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Speakers and honorees

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Student speaker

Tori Shoemaker

The 2024 student speaker will be Tori Shoemaker who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies.

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Student award recipients

The 51�������� will honor Nolan Earnest, Janelle Pootoogooluk and T. Womack on May 3 as its outstanding undergraduate degree recipients for 2024.

Earnest will receive the Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding bachelor’s degree candidate. Pootoogooluk will receive the Joel Wiegert Award, which recognizes an outstanding associate degree candidate. Womack will receive the Gray Tilly Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding nontraditional graduating candidate.

Nolan Earnest

Earnest will receive a bachelor’s degree in film and performing arts and plans to pursue a career in filmmaking. He participated in and directed many theater and film productions, including documentaries for 51�������� Upward Bound and the Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. He was president of the 51�������� Film Club and vice president of the Climate Club. As a student athlete, Earnest served as the 51�������� cross-country running team captain for two years and was named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-academic team three times. 

In her nomination letter, Maya Salganek, chair of the Department of Theatre and Film, wrote that Earnest “has been an integral component” in the film and performing arts programs, “while also being committed towards his own diverse interests.” She added that he has “rallied people together and developed a positive community of creative intellectuals. Nolan has become a role model for many students within our program and beyond.”

Janelle Pootoogooluk

Pootoogooluk will receive an associate of applied science degree in applied business. Originally from Shishmaref, she has received occupational endorsements from the 51�������� Northwest Campus in Nome and the 51�������� Community and Technical College. She is the first person in her family to earn a college degree, and she currently works as a family services intake specialist for Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Kait Hazard, assistant professor of applied business and accounting at CTC, wrote in her recommendation letter, “Janelle's academic achievements stand as a testament to her hard work, discipline and eagerness to learn. Despite the demands of being a full-time employee, a dedicated mother to four daughters and a part-time student, Janelle has consistently excelled in her studies. Janelle's story is one of remarkable achievement and inspiring strength.”

T. Womack

Womack will receive a bachelor's degree in film and performing arts with a concentration in film. A professional artist, vocalist and actor, she participated in numerous on-campus film and theater productions. She volunteered with the Nanook Diversity and Action Center, the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and the Tanana Valley State Fair. She served as 51�������� Spanish Club president and has written for Sol de Medianoche, Alaska’s bilingual English-Spanish newspaper.

Womack returned to college after years of life experience, wrote Carrie Baker, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, in her letter of recommendation. “She has embraced this challenge and attacked her college career with gusto and enthusiasm,” Baker said. Womack’s spouse, Bryant Womack, wrote, “With a subtle sense of righteous indignation, she champions those who need a friend to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, and a reaffirmation each person is someone especially unique that the world cannot do without.”

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Honorary degree recipients

Honorary doctorates will be presented to Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney, Neal Fried and Mead Treadwell. Honorary doctorates recognize recipients’ lasting contributions to the state and nation, and significant achievements in recipients’ respective disciplines.

Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney

Master weaver and Indigenous knowledge bearer Della Sdaahlk’awaás Cheney will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Born and raised in Kake, she learned the art of weaving and the importance of sharing traditional knowledge from her grandmother. Cheney has practiced and taught weaving for decades, combining ancestral wisdom with contemporary concerns about environmental stewardship. She has documented her knowledge through photos and videos, and in 2017 published a book, “Weaving Our World.” Cheney has received many awards, including the Alaska Federation of Natives’ Culture Bearer Award, the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council’s Mayor’s Award and the President’s Everyday Hero Award from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She was executive secretary in the Office of the Governor, tribal administrator for the Qutekcak Native Tribe, cultural educator at Floyd Dryden Middle School and external relations coordinator for Sheldon Jackson College. She completed the Community Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Neal Fried

Alumnus Neal Fried will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Vienna, Fried received a bachelor of business administration in economics from 51�������� in 1978. He served as an economist for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development for 45 years, producing vital data on employment, economic forecasts and labor trends for the State of Alaska. Fried is widely recognized for his insightful analysis of the state's economy, labor force and key industries, including oil and gas, construction, the military, and health care. Fried wrote many articles for Alaska Economic Trends and presented at numerous conferences, developing a reputation for his ability to distill complex data into understandable and engaging information. Alaska state Sen. Click Bishop, a former state labor commissioner, wrote in his nominating letter, “Neal Fried is the EF Hutton of Alaska. When Neal speaks, everyone listens. He’s that good. He’s that dependable. He’s that solid.” 

Mead Treadwell

Mead Treadwell will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree. Treadwell has been an outspoken advocate for Alaska, 51�������� and Arctic research on local, national and international platforms for more than 45 years. He served as lieutenant governor, chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and deputy commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation. He co-founded the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and the Prince William Sound Science Center, and he directed the Institute of the North. He pushed for Arctic Ocean shipping safety and reliability rules, research to preserve Alaska Native languages and an Arctic human health research plan. Treadwell helped establish a permanent advisor on polar regions in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was instrumental in securing construction of the research vessel Sikuliaq, which 51�������� operates. As an author, investor and lecturer, Treadwell focuses on strategic and defense issues facing Alaska and the Arctic, managing Alaska’s shared resources, and integrating Arctic transport and telecommunications.

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Meritorious Service Awards

Sarah Keller and Meg Nordale will receive Meritorious Service Awards. Meritorious Service Awards recognize significant public, academic, volunteer or philanthropic service to the university or an Alaska community.

Sarah Keller

Wildlife biologist and 51�������� alumna Sarah Keller has supported the university and the community of Fairbanks for decades, both as a volunteer and a donor. She came to Alaska in 1978 to work on avian use of estuarine habitats. While working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, she earned her master’s degree in natural resources at 51��������, graduating in 1990. Raising two daughters, she volunteered in schools, starting as an officer with Fairbanks Montessori School Board. For more than two decades, she helped organize Fairbanks school science fairs, recruiting 51�������� scientists to serve as judges. Keller is an officer on the KUAC Friends Group board of directors and volunteers on-air during fundraising events. She is a member of the UA Museum of the North advisory council. In addition to their longtime support of 51�������� athletics, Keller and her husband, Cary, have made a significant gift to UA’s teacher education programs.

Meg Nordale

Meg Nordale’s great-grandparents came to Fairbanks in 1908, and their descendants have been active in Alaska civic life ever since. In that tradition, Nordale not only personally contributes to the university but also leads Ghemm Co., a Fairbanks general contracting firm that has been a corporate donor since the 1970s. Nordale joined Ghemm in 1994 after a career in insurance and risk management and became the firm’s president in 2015. That same year, she served as president of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. Nordale serves on the 51�������� chancellor’s board of advisors and currently chairs the UA Foundation’s board of directors. She recently led a statewide committee of academic and industry experts seeking to enhance construction management training to meet Alaska’s workforce demands. She is an active KUAC volunteer, and Ghemm provides matching gifts to the station during biannual fundraising events.

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