Chester Creek Water Quality Monitoring with Biology 373

Professor Frank von Hippel received a minigrant in spring 2012 to re-engage Biology 373 students with the Russian Jack Community Council and the Anchorage Waterways Council in a project focused on the reassessment of water and habitat quality.  Students were involved with replicating analyses conducted by earlier classes (2001-2005 and 2009) for before and after restoration comparisons; assisting with new analyses using stable isotope techniques to test for the presence of marine-derived nutrients in the system; and making recommendations for future restoration work with a damaged portion of the creek.  Prior studies found there were indications of "potential human health impacts and reduced species richness due to degradation of the watershed.

Professor von Hippel is a proponent of community-engaged learning and has found in the years that he has been teaching in this way that a number of his students were able to use this specific experience to get jobs in water monitoring and to get interested in this field.  He stated, "Prior to 2001, I taught water quality assessment using laboratory exercises.  Student evaluations since 2001 clearly indicate the power of teaching these techniques in a field setting with real-world applications."  The intention this year was to assess the impacts of the restoration of Westchester Lagoon on upstream habitat in Chester Creek and to leverage the work already completed to develop a restoration plan for the impaired section of the Creek in the Russian Jack area.  With nearly of decade of data already compiled, a plan can be presented for community approval and subsequent funding requests will allow students to engage in restoration activities.

von Hippel commented on the demands of engaged learning with real life projects.  Data quality is a concern in that student data has to be as good as faculty data if it is going to be used by the community for policy work or for publication; it requires considerable faculty time and oversight.  He or a graduate student collect their own water chemistry data for comparison purposes and look at student data right away to redo what seems out of the realm of possible or probable, and for the invertebrate data, they are alongside students as they record data.  They use occasions to teach critical thinking in the moment by looking at what students have done and asking, "Does this make sense?"  Most of the data issues experienced in the early years were solved by switching to a simpler chemistry kit.  A CCEL grant made it possible in the beginning to pay for supplies and a student helper, and the minigrants still assist with the costs of the monitoring kits.  Long-term commitment to this project has made it possible for students to see the before and after impacts of the environmental intervention with the Westchester Lagoon and to deepen the relationship with the community partners.

Dr. Judith Owens-Manley, Director of the Center for Community Engagement & Learning and Social Work faculty,  presented at the 2012 Community Leadership Workshop Series sponsored byNeighborWorks® Anchorage.  On April 21, 2012, Dr. Owens-Manley led a discussion on "Community Engagement," accompanied by a powerpoint presentation.  The presentation included how UAA students and faculty engage with the community and the opportunities for grassroots community groups to engage with the university. 

This series of four workshops were free and open to all Anchorage residents and community members. Topics included Community Issues, Community Vision, Community Engagement, and Community Action.

NeighborWorks® Anchorage focuses on affordable rental housing, home ownership/rehabilitation, and community engagement and resident services.  The organization is dedicated to improving the quality of life for families and individuals by preserving homes, creating new housing opportunities and strengthening neighborhoods.

Structure From Motion!

Gennady Gienko, Associate Professor of Geomatics in the School of Engineering, is at work developing a very interesting technique that is used to reconstruct the shape of objects using multiple cameras.  This allows for the generation of high resolution, very textured 3D polygonal models, implementing gneral algorithms for stereo vision.  If that sounds complicated, it is for most of the general population.  Gienko used professional level digital cameras with an eye toward some very practical applications.  For instance, one of the most intriguing uses here in Alaska may be to create 3D photographic models of Native Art, pieces that are either sequestered behind glass and can only be viewed at a certain location, or works of art that may deteriorate over time and could be preserved in these polygonal models.
 

Other uses may include portraits, buildings and structures, light poles in a community, vehicles, etc.  Gienko recently presented the beginning of his work to establish the calibrations for control of distortion at very short and long distances.  He plots the distortions and plots the integrity of dark and light shades, also paying attention to shape - smooth vs. sharp; texture - matte vs. glossy; lighting - shadow vs. glares; and object vs. background, the field of depth.  His most recent project was a photo-textured model of a piece of Native art, a walrus.  He has found that bone is better than ivory, which requires polarizing filters to deal with the glare.

