The Canadian Studies Center is the second institution in the forty-eight contiguous states (after Dartmouth) to have the opportunity to be a member of University of the Arctic—a network of over one hundred institutions dedicated to research and education that benefits northerners. In June, UArctic held its thirteenth meeting at Sakha State University in Yakutsk, Russia. The meeting was attended by Council Representatives from across the Arctic, including Nadine Fabbi, Associate Director of the Canadian Studies Center.
Meeting highlights included the introduction of UArctic’s new Vice President of Indigenous Affairs, Jan Henry Keskitalo. Keskitalo has served on the Board of Governors for UArctic and is presently the Executive Chairperson of the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium. Fabbi sat on a committee with Keskitalo during the four-day meetings to discuss ways to strengthen indigenous education and traditional knowledge in UArctic research and programming.
Gary Wilson, University of Northern British Columbia and Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium board member, invites University of the Arctic to meet at UNBC in 2014.
UArctic has a Circumpolar Studies Program that is currently being accessed by UW Marine Affairs undergraduate, George Roth. The Center hopes to extend these opportunities to more students in the future.Kirsi Latola, Program Coordinator, Thematic Networks Office, provided an overview of these research-based, issues oriented institutional networks. The thematic network, “Arctic Coastal and Marine Issues,” includes two University of Washington scientists—Marc Miller, Marine Affairs, and Vincent Gallucci, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and affiliated faculty of Canadian Studies. As Canada has one of the largest Arctic coastal environments, this network is critical to Center research projects.
As part of UArctic activities, the Center is currently working with the Makivik Corporation of Québec to involve Inuit students in the 2011 Task Force on Arctic sovereignty.
This project was supported, in part, by funding from the Center’s Title VI grant, US Department of Education, Office of International Education Programs Service.