Above: The Center’s Arctic Initiative will work with colleagues across campus to further develop partnerships with Inuit organizations in the Arctic such as the Makivik Corporation in Arctic Québec (Nunavik). Charlotte Guard, Arctic Security Task Force student (far right) with Joë Lance, Executive Assistant to the President of the Makivik Corporation, and Kitty Gordon, Communications Officer, Makivik Corporation, Québec City (January 2013).
The new Fulbright Canada Chair in Arctic Studies is part of the Center’s Arctic Initiative as well as part of a larger initiative on the polar regions being developed by the College of Arts and Sciences, College of the Environment, and Applied Physics Laboratory.
The Fulbright Arctic Chair will enable the UW to capitalize on its existing strengths to become a world leader in integrated multidisciplinary research, scholarship and teaching on the science, policy, and cultures of the polar regions. UW already has an unparalleled research and teaching program in the science of the cryosphere, and a vibrant and successful program in Arctic social sciences and policy.
The Center is working with the Quaternary Research Center, Program on Climate Change, Program on the Environment, and the Applied Physics Laboratory, to create a new academic program in Arctic studies, a scholars program for graduate students, postdoctoral and visiting scholars, and a strategy that ensures the flow of knowledge between the University and stakeholder communities in the polar regions including Arctic indigenous organizations and peoples. These partnerships establish meaningful linkages between natural and social scientists in an effort to address some of the most challenging environmental, economic and social issues of our time.
A Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies will bring scholars, practitioners and indigenous leaders from Canada to the U.W. The Chair will teach a required course for the new Arctic Minor (now in development), provide the annual Fulbright Lecture focused on emerging issues and developments in the Arctic region, and assist the two colleges in building collaborative relations with Arctic scholars, scientists, and indigenous organizations.