(To fully experience the 3D model, click this link to PDF) - 3D Model of Walrus Carving

Gienko says there are a variety of applications of these techniques for a variety of disciplines.  His next step is to move to 3 types of objects: the carving, which he is working on now; jewelry, and then large objects, such as a canoe.  He plans to design a course for students in technical photography, a 1 credit course to be called GEO 257 "Technical Photography for the Arts & Sciences."  He believes these techniques will appeal to artists and scientists alike!

Justice for Fraud Victims

Assistant Professor of Accounting Kevin Dow describes himself as "simply a dealmaker, putting particular people together to create this service-learning project."  Professor Dow also stresses that the UAA project is a replication project, modeled after a program developed by Dr. Sara Melendy at Gonzaga University.  The official pilot of the project was fall semester, and spring semester continued the pilot.  Fall 2012 will see a full Justice for Fraud Victims program instituted.

The project is a partnership, involving law enforcement agencies and the local chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).  Dow says it's an opportunity for students "to experience forensic accounting in a unique and exciting way while simultaneously providing a valuable service to the community."  He raised $18,000 to purchase computers, printers, software, office supplies, etc.  It was important to be independent of the College of Business & Public Policy and to have a "wall" between the two for protocols and security procedures.

According to Dow, between 5 and 7 percent of all firms' proceeds are lost to some kind of fraud, and entry level fraud examiner reports cost upwards of $30,000.  A "victim" comes to the program through Certified Fraud Examiners or the police - they can't afford the professional audit and are willing to share details with the students.  An example from the spring semester's work is a $2,000 fraud from a local non-profit with a total operating budget of $6,000.  A team of students work on the case under the supervision of a CFE, and the CFE signs off on the final report.  The CFE is a buffer between the students and the Court, and the students have no exposure on the case.  Their goals are to increase the number of cases being investigated and prosecuted and to increase awareness in the community, possibly decreasing the occurrence of fraud.

The Team:  Detective Michele Logan, Law Enforcement Liaison, Anchorage Police Department; Pat Berry, CFE Liaison, Vice President & Chief Audit Executive, Credit Union 1; Kevin Dow, JFVP Program Director, UAA; Soren Orley, JFVP Faculty Coordinator, UAA; Minnie Yen, Computer Forensics, UAA.  Dow points out that Pat Berry is one of only 23 Certified Fraud Examiners in the state of Alaska - 17 when accounting for those employed by the IRA and FBI.  There is a need for CFEs in Alaska, and students are being trained to go into these careers.  Dow says that this program can make a difference and remedy the shortage over time.

Forensic accounting applies the use of audit and consulting techniques to a legal question; the training is invaluable to future accountants.  Students are gaining experience in conducting victim interviews, preparing workpapers and a final work product, drafting a report with recommendations, and providing a formal presentation of the findings to local anti-fraud professionals.  Dow observes that the training not only enhances oral and written presentation skills but also trains students in how to treat people.  "The last final report went through eight drafts," Dow said.  "Students have to reflect their way through it to create a professional work product, taking out their opinions and reactions, which is difficult for them."

Students who want to be a part of JFVP have to be senior accounting students and must go through an application process.  They should have a serious interest in forensic accounting, be willing to meet the time commitment, and demonstrate a reasonable level of writing proficiency.  For the accounting students, the work of a semester gives them four months of work experience that they can put toward the two years required to be certified as a Fraud Examiner.  In addition, the Certified Fraud Examiners that volunteer as mentors to the students are able to get 10  continuing education credits for the semester to count toward their requirements for professional education.

