²ÝÁñÉçÇø

Friday Focus: Returning light a reassuring presence

Feb. 14, 2025

— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management

This time of year I find myself obsessing about our returning daylight. I count the accumulating hours and minutes and the time gained each day (six minutes and forty-nine seconds today!). Even though I have absolutely no control over the returning light and warmth, the phenomenon is a reassuring presence. It brings me joy; it just gets better and better from here and I am already excited that we will cross over the ten-hour-day mark in two weeks!

At the other end of the not-in-my-control spectrum is the current turmoil in Washington, D.C., and the uncertainties related to federal funding in general and for ²ÝÁñÉçÇø in particular. Because of that stress, I am especially thankful for the returning daylight as a source of strength. I can look at Denali (!) looming as a giant silhouette on the southern horizon in the late afternoon light of February and feel that quiet certainty that all will be OK. We will get through this. We have limited control over these events, but we will weather them, together. Regardless of everything, spring is still coming here in Fairbanks, ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.

I really enjoyed last week’s Friday Focus by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Anupma Prakash. Provost Prakash wrote about professional responsibility, accountability, and ownership — essential elements for a thriving university and everyone’s personal success. Provost Prakash also shared that new data from the Census Bureau indicates not just one, but that will likely impact the enrollment landscape of higher education in the coming years. Interesting times, indeed. Thinking about ‘ownership’ and enrollment in this context, I couldn’t help but think about being masters of our own destiny. While there is uncertainty in the world, I believe we have the opportunity to ‘own’ our future if we choose.

It brought to mind something a retired faculty member friend once said to me. He said that for more than 20 years at ²ÝÁñÉçÇø, every fall he would walk into class on the first day and the room would be full of students. He told me that he took it for granted that there would always be a full room of students waiting for him on that first day. It was only late in his career that he came to realize the amount of work required to fill that classroom and also to realize that a full classroom was not guaranteed. Toward the end of his career, and with some less-full classrooms, he was energized by the idea that he and his colleagues could control their own futures by engaging with prospective students. They could help recruit the cohort that would be there, waiting for them, on that first day and become the masters of their own destiny.

²ÝÁñÉçÇø is full of quiet heroes who go about the process of owning our collective enrollment future every day. If you were one of the almost 400 people who watched the this Tuesday, you might have heard me say that we’ve increased our undergraduate student applications from outside ²ÝÁñÉçÇø by nearly double for the coming fall. This is on top of nearly doubling our non-resident applications last year as well. This is amazing. For every single one of those nearly 2,000 additional applications, there is a person somewhere in the lower 48 who even for just a moment was open to the idea of spending years of their life and tens of thousands of dollars to join our community. Imagine each of those nearly 4,000 individuals standing up off their couches, up out of their gaming chairs, off their porches, and looking northward toward the horizon to say, yeah, I think I might want to go to the University of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø, in Fairbanks! This simple idea makes me smile - like looking at Denali on the horizon on a brilliant February afternoon.

What I did not mention at the Forum was that our Ph.D. student applications are through the roof as well! Through the work of even more of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø’s heroes (faculty, staff, and students!), we doubled our Ph.D. applications from about 162 for fall 2024 to 332 for fall 2025! 

And this bounty isn’t all just the result of some recent efforts. This work has been going on for years. Five years of efforts to reach out to potential students in the lower 48 and around the world are paying off. For the fall 2024 semester, we had almost 300 more lower 48 students than in the fall of 2019, and nearly 40 more international students for the same period. This is a growth of 20% and 23% respectively. This is amazing. For ²ÝÁñÉçÇø, the light is growing on the horizon.

This work and the radiant abundance it provides are not kindled by just a few. This work is carried out by us all. Thank you to those who process those applications, thank you to those who teach great classes, mentor students, advise students, and make coffee for them. Thank you to all those building new programs and to those modernizing old ones. Thank you to those who supervise the doers and thank you to those who put on exciting events (this weekend is !) and thank you to all those who come to work each day and do your thing to not only keep the lights on but to help us make ²ÝÁñÉçÇø gleam! 

Just as each day of February is brighter, warmer, and longer, so the energy of our amazing institution is building. If you want to do more or be a part of our response to the thousands of student applicants who dream of joining our community, check out our new enrollment website, find a connection, or give feedback. Join the effort. 

Together, we can own our future. Go ‘Nooks!

Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø's leadership team every week.