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April 1, 2025

UAF faculty and staff,

In last week’s message, I talked about opportunity. As concerns continue about federal funding at universities, we know that we will continue to conduct research, award degrees, and provide transformative experiences at UAF. Our task ahead is to continue to be agile and guard against threats while using our strengths to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. And I believe there will be many.

With that said, here are the challenges we are watching:

• Department of Education (DoE) investigations of universities as a result of the February . As you know, UAF was not named in the first round of investigations by the DoE. That said, tracking how these investigations play out will help all of us better understand how to avoid pitfalls so that we may keep focused on meeting our mission for all students.

• Change requests from agencies and for individual grants. Each grant and program is being assessed on an individual basis at the federal level and so too by us. We are finding that funding for some grants is being frozen, and others are being unfrozen. Please be sure that you are communicating any agency feedback you get to OGCA and the interim vice chancellor for research, Dr. Laura Conner. In particular, some agencies are requesting institutional certification with specific statements – including certifications about compliance with executive orders. Please work with Vice Chancellor Conner on any such requests from funding agencies.

• Possible effects of changes to the Department of Education and science agencies. As agencies either lose personnel due to cuts or retirement, there is the normal concern about business continuity. I am confident that business continuity will be restored for critical operations. A period of uncertainty will exist. On the research side, we are watching for changes to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has been a great partner for UAF for decades. Changes to NOAA could have a possible impact on UAF faculty and staff, as well as NOAA personnel at UAF. We continue to support our partnership with NOAA during their own agency uncertainty.

On the instructional side, we are closely monitoring changes at the DoE. It now seems possible that the federal student financial aid, or parts of it, could move from the DoE to the Small Business Administration. We are keeping our eye on this possible transition, as it could impact UAF and our students. We are also focused on UAF’s continued eligibility to receive federal financial aid and the availability of the FAFSA form for our students. With respect to the former, we are in the middle of a regular renewal process that we, like all universities, go through to be eligible to receive federal financial aid. The latter refers to the FAFSA, a federal form that all students must fill out to be eligible for federal financial aid. Even the ÀÖ»¢Ö±²¥ Performance Scholarship, which does not rely on federal funds, requires that the student also fill out the FAFSA. So, ensuring that the FAFSA remains easily accessible by students is critical. We do not see either of these as threatened at this time but these are our top concerns.

As you become aware of impacts to you or your educational or research programs, be sure that those issues are communicated to your vice chancellor. Having this awareness allows them to communicate impacts through President Pitney to our federal delegation.

In order to better understand the landscape and inform our delegation of the impacts of federal actions, I communicate regularly with our UA Executive Director of Federal Relations, John Latini, and Assistant Director of Federal Relations, Denae Benson. I also have upcoming meetings with each member of our delegation, as well as agency heads and program leaders. I will be sharing with them the challenges and opportunities that we see ahead for UAF. Again, be sure to share the stories that are affecting you so that they can be messages I convey in making our case.

As I mentioned in last week’s message, conveying impacts and finding opportunities are contact sports. While I receive briefings from our federal relations office and other leaders in D.C. about the most current or anticipated changes, communication is a two-way street. I will continue to share about the awesome work that UAF does on behalf of the state and the nation and those things we need to continue doing so.

Thanks for choosing UAF!

Dan White, chancellor