Teikweidei clan, Olaf Abraham. He was one of the last traditional clan leaders of the village. Her mother Susie Bremner was the great-granddaughter of John James Bremmer, a Scottish guide who helped the U.S. Army explore the Copper River area not long after Alaska became an American possession.

Abraham, whose Tlingit name was Chuu Shah, was raised in a traditional household where her first language was Tlingit. In 2012 she told the Alaska Dispatch News her name meant “Little Grandmother Returns.” She was Naa Tláa (clan mother) of the Yéil Naa (Raven Moeity), K’ineix Kwáan (people of the Copper River Clan) from the Tsisk’w Hit (Owl House).

She learned English at the village elementary school. But Yakutat did not have a high school. So she attended the Sheldon Jackson Presbyterian Boarding High School in Sitka. After graduating at age 17, she studied nursing at Arizona’s Sage Memorial Nursing School in Navajo Country and passed her final tests with some of the highest scores ever achieved. She is said to have been the first Tlingit registered nurse.

Returning to Alaska, she worked for the Indian Health Service in Bethel, Sitka and Anchorage. She was supervisor of nursing at the Mount Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, where she helped create the Southeast Health Aide Program, the model for providing health care in remote parts of Alaska to this day.

After retiring from nursing in her 40s, she went back to college and earned a wall full of diplomas, including a bachelor’s in human services, a master’s degree in teaching in multiethnic education, a certificate in Native linguistics and an associate degree in anthropology. For the rest of her life, she continued to pursue higher education, working on a doctorate in her 70s.

She served in several key positions at Sheldon Jackson College, including associate dean of students and vice president for institutional development. She co-founded the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska and became the first woman and the first Native American to hold a senior position in the statewide administration of the University of Alaska system when she became the vice president of rural education affairs in 1976. In that position, she helped establish community colleges in previously underserved parts of the state with large Native populations, including Nome, Barrow, Tanana, Kotzebue, Sitka, Ketchikan, Valdez, Kodiak and the Aleutians.

She served on numerous commissions, boards and other organizations, including the Yakutat Native Corp., the Yakutat Tlingit Tribes Council and the Alaska Native Science Commission.

Throughout her life she was the recipient of prominent awards. She was the first Alaska Native to receive the American Indian Achievement Award, Indian Council Fire, in 1973. The Cook Inlet Native Association named her Citizen of the Year in 1984 and the University of Alaska bestowed its Meritorious Service Award on her in 1996. She was elected to the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011.

She was a lifelong member of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, Yakutat Camp No. 13, an Anchorage delegate to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, an Elder of the Yakutat Presbyterian Church and a General Council Member of the Presbytery of Alaska. She performed with the Mount St. Elias dance group, once led by her father, one of the oldest Alaska Native performing groups in the state.

In 1953, she married George Ramos, also of Yakutat. They later separated. Of their five children, four survive their mother: George Ramos Jr., Charmaine Ramos, Judy Ramos and David Ramos. One son, George Milton Ramos Jr., died shortly after birth.

A notice from her family named grandchildren Nirvana, Melody, David, Kai Monture, Leonty Williams and Maka Monture, and great-grandchildren Daylon Ramos, Jaime, Olaf and Soriano.

A public viewing will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 20, at Legacy Funeral Homes Heritage Chapel, 440 E. Klatt Rd.

This story has been republished with permission from the Alaska Dispatch News.

Editor’s note: Elaine Abraham’s age has been corrected in the headline and story. She was 86, not 87. A reference to her father, Olaf Abraham, has been corrected. Olaf Abraham was the chief of the Teikweidei clan, not named Teikweidei. Finally, the spelling of grandchild Leonty Williams’ first name has been corrected. 

This story has been updated with public viewing details.

The president of the University of Alaska says he will push to merge the system’s three campuses into a single combined university.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the plan by UA President Jim Johnsen would mean the end of independent administration and accreditation at campuses in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau.

Johnsen says he will forego appointing a new chancellor at UA Fairbanks as he pursues single accreditation.

Johnsen announced the plan in the wake of significant reduced support from the state.

The university received $350 million this year and the Legislature is considering a $50 million cut.

Johnsen in an email to campuses says fixed costs and contractual obligations on top of the reduction in state support will effectively mean a 22 percent cut in funding.

An independent report on the University of Alaska Fairbanks failed handling of sexual assault cases was released Friday.