A sideline of this project has been a presentation on Fraud Literacy & Awareness, developed for small businesses.  Two students at UAA developed the presentation and are available to speak in the community.  In addition, the MBA program has a capstone course in which one team is working on a business plan for jFVP.  Dow says, "The real world environment provides a unique setting in which students actually learn and apply these skills." Other universities across the U.S. are now interested, and Dow and Melendy from Gonzaga are writing a very large grant to get a national Justice for Fraud Victims project going!

Heifer Canada and Heifer Senegal: A Sabbatical for Professor Dorn Van Dommelen

Dorn Van Dommelen has worked with Heifer International for about 5 years now to incorporate service-learning into a course confronting global issues of poverty and sustainability (GEOG/INTL 101), and he designed his sabbatical to enrich that work. With that in mind, he organized trips to Saskatchewan, Senegal, and Heifer International (HI) headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas with two objectives:
1) To help HI with their new program development working with colleges and universities that they are calling "College Cornerstones" - UAA students have been a part of that already; and
2) Visit the two countries for about 2 weeks each for a closer, more intimate look at their HI programs.

In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Van Dommelen visited the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative and the Riverside Market Garden. The Harvest Moon Initiative is a group of small family businesses that have joined together out of a concern about being edged out by large agri-business. They've combined forces to support the school, restaurant, etc. in their community by taking them over, and they pool the food they grow and network with local food buyers in the city of Winnipeg. Each week, they take turns delivering the produce by van.

The Riverside Market Garden is located on the Flying Dust First Nations Reservation, and like many reservations, there is a great deal of poverty and unemployment. Elders brought 20-40 year-olds together and set aside 12-20 acres of land (land is often leased out to non-native farmers) to grow potatoes, greens, crucifers, corn, tomatoes, berries, etc. The group sells locally to native and non-native community, and their cash crop, potatoes is sold through a middle man for larger stores. The objective is to produce sustainable jobs locally plus provide better nutrition through eating locally grown food. The project is not yet economically viable and depends upon a relationship with the Canadian government to keep workers on unemployment in this training program.Van Dommelen said, "Heifer Canada's staff was extremely welcoming to me . . . they viewed my visit as an opportunity to hear constructive criticism from an outsider. . . In the end, I am convinced that a visit by an outsider seems to give country staff an opportunity to reflect on their own work and to view their work as someone with a critical eye would see their work."

The trip to Senegal in early November was to the city of Chess, about 40 miles from Dakar. Chess, (pop. about 400,000), is a former colonial city fallen into disrepair with a lot of extreme poverty. It was a different experience in that only a couple of hundred Westerners are seen in the entire city and then only in the western hotels. This was a site that insisted that Van Dommelen bring something to contribute if he wanted to come for the experience, and he worked with the site director, Gustave, who was trained as a sociologist. Gustave enlisted his aid in writing a project concept focused on youth education, and Van Dommelen translated a proposal based on a pilot project Gustave is currently running, teaching schoolchildren about the value of sustainable development. In this role, Van Dommelen was able to act as a culture broker between the Senegal office and HI headquarters.
HI has projects in Senegal in Dadack, Baback, and Diarre, mostly consisting of sheep and re-foresting.
The villages also depend upon a cash crop of peanuts, but all food is consumed locally, as Senegal is in food deficit and has to import food just to feed its citizens. Some villages also grow millet for local consumption. One of the interests of the Senegal office is to study rural-urban migration that disrupts the local projects when people start to run out of food and go hungry in-between crops. Then the elders call people together and send those selected to go and work in the city to send money back for the rest.
Van Dommelen has gotten busy this spring since returning from the one semester sabbatical but wants to hold onto the new ideas he's brought back with him. When asked how he thinks it will impact his teaching, Van Dommelen replied, "In Senegal especially, I got to see things that I didn't expect; I saw the depths of problems and the difficulty of overcoming issues up close. In Canada, I saw things that didn't always work well, and it's given me the ability to critically view projects that I'm teaching about."

