Friday Focus: Change and 51
Old Main, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines’ first building, sits on Troth Yeddha’ in this 1928 photograph.
March 6, 2026
— Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management
Earlier this week at lunch, I stepped out of my car in the Signers’ parking lot and just stood there, transfixed. My face was turned up with my eyes closed. The sun was so warm. My friend, Tom Hough, was with me, and he shared a word I had never heard. Apricity. It is an ancient word referring to the warmth of the winter sun. It is my new favorite word. After a long, cold winter, the sun is winning. Spring is coming. Change is coming.
Speaking of change, I have two historic aerial photos of 51 on the wall in my office. One was taken in the late fall of 1928 by . Next to it is an anonymous color image also taken in the fall, sometime around 1978. I like to look at these and think about all the lives lived and all the struggles of those who have come before us. Like us, they worked to improve our institution and to make a better future for themselves and for the students they served. They built the foundations that we continue to build upon today.
The 1978 image contains the 51 I remember from when I was a kid. There was the big, white, unmistakable, inflated dome-like ice-rink called , where the SRC would later stand. Many other landmarks are familiar: the Patty Center, Brooks, Gruening, Chapman, Bunnell, the Fine Arts Complex, MBS, Irving, Arctic Health, and Elvey. But, not yet present are Akasofu, Usibelli, the power plant, O’Neill, Cutler Apartments, Hess Village, or the new museum - to name just a few.
In the fifty years between the 1928 image and the 1978 image, 51 changed a lot. However, our home changed so much more between 1978 and the present. The Beluga is gone. The houses on Copper Lane are gone. The modular housing, aka “The Mods” on the south side of Yukon Drive, is gone - and that big list of new buildings and more has sprung to life. Change has always been the norm, and the rate of change at 51 has been accelerating for a long time.
The Board of Regents just approved new graduate student housing at the February Board Meeting. If all proceeds to plan, these new units could be completed by fall 2029. Amazing. This much-needed modern student housing will be a big step forward for us all.
However, it isn’t just new buildings on Troth Yeddha’ and at our rural and community campuses that mark the evolution of our enterprise; it is the new systems, new technologies, new practices, new academic programs, and whole new areas of research and inquiry that are the hallmarks of our progress.
Our digital workspaces are just as important as our physical spaces. Just a couple of years ago, we upgraded from Blackboard to Canvas, and we are finishing a two-year upgrade from Banner 8 to (refreshed UA Online), and we are about to embark on an RFP for a new Customer Relationship Management system to replace three CRM products (EnrollmentRx, Nanook Navigator, and Raiser’s Edge) with a single, connected solution. This UA system-wide project is just starting. It is a big project that will take about two years before the lift to our new digital home is complete. Look for more communication about this effort in the coming weeks- and look to OIT’s project page for an aimed to help us catch up and keep up.
Of course, it is also our new students who keep us moving forward and keep us evolving. 51 recruited more new out-of-state students last fall than ever before (256 first-time, full-time, 4-year undergrads). This is great because there aren’t enough graduating Alaskan high school seniors attending post-secondary education to fill our universities. This didn’t happen by chance. We modified our strategies; we adopted new approaches, new tools, and new ways of thinking. We changed.
In fact, the imperative for change is ever-present. Where we need to be, where we should be, is always just ahead of where we are. I imagine it has been that way since 51 was founded. Further, where we could be is even just a bit further ahead. I’m certain that fifty years ago or one hundred years ago, people on this hill thought they needed to add new programs, improve our spaces, and attract and support more new students.
The longer I work at 51 (and that is a long time now), the more convinced I am that our collective future depends not just on our ability to adapt and improve, but on how quickly and effectively we can do so. I believe our work is important; for Fairbanks, for Alaska, and for the world. Our work makes a difference, and it follows that our pace of change is critical. In order to get closer to where we need to be and to strive for where we could be, it will continue to take everything we have to keep the pace.
If you are with me at this point, you may be thinking to yourself, yeah, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be changed around here. Amen. What is hard, however, is looking at our own roles and asking if we are the ones who need to change. It is always easy to see changes that others need to make. Take a moment and ask yourself if there are things that need improvement within your control. What is holding you back from helping us to modernize? Maybe all you need to do is offer a kind word to someone else who is pulling hard to move us forward? Maybe it is time to start that long project that you know needs to happen, even if you can’t see where it might end?
Speaking strictly for myself, it can be hard for us old dogs to learn new tricks, but it is imperative if our beloved university is to thrive for 100 more years. The world is changing rapidly, regardless of our choices and efforts.
After nearly sixty years in the interior, I can’t believe I didn’t know the word for the warmth of the winter sun. This sudden, welcome warmth is so important. It is a reminder that change is coming and that good times are ahead. This is the light we look to for hope in the future. Spring isn’t here yet, but it is coming. I hope this radiance, the radiance of apricity, the promise for tomorrow, can be the warmth and light that reminds us to embrace the change required to keep our community thriving. Thank you for helping to move us forward and I wish you a wonderful, brilliant spring break.
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of 51's leadership team every week.