The review done by Anchorage attorney Jeff Feldman confirms that UAF failed to pursue policy dictated disciplinary action against perpetrators in five cases from 2011 into 2014.

The review attributes the lapse to three things, starting with former UAF Dean of Students Donald Foley, who’s criticized for neglecting discipline while focusing on victim safety and support.

Speaking at a Friday news conference, University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen also pointed to two other areas of blame identified in the review.

“An initial lack of understanding and response to the 2011 Title IX guidance from the federal department of education,” Johnsen said. “And a lack of oversight by top UAF administrators as well as inadequate resources for Title IX and student discipline.”

Former Dean Foley retired and Johnsen says there have been other retirements and resignations as a result of the disciplinary failings, which initially arose three years after a federal Title IX compliance order was issued to universities nationwide.

“Under the Title IX guidance that we got from the department of education in 2011, it is no longer adequate for a university simply to refer cases to the criminal process, which of course, did occur in all of these cases,” Johnsen said. “But since 2011, we’re obligated to investigate, adjudicate and discipline.”

Johnsen says the five improperly handled sexual assault cases in which disciplinary policy was not adhered to, have been re-opened for proper action, noting that discipline can range from suspension to expulsion top retroactive revocation of university degrees.

The review lists numerous other steps the university has taken to ensure there are no additional lapses.

“Going forward, people are crystal clear of their responsibilities,” Johnsen said.

Johnsen says that includes keeping him in the loop.

“Requiring the campuses to report every sexual assault to me,” he said.

Johnsen and UAF interim Chancellor Mike Powers stressed that besides process and staffing changes made to properly address sexual assault response, the university is also undergoing a cultural change to prevent assaults from happening.

“Here in particular at UAF, 98 percent of our employees have completed Title IX training,” Powers said. “Over 500 student leaders have been trained in active bystander training, and that is engagement in the process – if you see something, say something, do something.”

Powers says there have been increased reports of sexual offenses since the issue came to light at UAF, noting that’s likely because victims are becoming less afraid to come forward.

Multiple systemic failures, including a lack of capable staff, contributed to the mishandling of five sexual abuse cases at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Those are the findings of an independent audit released Friday by the university detailing Title IX violations at the university. Title IX prohibits gender discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding.

The review was conducted by Anchorage attorney Jeffrey Feldman after five perpetrators of sexual assault were not expelled or sanctioned as required between 2011 to 2014.

The report finds failures came from multiple factors, including a lack of informed staff, not enough resources to handle student discipline, a lack of oversight by administrators and UAF’s habit to handle matters internally.

The report says once problems at UAF were identified, the University of Alaska took action to correct the problems.

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers will play a big role in three newly funded climate change and wildfire studies.

Alaska Fire Science Consortium ecologist Randi Jandt said teams that include UAF based and trained researchers will focus on implications of increasing warmth and fire activity from a cross-disciplinary perspective.

“It’s often difficult to join up the world of research and academia with the world of actual on the ground fire management,” Jandt said.

One of the nationally funded research projects will employ computer modeling to better anticipate and address peak fire activity.

“When we get those really big years – like last year was a good example – it really strains and limits available resources for fire management,” said Jandt.

Another study focuses on improving fire weather forecasting.

“Especially the focus on some areas that have been slippery and hard to pin down before which would include lightning,” Jandt said. “Besides the forecasting, lightning storms is in the really early stages.”

The third study will consider broad ranging impacts of more tundra fires on the North Slope.

“Such as permafrost thaw which could affect infrastructure and plant succession and therefore habitat for the wildlife,” said Jandt. “And then there’s the whole carbon question.”

Funding for the studies comes from nearly a million dollars in grants from the National Joint Fire Science Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A legislative committee voted Thursday to cut the University of Alaska’s budget by $50 million.

The conference committee voted 5-1 to adopt the House version of the university budget, which cuts $35 million more than the $15 million cut proposed by Gov. Bill Walker.

The portion of the budget directly controlled by the legislature would be $300 million, as opposed to Walker’s proposed $335 million.

University leaders have said the deeper cut could eliminate up to 500 jobs and lead to tuition rising by as much as 15 percent.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara said the cut would lead to young people leaving the state. It will also cost grants from private foundations. Gara is the committee’s only minority-caucus member.

Fairbanks Republican Sen. Pete Kelly said the cut is proof that in challenging times, everything is on the table.