The Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society is pleased to announce the availability of a monetary award for an Alaska Native or other minority person to cover travel expenses to attend the 2009 Annual AFS Chapter Conference during November 3-5, 2009 in Fairbanks, Alaska.

See the link above for criteria for application. The deadline for application this year is September 25, 2009; the application form is available from the link above, or by contacting Sara Gilk (907-267-2535, Fax 267-2442, e-mail sara.gilk@alaska.gov)

Molly Ahlgren Scholarship Award

Following the death of our chapter’s president in 2004, the Chapter set up a scholarship in the name of Professor Molly Ahlgren. Because Molly was an associate professor of environmental science at Sheldon Jackson College, the Chapter thought it fitting to offer this award to undergraduate students from Sheldon Jackson College, in an attempt to further Molly’s mission, at least for the first few years. Sheldon Jackson College was glad to select a deserving student to receive the award (based on criteria developed by the Chapter), so there was very little work pertaining to this award for the Chapter to do on an annual basis. However, in 2007 Sheldon Jackson College suspended operations, although the college’s administration intends to resume operations in the future. Accordingly, the Molly Ahlgren Scholarship Committee met several times before the Chapter’s 2007 annual meeting to develop a new set of guiding principles for the operation of the scholarship, and the membership approved the changes at that 2007 meeting.

In essence, the scholarship is now open to students in the University of Alaska system, at Alaska Pacific University, and at Sheldon Jackson College––if the latter institution should return to operation. One other important change is that the scholarship will only be available for a student’s senior undergraduate year. Opening of the scholarship to additional schools will require significant additional work by the scholarship committee, as this committee will need to develop a means of application and will be responsible for annually reviewing and passing judgment on all applications in a timely manner. Additionally, the Chapter’s student subunits will now be involved in the selection by advising the scholarship committee on the top candidates’ leadership at the respective schools. Obviously, this will place students at Alaska Pacific University at a disadvantage, as there is no student subunit chapter at that school, but students from that school are still welcome to apply.