Van Dommelen hopes to pursue opportunities both for students to travel for field courses in one or both countries in the future. He also wants to pursue research opportunities with HI projects in Canada and/or Senegal. He has already written a "mini case study" that he's using in a course he's teaching this spring on Global Population Issues. The implications for Alaska Native issues linked to the First Nations issues occurs as a mutually beneficial opportunity to Van Dommelen, and an opportunity for external funding to support student engagement activities and faculty research.

End of the Semester Celebration for Smart Start at Lucy Cuddy

"Farming to the Rempels isn't just a job - it's a way of life!" That was one student's comment, Cheltze Booker, attending a luncheon put on by her class at the Lucy Cuddy Center late this fall. Professor Shannon Gramse's Smart Start class had a CCEL minigrant this semester to address critical community needs for local food in the rich subsistence culture in Alaska and to inform others about the benefits of locally produced foods. Their activities culminated in a luncheon that involved UAA's Culinary Arts, Hospitality & Restaurant Management, Dietetics & Nutrition, and the Rempel Family Farm.

Following a hearty lunch that used some of the vegetables from the Rempel farm, students from the class came to the microphone to talk about what they had learned from the readings, their work on the farm through class trips, and the class discussions to incorporate their experiences and the academic reading. Voa Totua spoke about how much food she realized there is in the land of Alaska and how much we can do for ourselves - without relying on industrial food. Becca Arman spoke about the term she learned through reading Michael Pollen - "industrial organic - a fake kind of fresh!" For Arlene Ferrer, the learning that stood out was how government politics have controlled farmers' plans and how the plans are carried out for farming. And Chris Hess empathized with farmers who, having been brough up in a farming way of life, are forced to cash out. Hess shared, "It was an amazing experience to see former farmland that had been turned into suburbs . . . an eye-opener to see the impact . . . not that growth and development isn't important, but just because we can, doesn't mean that we should.

The Rempels attended with their four children, all of whom are home-schooled. Professor Gramse will be presenting his work with the Smart Start class as a part of our informal Faculty Breakfast Colloquia in the spring.

Take Wing Alaska - A Documentary Project with Paola Banchero

Paola Banchero, Associate Professor of Journalism & Public Communications at UAA has been working with Take Wing Alaska for months now on a program that brings high school youth from rural Alaska to UAA three times during their junior and senior years. Take Wing, a program of the Alaska Humanities Forum, has an objective to familiarize rural students with what's possible in their futures, the transition challenges and the resources they can draw from to be successful in higher education. Banchero set out to document the students' experiences in a way that would support the program for marketing, outreach, and fundraising. Take Wing focuses on Yupik heritage in the Yukon area so far and begins in the sophomore year to ease that transition. Students come for nearly two weeks for an immersion experience. They return in their second year with a chosen adult, their "community sponsor." A third visit in March of their senior years is also shared with their community sponsors, and the first cohort of 25 students will graduate from high school in May-June.

Not all students will attend UAA, but Take Wing seeks to have students complete some form of post-secondary education, college or Job Corps, and return to the community to contribute - perhaps not by living there but to consciously contribute back to their communities. Banchero began production March 20, 2010 with a mini-grant from CCEL to tell the story of that pathway from high school to higher education success. Two student assistants helped her to gather video during the 4 days that the rural high schoolers visited the campus. Difficulties arose when they lost all of that video material in an "end of the year" department clearance of their servers, and they gamely started over!
Banchero told an audience at the Faculty Breakfast Colloquium in November what she had learned in the process. Number one is having a deep appreciation of the challenges to rural Alaska Native youth; other take-aways include learning about post-production headaches, the differences between writing and video production, and what she might have asked for in a mini-grant! Next steps include revising, polishing, distributing the documentary piece and beginning to think about a longer production piece.

The experience has encouraged Banchero to reach out to students more and to strive to understand what they are dealing with that might not be immediately visible. Some of the goals for Alaska Native students through this process include the ability to thrive in multiple cultures, to nurture and celebrate their personal identifications, to master life skills and build positive social networks, and to demystify post-secondary education.